Looking Back At War In Iraq

For weeks, in a sand covered classroom lit by sunshine and stars and near the battlefields' border, America's sons and daughters prepared for the unpredictable. War is unpredictable. A storm made by man.

Of course, this was not America's first war and almost certainly not her last. But, as CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts reports, it was a first; the first time the world could watch hour-by-hour, from the uneasy comfort of home.

From Baghdad to Basra, to unfamiliar places in between and points further north, lives were lost and troops went missing.

And soon, from the hardships of war came glimpses of hope.

Saddam was on the run, his sons cornered and killed. Iraq was seemingly on the rebound.

But predictions remain premature. Soldiers and civilians are still dying. Iraq is still dangerous. And freedom still is not free.

And then there are the sweet surprises no one could ever predict -- the arrest of Saddam Hussein. Even on TV, war remains unpredictable.