Saddam Hussein

IRAQ_9087

In this April 7, 2003 file photo, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad. In the beginning, it all looked simple: topple Saddam Hussein, destroy his purported weapons of mass destruction and lay the foundation for a pro-Western government in the heart of the Arab world. Nearly 4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives later, the objective now is simply to get out _ and leave behind a country where democracy has at least a chance, where Iran does not dominate and where conditions may not be good but "good enough." (AP Photo/John Moore, File)

IRAQ_9083

In this April 9, 2003 file photo, Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad, Iraq. In the beginning, it all looked simple: topple Saddam Hussein, destroy his purported weapons of mass destruction and lay the foundation for a pro-Western government in the heart of the Arab world. Nearly 4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives later, the objective now is simply to get out _ and leave behind a country where democracy has at least a chance, where Iran does not dominate and where conditions may not be good but "good enough." (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

Mideast Iraq Goodbye _Lea.jpg

** FILE ** Lt. Col. Les Melnyk, a U.S. military historian in Iraq, walks past a mural of the late Saddam Hussein in the Victory Base Complex in Baghdad on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. As the United States prepares to pull out its forces by Dec. 31, Hussein's palaces will be handed over to the Shiite-led Iraqi government that replaced the Sunni dictator. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)