"Today marks a milestone for the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law," an unnamed White House official was quoted as saying on December 30 last year, the day Saddam was hanged.
An Iraqi appeal court judge said on December 27 that Saddam would be hanged after confirming the former president's sentence.
Saddam, whose two sons were killed by American invading troops, was caught near his home village north of Baghdad in 2003.
His trial ' which lasted nine months ' was very dramatic and he was frequently ejected from the courtroom, while his half brother and co-defendant, Ibrahim, openly defied the court and the judge. Reports said Ibrahim once attended court dressed in underwear and sat with his back to the judges.
Meanwhile, there has been no let-up in the violence that followed America's globally opposed invasion of Iraq.
The death toll of US troops in Iraq has surpassed that of the attacks of 9/11 while suicide bombings and kidnappings continue unabated.
Weapons of mass destruction ' which America said it was bludgeoning its way into Iraq to find ' are yet to be found.
Shortly after the death sentence was upheld, Saddam said he would walk to the gallows as a sacrifice and enjoined Iraqis to unite against their enemy.
Saddam's Ba'ath Party said it would revenge his execution. In an Internet message put out days before he was hanged, the party said it would target US interests anywhere.
The statement read: "Our party warns again of the consequences of executing Mr President and his comrades. The Ba'ath and the resistance are determined to retaliate with all means and everywhere to harm America and its interests if it commits this crime."
The party said the US would be held responsible for any harm on Saddam as it was the decision maker and not the "puppet" Iraqi government.
Unbending to the last
Reports said Saddam ' who was killed early in the morning on Saturday December 30 ' walked calmly to the gallows carrying the Quran and offering no resistance. He refused to wear a head hood.
Analysts said the killing of the former Iraqi president would not stop the blood-letting in the highly chaotic, blood-soaked country.
Americans called the former leader's defence team to pick up his personal belongings hours before he was killed.
Saddam's daughters Raghd and Rana, who watched their father's slaying on television from Jordan where they are exiled, said they were proud to see him being put to death without flinching.
Agency reports quoted Rasha Oudeh, a spokesman for the two daughters, as saying they felt proud as they saw Saddam facing his executioners so bravely, standing up.
Iraqi television also showed pictures of his sons Uday and Qusay's bodies.
A caring man
A US military nurse who cared for Saddam in custody said the deposed leader was a caring man who saved bread crusts to feed birds and seldom complained to his captors, save when he had legitimate gripes.
Master Sergeant Robert Ellis attended to Saddam from January 2004 until August 2005 at Camp Cropper near Baghdad.
Ellis, 56, said he was under orders to do whatever was needed to keep Saddam alive.
"That was my job: to keep him alive and healthy so they could kill him at a killer date," he told a newspaper.
He checked Saddam twice a day and wrote a daily report on his emotional and physical conditions.
Saddam told Ellis that cigars and coffee kept his blood pressure down, and insisted Ellis smoke with him.
He said Saddam shared with him memories of happier times when his children were young.
When he had to leave for America because his brother was dying, Saddam hugged him and wished him well.
He said Saddam never discussed dying and had no regrets about his rule, saying everything he did was for Iraq.
Ellis describes a moving incident in which Saddam asked him why America invaded Iraq.
"I said: 'That's politics. We soldiers don't get caught up in that sort of thing'." ' Own staff and agencies.
