Another milestone

Odd watching this while CBS is showing Ford's procession to Air Force One.

But it really is fitting that our glorious adventure in Iraq would finally include a scene right outta Judge Roy Bean. Who, by the way, Bush sounds a lot like:

Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial -- the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.

Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule. It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law.

Saddam Hussein's execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops. Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and be an ally in the War on Terror.

We are reminded today of how far the Iraqi people have come since the end of Saddam Hussein's rule - and that the progress they have made would not have been possible without the continued service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform.

Yep, they've come a long way, baby.

But, as Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq, asks, "So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here?"