Saddam Hussein has been executed. The former Iraqi dictator, whose reign of terror reportedly resulted in the deaths of over 1,000,000 people, was hanged at approximately 10:00 PM EST on December 29th.

This is an important day in world history. Although the brutal tyrant was tried and executed by the Iraqi legal system, it was the United States that made it possible for Saddam to be brought to justice. Saddam's decades-long reign ended in April 2003, after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. U.S. soldiers captured Saddam in December of that year. Saddam was held in U.S. custody until shortly before his execution, when he was turned over to Iraqi authorities.

Saddam's death will hopefully give some relief to the surviving victims of his regime. Unfortunately, the results of Saddam's reign are far from undone in Iraq. His regime instilled an entitlement attitude in the Sunni Arabs whom he favored, and fostered hostility among the Shiites and Kurds whom he terrorized. These bitter divisions gave rise to insurgent groups who have been wreaking merciless havoc on the country that ought to be celebrating their liberation from Saddam's tyrannical dictatorship. Instead, the violence and hatred Saddam inflicted on Iraq continue to have deadly consequences, for the Iraqi people as well as for the U.S.-led coalition forces who continue to fight for freedom and stability in the troubled country.

Saddam is now being judged by the Almighty. Here on Earth, people must heed the lessons the world has learned from Saddam's reign of terror, and work to repair the damage he has done to Iraq and the rest of the world.