Saddam's ultimate designation is unaffected and undetermined by this designation. President Bush said that the pursuit of justice with regard to Saddam Hussein should have an Iraqi leadership role.

President Bush and Mrs. Bush are saddened by the news. It's a tremendous loss for our nation.

It was an Iraqi-led investigation, an Iraqi-led raid. It was the result of Iraqi arrest warrants.

We are cautiously optimistic about this. Today was a very good first step. Now, let's just see where it goes.

I believed -- and I said from the podium -- that as Iraqis became more politically empowered, the insurgency would become politically weakened. That hasn't happened. The political process has been resilient -- and so has the insurgency.

This has all the look and feel of similar terrorist attacks we've seen in Iraq. Large explosives, well-orchestrated, clearly designed and timed to progress we're making on the political front.