Bush Says Hussein Hanging Should Have Been 'More Dignified'

Speaking during a joint White House news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush said, however, that he believes the former Iraqi president was given a "fair trial" and received justice, while the thousands of people Hussein killed during his rule were not given justice.

"I wish, obviously, that the proceedings had gone in a more dignified way," Bush said, "but, nevertheless, he was given justice that thousands of people he killed were not."

Bush said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has assured him that Iraqi authorities will fully investigate what happened during Hussein's execution.

Iraqi officials have said they are probing who made and released the unauthorized mobile-phone video of the hanging, and who was involved in taunting Hussein in the minutes before he died.

(Reuters, AFP)