This execution was a disaster. I saw the complete footage and it was not organized in a profession manor. If the Iraqi’s are unable to handle the execution of one person how can we expect them to run the government or secure the country? Based on the complete footage (and you can review it yourself at http://www.liveleak.com) this was tribal revenge. The Iraqi’s will think that America botched this and seek revenge. Let's hope I'm wrong.

Thank your Richard Engel for risking yourself to inform the public. May God Bless you and protect you. I pray that you and all the other brave Americans who are in Iraq will come back home Safely.

When hostages were beheaded and the video distributed around the world, where were these people protesting Sadaams execution?

Muslims appear to want it one way only, theirs. You can't publish cartoons about them, say anything negative about them or their religion, or expect them to help out in any humanitarian way (with all of the oil money in many Arab/Muslim countries, where do you see them providing food or fuel support for struggling countries?).

Does it really matter if the execution was video's and published online? No. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc., if they had been brought to justice, their executions would have been published. The man was a killer, a thief, a despot, an invader, committed war crimes, and deserved to be executed, he was tried and convicted.

It appears that while many Muslims can dish it out, they can't take it.

It is looking more and more like we will be in Iraq for a very long time. I was in northern Iraq about March, 2006 when I first heard a Sunni make the seemingly casual comment that the Shiite government is worse than Saddam. This oficial added that if we (Coalition Forces - US and others) would leave, it would be much worse for the Sunnis.

More and more, it looks like that Sunni government official was right: the Shiites are seeking revenge against the Sunnis through the elected government. With that perception, the civil war will only worsen. As the civil war worsens, it becomes ever harder for us to leave the country.

In a counter-insurgency type of war, perceptions are paramount.

to "Mark Waxman", you need to stop generalizing, get some education and stop associating Muslims with terror. You want to talk about terror and war crimes, let's look at ourselves, let's look at our president killing our soldiers in vain, look at israel invading and destroying countries, we are supporting terror, we're creating enemies and we're destroying our future. It's time to wake up and save our beloved land before it's too late

Josh, you're the one who's generalizing. If you really want some education, read your Bible. The Iranian President desires to bring about the end of days. I say let's take it to him and his ilk.

,This is all about Iraqis acting like Iraqis and Islamics acting like Islamics.

...and we all know it!

To "Josh". Are you not generalizing too? I'll buy you a ticket to the Middle East if you will agree to move there!!!

"Saddam looked calm and composed: his hair freshly died..." Only after the execution. Beforehand, his hair was probably freshly DYED...

If the Iraqi's are not busy looting their own museums (as in the first few weeks of the war) they are spending all their time videoptaping executions. The U.S. should have taken out Al-Sadr and his Iranian friends out in the beginning of the war when they had the chance. What kind of middle eastern society/culture are we defending anyway? These people are'nt even worth one American G.I.'s life let alone 3,000...

to "Josh", It would be great if the world was all peace loving however, the price of freedom isn't free. I believe most of the American people have forgotten that! I'm not a war monger but doesn't anybody remember 911? My heart goes out to everyone that has lost a loved one but we are securing our future!

Thank you "A. Teacher." Fixed the "dyed" typo.
Petra Cahill, Blogging Baghdad editor.

I watched the video footage of the demise of Sadam and I am an American, but I must say it bothered me alot as a human being. Reading it is one thing but to see the rope put around his neck, the two masked men and a dignified yet frightened or disorientated Sadam bothered me very much. I realize that he was a dictator, a theif, and I believe he did commit the war crimes, however, I think that hanging in this day and age is barbaric. Shouldnt we as a dignified nation try to set an example by possibly using the lethal injection methods instead? It broke my heart to see our journalists heads be cut off and I believe that justice must prevail but I am unsure about our methods and I dont understand how security allowed telephones in an execution unless it was planned to show all the world that he really is dead. Was that a political move ascertained by our government to prove that we the USA really executed him? Perhaps I am out of line and this is the only way of dealing with terrorists, war crimes and groups who cause terrible things to happen, however I wonder if the people of the Middle East will view this video as a work of greatness or take it as insult. Did they have to execute him on the holy day as well? I pray for us all. Especially our soldiers. I know Sadam got what he deserved but as a human being it bothered me inside. God Bless us all.

Waxman, the problem is not that the footage was leaked. It's what the footage reveals, and how that will influence the situation. Read the article again.

I would have to partially agree with "Josh." We do need to stop generalizing and associating Muslims with terror. Muslims are a religious group not a terror organization and, if anything, we should honor their rights and freedom of religion. But, I do not believe that our president or any US government official can be accused of "killing" our soldiers. That statement is ludicris. We should lay honor upon those military men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that innocent Iraqis might someday know freedom as we know it here in the USA.

James, USN Ret.

Bottom line - Bush has involved the United States in a war that we cannot win - thus we will end up leaving much like we did in Vietnam - in disgrace - which is a total disservice to our servicemen and servicewoman who have put their lives on hold to commit themselves to a useless cause. How anyone can think that America will be able to solve the severe problems that have plagued the Middle East for hundreds of years and will continue to haunt those countries is totally insane!

A PART OF ME FELT SAD FOR SADDAM WHEN I SAW HIM, HE LOOKED SO CALM AND MEEK NOT THAT MEAN OLD MAN AS BEFORE, I GUESS HE KNEW THERE WAS NO WINNING HIS WAY OUT OF THIS ONE. SO WHY FIGHT IT. AND JUSTICE WAS SERVED TO ALL THE PEOPLE HE ORDERED GONE. HE IS ONE PERSON THAT WILL NEVER REST IN PEACE AND THAT IS HIS PUNISHMENT AS WELL.

Hey Gina,

Saddam was handed over to the Iraqi Government and had no part in carrying out the death sentence.

I do agree with you, it was terrible to watch.

I have the answer right now as to where it was leaked. The person who shot the film on their cell phone posted it on YouTube. I saw it myself on the recently posted films the day it happened.

World events prove over and over that times are getting worse. It is only a matter of time before it hit's rock bottom. Religion and govenment has never and will never mix or peacefully co-exist. Helping one annoys the other. One mans call for peace is another's war cry. Isn't it sad?

I saw the cell phone video and it was not all that it is being made out to be. You be the judge. Look at it and also the so called taunting. Nothing that terrible or significant unless you want to make it into something. I would bet given the difficulty of having to restrain from what they really wanted to do. The Sadr comments were nothing. He too will be dead by the end of the week or month if Bush has his way. I say the leak was a good thing it only prevented some media junkett from buying up a multi- million dollar exclusive. Maybe that is why it is being pushed as something terribly significant.

I know hang them too...

Transporting Saddam's body via U.S. Helicopter was the ultimate slap in the face to both the American tax payers and especially to the American veterans who have sacrifices so much.

The only person claiming that this iconic moment was destroyed is Engel. Sadaam's execution wasn't meant to unify anyone. So, who cares want anyone yelled out during the hanging. Justice was served and nothing about that was ruined. Who in their right mind thought their wouldn't be some taunting anyway?

In regards to an earlier post addressing Mr. Waxman: You say our President is killing our soldiers in vain. Do you feel the liberation of France and the ouster of Hitler was in vain? Was Hussein not the same type of tyrant? If we did nothing and let him have his way, we would have been in the same situation. The only thing done wrong was we didn't finish the job in the first Gulf War.

We Americans are also responsible for this fiasco. We delivered Saddam and the officials that were there with our aircraft. Was it revenge for the Shiites or revenge for the Bush's? Why is everyone in this country so afraid to say that? Bush, himself said, "afterall this is the man that tried to kill my Dad". We removed all the Sunni's out of government jobs and handed them to the Shiites. WE are the ones with the weapons.