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Recent Appearances...

Iraq

Saddam's right-hand man dead: Dictator's daughter

2020-10-27

Yesterday the Ba’ath Party announced it, today Raghad confirms — though she also did so the last time his death was announced.

[AlAhram] Sadddam Hussein's right-hand man Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, a long-time runaway, has died, the executed Iraqi dictator's daughter and his Baath party said Monday

Sadddam Hussein's right-hand man Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, a long-time runaway, has died, the executed Iraqi dictator's daughter and his Baath party said Monday.

After Saddam's capture following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the wiry, red-haired general remained the "King of Clubs" in Washington's deck of cards of wanted regime figures with a $10-million bounty on his head.

"I offer condolences... to all Iraqis and all his (Duri's) admirers in the Arab world and around the world," tweeted Raghad Saddam Hussein, along with a picture of Duri and her father, who was convicted and hanged in 2006.

The Baath party, which ruled Iraq until Saddam's overthrow, issued a statement announcing the death of 78-year-old Duri, but it also gave no details on where or the cause.

Known as the "Iceman" for his humble origins selling blocks of ice, he has previously been reported dead or captured only to resurface in audio or video messages.

In 2016, an unauthenticated recording showed Duri praising al-Qaeda and the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
jihadist group.

Disaffected ex-Baathists reportedly played a key role in insurgencies after the invasion.

Duri rose to become the number two in the all-powerful Revolutionary Command Council of Saddam's regime.

Link

Iraq

Paramilitaries Hand Suspected Saddam VP Body to Iraq Govt.

2015-04-21

[AnNahar] The Ketaeb Hezbollah paramilitary group handed over the body of a man suspected of being Saddam Hussein's long-runaway deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri to Iraq's government on Monday for further testing.

Killing Duri -- who was vice president at the time of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and has for years been the most senior member of Saddam's regime still on the lam -- would be a major victory for Baghdad.

Ketaeb Hezbollah says the man killed by pro-government forces on Friday was Duri, but he had previously been reported dead only to resurface in audio and video messages.

"Today, we handed over the body of the criminal Izzat al-Duri to the Iraqi government" after confirming his identity with "tests and also testimony from those who previously met him", Ketaeb Hezbollah front man Jaafar al-Husseini told journalists.

Husseini told AFP the day before that two men captured by Ketaeb Hezbollah who had seen Duri in the past six months said the dead man was him, but that account could not be independently confirmed.

Ketaeb Hezbollah -- one of the most powerful militias fighting alongside government forces against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) jihadist group -- delivered the body in a heavily armed convoy of dozens of vehicles to a blocked-off section of street in central Baghdad.

It was transferred in a transparent container to a white Mercedes van, which then departed.

A health ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, confirmed it had received the body and would conduct DNA testing.

Ghanim Abdulkarim Ghanim, a human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
ministry official, had earlier said the government would use available files on Duri to determine whether it was him.

If necessary, it would seek to compare a blood sample to that of a relative, or identify the body by its physical features.

Husseini, speaking on a Ketaeb Hezbollah-affiliated television station on Sunday, said the man believed to be Duri was killed near the town of al-Alam north of Baghdad, and his body later transferred to the militia.

That account squared with one from Omar Abdullah al-Jbara, a leader in the volunteer forces from Al-Alam, who said local fighters and police clashed with a group of men on Friday, killing 12, including one who resembled Duri.

The Army of the Men of the Naqshbandiyah Order -- known by its Arabic initials JRTN and believed to be close to Duri -- took part in a sweeping IS-led holy warrior offensive that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last June.

But little has been heard from JRTN and other groups since, with IS dominating the conquered territory.

Senior members of Saddam's Baath party, to which Duri belonged, have also reportedly played a major role in IS itself.

Link

Iraq

Iraqi Forces Battle IS for Strategic Town

2015-03-07

[AnNahar] Iraqi forces battled the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group in the strategic town of Dawr on Friday as they pressed a major offensive aimed at retaking Tikrit from the jihadists, officials said.

The town lies along one of the main roads that Iraqi security forces and allied fighters are taking to reach the city of Tikrit, and needs to be captured for the anti-IS offensive to move forward.

Salaheddin province Governor Raad al-Juburi said the main street in Dawr had been retaken, while an army major general said periodic festivities were taking place in the town after security forces entered on Friday afternoon.

Ex-president Saddam Hussein was jugged
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
by U.S. forces in 2003 near Dawr, which is also the hometown of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the most senior member of his regime still on the lam.

Some 30,000 Iraqi security forces members and allied fighters launched the operation to retake Tikrit on Monday, the largest of its kind since IS overran swathes of territory last June.

Retaking Tikrit from IS Lion of Islams, who have had more than eight months to dig in since seizing the city last June, poses a major challenge for the country's forces.

Link

Iraq

Izzat Ibrahim backs Iraq Demos in Video

2013-01-06

[An Nahar] Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, Saddam Hussein's vice president and the highest-ranking member of his regime still on the run, has backed ongoing rallies in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq in an online video.

The 53-minute video, posted on YouTube on Friday, shows Duri reading a prepared statement behind a desk with a small Saddam-era flag atop it, and appears to be his first video message since April 2012.

The authenticity and date of the clip could not be verified.

In it, the 70-year-old voiced support for protests being held in mostly-Sunni Arab areas in western and northern Iraq that have been airing a multitude of grievances with the Shiite-led government, though primarily criticizing the alleged wrongful arrest of members of their minority community.

"Every city and region, all the Iraqi people, and every national and Islamic power is with you, and supports you in achieving your demands to overthrow the Persian Safavid alliance," Duri said.

He was making a pejorative reference to the Shiite-led government in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
, implying that it was under the domination of formerly Safavid-ruled neighboring Iran.

Duri, who was the king of clubs in a U.S. deck of cards showing the most-wanted members of Saddam's regime, said his Saddam-era group was "studying the firm and fair punishment of all who stand and support the Safavid project."

The Baath party, the ruling party in Saddam's Iraq, said Duri had died in 2005, but audio messages attributed to him were broadcast in 2006, 2008 and 2010, in addition to the April 2012 video.

Up to $1 million is offered for information leading to Duri's arrest or conviction, according to the website of the Rewards for Justice program, which is administered by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

The protests in Iraq began on December 23, and were sparked by the arrest of at least nine guards of Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi, a Sunni Arab and a leading member of the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, which is part of Maliki's unity government but frequently criticizes him in public.

Link

Iraq

Fugitive Saddam-era Iraq VP shown in online video

2012-04-08

[AFP] - An online video shows Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, Saddam Hussein's vice president and the highest-ranking member of his regime still on the run, in what appears to be his first video message since 2003.

The authenticity and date of the clip posted on YouTube on Saturday could not be verified.

It is the first message in years alleged to be from Duri, 70, who was the king of clubs in a US decks of cards showing the most-wanted members of Saddam's regime.

The Baath party, the ruling party in Saddam's Iraq, said Duri had died in 2005, but audio messages attributed to him were broadcast in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

The hour-long clip was posted online on the 65th anniversary of the 1947 founding of the Baath party, which came to power in Syria in 1963 and in Iraq in 1968, in both instances following coups.

At the beginning of the video, a man in a military uniform introduces Duri and calls him the "high commander of jihad (holy war) and liberation ... and the general secretary of the Baath party."

Duri, dressed in a drab green military uniform and black beret, reads remarks from sheets of paper, his hands shaking, and sometimes stumbles over the words.

"Our Baath (party), on its 65th anniversary, is in a major historic war," he said. "I call on this ... occasion for all the progressive resistance forces and all the national Islamic resistance forces to work for the liberation" of Iraq.

He alleged that "the political process today is ... for the benefit of Iran, which is carrying the most dangerous project for the Persians, with the intention of taking over Iraq and then destroying the nation."

Duri also spoke about Syria, criticising the reaction of Arab states against

Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
's regime, which has been carrying out a bloody crackdown on an uprising against his rule.

"We are with the Syrian people and with its legitimate rights, and with its peaceful uprising," he said.

But addressing Arab states, he said: "What is wrong with? You did everything against the Syrian regime, and you reached the point of calling for armies to invade Syria and erase its people, as happened in Iraq and Libya."

Link

Iraq

Izzat Ibrahim urges Arab support for Iraq militants

2010-03-30

Iraqi former dictator Saddam Hussein's number two, fugitive Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, has urged Arab states to talk to what he called the Iraqi "resistance" instead of the government.

"The Iraqi people request that your summit adopts a historic and courageous position by inviting resistance leaders to represent Iraq and its people in the summit and in the Arab League," Ibrahim said in the purported audiotape aired on Al-Jazeera television Sunday.

He asked Arab leaders meeting at their summit in Libya to "recognize resistance groups, armed and unarmed, break their diplomatic relations with the occupying authority in Iraq and annul all obligations resulting from those relations," AFP reported.

Ibrahim is the most wanted of the now-executed dictator's henchmen still at large.

The Baathist was second only to Saddam in the decision-making Revolutionary Command Council.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the country's Foreign Minister to quit an Arab League ministerial meeting held in Libya.

Hoshyar Zebari quit the meeting in protest to a meeting granted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to ex-members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party and some opposition figures including former oil minister Issam Shalabi.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh condemned the meeting on Wednesday, describing it as "undiplomatic" and an "insult" to the people of Iraq.

Link

Iraq

Baathists use mystics to trouble Iraqi north

2009-08-22

[Al Arabiya Latest] Fugitive henchmen of Saddam Hussein have adopted the cover of influential Muslim mystic groups to pose a real threat to stability in ethnically divided northern Iraq, Iraqi and U.S. commanders said.

The so-called Sufi orders have a large historical following in the disputed oil-rich region and commanders say that the exploitation by Saddam loyalists of the orders' extensive network of lodges holds more dangers than al-Qaeda.

"They have a pretty significant long-term potential to be a threat to the powers that be," said Major Chuck Assadourian, the intelligence chief of the U.S. Army's 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, who is based outside the oil city of Kirkuk.

Known as the Army of the Followers of the Naqshbandiya Order, or JRTN from its Arabic acronym, the insurgent group operates under the cover of the order's many lodges across Kirkuk and neighboring provinces, and counts Saddam's fugitive number two Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri among its leaders. It was founded under the auspices of Ibrahim and former interior minister Mohammed Yunus on the night of Saddam's execution for crimes against humanity at the end of the end of 2006, Assadourian said.

The members of its military wing are mainly made up of Sunni Arab former members of the Baath party and Saddam's disbanded armed forces, even though the Sufi orders traditionally claim to draw support from across the region's ethnic divide.

Capitalizing on Qaeda's mistakes
The JRTN has capitalized on the unpopularity of Qaeda and its foreign fighters, whose brutal tactics and enforcement of a strict version of Islam out of kilter with local traditions has alienated the region's population. "They're (Qaeda) not really as concerned with winning the hearts and minds of the people, they still have their extremist ideology--no alcohol, no smoking, those sort of things--and that's a big turn-off for the population," Assadourian said.

Provincial police chief Major General Jamal Taher Bakr agreed that the JRTN were now "the big threat," surpassing even Qaeda despite its continued mounting of spectacular, mass-casualty bombings. But he took issue with the JRTN's claim to focus its campaign of violence on U.S. targets rather than Iraqi ones. "They will attack civilian targets in cities, everywhere," Bakr said.

Assadourian said that overcoming the JRTN threat would take time and would need a political approach as much as a military one to woo former rank-and-file Baathists away from the diehards of the ousted regime. "Obviously national elections would help, if there was a more proportional representation of Sunnis," he said in allusion to the widespread boycott among Sunni Arabs of the last parliamentary elections in 2005. "And really there needs to be some determination as far as political accommodation for technocrats from the former regime, non-ideological individuals, because there's a significant population of those folks."

"With some of the political dynamics right now, a lot of the Baathists are excluded from holding positions and of course that's very contentious."

Progress has been slow on re-integrating former Baathists into government employment, after all but the most junior members of the party were barred from government jobs following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 in what is now regarded as one of the most misguided policies of the occupation.

Assadourian said that JRTN fighters, who also operate in neighboring Salaheddin province around Saddam's hometown of Tikrit--a traditional Baathist stronghold, mostly used roadside bombs and grenades, and often exaggerated their battlefield successes.

Media war
"They post videos and they'll drop it off on the street corner--'Look at us, look at what we can do, we're capable, we'll stand up against the occupiers,'" he said.

"One of the funny things is that they do a monthly production of these videos, and you'll go from month to month sometimes and you'll see the exact same video, and they'll tell you that it's a different unit that did it or a different location."

But the group has scored some major coups against U.S. targets. In January, four U.S. soldiers were killed when two U.S. helicopters on a reconnaissance mission came down, which JRTN claimed happened as a result of their fire. The U.S. military initially insisted that it was an accident, only to acknowledge the following month that the aircraft were downed by "hostile fire," but gave no specifics.

Nationwide, security has improved markedly compared to last year, with the number of violent deaths falling by a third in July to 275 from 437 in June. But the JRTN's strength in volatile Kirkuk threatens a new flare-up with the movement's mainly Sunni Arab supporters bitterly opposed to longstanding Kurdish claims to incorporate the province and its oil wealth in their northern autonomous region.

Link

Iraq

Iraq pomegranates bear grim testimony to Al-Qaeda torture

2008-12-17

Roses line the gravel road, palm fronds rustle in the breeze and wild flowers spread across the meadows where cattle graze -- the Iraqi scene would be charming without the stench of death.

Under pomegranate and peach trees in an orchard in the Shiite hamlet of Albu Tumeh, in the very violent province of Diyala northeast of Baghdad, police with shovels each day dig up more twisted bodies bearing witness to the violence of gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda.

"They released dogs (on their victims) to make them dig their grave more quickly. Then they bandaged their eyes, tied up their hands and feet and shot them in the head," said police general Ibrahim Obeidi Salman al-Anbaki.

Two exhumed bodies lie in front of him. A very sharp crack in the skull is visible at the temple, the bandage covering their eyes is intact, as are the ties on their hands and feet. The dead men are still dressed.

In mid-August, Iraqi and US forces chased the jihadists away from the villages they were occupying in the region, paradoxically named "Salam", Arabic for peace.

Since then, 87 bodies have been unearthed, including 20 in less than a week, with 10 or more women and children among the total.

"There are still at least another 50, perhaps even 100," added Anbaki, wearing a black uniform and a beret on which is pinned a spread eagle, Iraq's military symbol.

On May 5, 2007, Al-Qaeda fighters attacked Albu Tumeh and it fell five days later, says 31-year-old Hadi Hassan Abbas, a member of the hamlet's parish council.

The jihadists came from the family lands further north of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, number two of Saddam Hussein and the only top lieutenant of the executed president yet to be captured after the US-led invasion of 2003.

They quickly overran another 13 Shiite hamlets and, with Sunni villages already under their control, they established an "Islamic state" for the north of the province with Albu Tumeh as its "capital".

The area was all the more strategic because it was close to the overwhelmingly Sunni Arab province of Salaheddin, another of their strongholds, and only a few kilometres (miles) further from Hibhib, where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, founder of the Iraqi wing of Al-Qaeda, was killed in June 2006.

They formed a fearsome force. "Just imagine it. There were more than 2,000 of them. Some of the fighters were foreign but most were Iraqi, chiefly Baathists nostalgic for the former regime of Saddam Hussein," General Anbaki said.

In complete impunity, the jihadists planted bombs and put up roadblocks on the main highways to kidnap travellers. Police and soldiers had their throats slit while Shiites were shot with a bullet in the head and left in communal graves.

In the village centre, a two-storey building has collapsed after an American bomb hit it during the recapture of the district during the summer.

"This was Al-Qaeda's courthouse, but the judges issued only one sentence -- capital punishment. It was the last stage before death, before the communal graves," said a villager whose brother managed to escape from the court before being killed.

Near the courthouse stand skeletons of stolen cars. "When we came back a year later nothing was left. Before fleeing, the jihadists blew up the houses. All our furniture have gone," Hadi Abbas said.

For the moment, 40 year-old Adel Wadud Mohammed Abbas is not going near his orchard. "I won't pick one piece of fruit while bodies are there -- it would taste of death," the farmer said as a scythe swung from the belt around his beige Arabic gown.

Link

Iraq

Saddam deputy in anti-US call

2008-07-16

Izzy speaks...
A message purported to be from the fugitive deputy of executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has called on insurgents to make a final push against US forces. The message attributed to Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri urged Iraqi fighters to "make this year... decisive for victory".
I, of course, will stay here in my secret lair counting Sammy's money.
The message also called on US President George W Bush to "come clean about the scale of US losses".
Which he reads about in Jihad Unspun...
The message, aired by Dubai-based satellite broadcaster Al-Arabiya and reported by the AFP news agency, urged Iraqi insurgents to "strike the enemy everywhere". It also called on President Bush to "end an experiment that has now lasted more than five years".
Please stop killing us.
Ibrahim is the most senior member of Saddam Hussein's regime still at large. Al-Duri was Saddam Hussein's number two in Iraq's decision-making Revolutionary Command Council, and has had a $10m price on his head since November 2003. US military chiefs have accused him of being the paymaster of many attacks on their troops. They say he has access to Saddam's hidden stashes of cash with which he pays jobless Iraqis to fight in the insurgency. Thousands of US troops have taken part in the search for him.

Link

Iraq

Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri was captured in Iraq?

2008-04-23

via Gateway Pundit - AFP and AU.com links at GP. Should be developing...
A MAN suspected to be Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, who tops the Iraqi government's list of most-wanted fugitives, has been captured in Iraq, Al-Arabiya television reported today.

The man suspected to be Duri, who was number two under Saddam Hussein, was captured by Iraqi forces and handed over to the US military, it said, citing Iraqi security sources.

The US military in Baghdad denied it was holding Duri. "We are aware of media reports that Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri has been captured," the military said in an email. "At this point, we can say that he is not in coalition custody and we have no reports that he was captured by Iraqi security forces either."

Al-Arabiya said the man was caught in Hamrin between the provinces of Salaheddin and Kirkuk and was being moved to Baghdad.

Al-Arabiya television channel reported that a man suspected to be Duri, who tops the Iraqi government's list of most-wanted fugitives, has been captured in Iraq. The man suspected to be Duri was captured by Iraqi forces and handed over to the US military, it said citing Iraqi security sources.

Al-Arabiya said the man was caught in Hamrin between the provinces of Salaheddin and Kirkuk and was being moved to Baghdad. DNA tests are being conducted to confirm his identity, the Dubai-based Saudi-owned channel added.
HotAir reports that Syria may have given Izzat up

Link

Iraq

Izzat Ibrahim reported captured in Iraq: TV

2008-04-24

A man suspected to be Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, who tops the Iraqi government's list of most-wanted fugitives, has been captured in Iraq, Al-Arabiya television reported Wednesday.

I'll be oiling my ululator for the rest of the evening on the off chance it's true...

The man suspected to be Duri, who was number two under Saddam Hussein, was captured by Iraqi forces and handed over to the US military, it said, citing Iraqi security sources. The US military in Baghdad denied it was holding Duri.

Okay. Guess I'll toss the ululator back in the drawer...

"We are aware of media reports that Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri has been captured," the military told AFP in an email. "At this point, we can say that he is not in coalition custody and we have no reports that he was captured by Iraqi security forces either."

Al-Arabiya said the man was caught in Hamrin between the provinces of Salaheddin and Kirkuk and was being moved to Baghdad. DNA tests are being conducted to confirm his identity, the Dubai-based Saudi-owned news channel added. Abu Mohammad, described as Duri's representative in Syria, told Al-Arabiya the report is fabricated.

Since that's likely where Izzy is, too.

Duri is free and secure and "leading the resistance and jihad in Iraq," Abu Mohammad said by telephone.

Al-Arabiya quoted "US forces" as saying the person captured "looks like" Duri but confirmation of his identity awaits DNA testing. Duri, the most senior official in the ousted Saddam Hussein regime to be still on the run, heads a 41 most-wanted list released by the Iraqi government in 2006 with a 10-million-dollar bounty. He was Saddam's number two under the former Baath regime and is considered an operational leader with close ties to anti-US insurgents.

In remarks to the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat published on Wednesday, Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said Duri was in Syria from where he led the insurgency in Iraq. Questioned by Al-Arabiya about Duri's alleged capture, Rubaie said the Iraqi army "arrested some terrorists and armed people" during an operation near Hamrin and brought them to Baghdad. "We will conduct DNA tests to ascertain their identities. I can't confirm or deny until the tests have been conducted," he said.

Duri was number six and the king of clubs on a 55 most-wanted "deck of cards" distributed by the Pentagon at the outset of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Link

Iraq

Iraqi forces swoop in hunt for Saddam deputy

2007-12-08

Iraqi police raided a village near the hometown of Saddam Hussein in the hunt for his deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the most wanted former regime official still on the run, an official said on Saturday.

Abdullah Hussein Jbara, deputy governor of Salaheddin province of which Tikrit is the capital, said that forces along with members from the local anti-Qaeda front, raided the village of Al-Sada al-Nuaim on Friday after a tip that Duri was holed up there. "The force did not find Duri but did find documents confirming his link with armed groups in northern provinces," Jbara said.

The documents included recent letters written by insurgent leaders to Duri and included information on various factions and their operations, he added. One document detailed a planned attack on Mosul's Badush prison that took place in March.

Link

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