70 Killed During Capture Of 'Saddam's Aide' (Al-Douri)

IOL ^ | 9-5-2004 | Waleed Ibrahim/Tom Perry

[blam]

70 killed during capture of 'Saddam's aide'

September 05 2004 at 04:02PM

By Waleed Ibrahim and Tom Perry

Baghdad - Iraqi and US forces arrested a man believed to be the most-wanted Saddam Hussein aide still on the run in a bloody raid on Sunday in which 70 of his supporters were killed and 80 captured, the government said.

The defence ministry said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri - who was sixth on the US list of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's regime and had a $10-million price on his head - was captured in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown and powerbase north of Baghdad.

The top five on the list, including Saddam, his sons Uday and Qusay, and "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid, have already been captured or killed. The seventh most-wanted man on the list, Special Security Organisation Director Hani Abd Latif Tilfah al-Tikriti, is still at large.

Latif said the captured man was suffering from leukaemia Iraqi Minister of State Wael Abdul al-Latif told Reuters it was "75 to 90 percent certain" the captured man was Ibrahim. He said 70 of the man's supporters were killed and 80 captured when they tried to prevent him being seized.

Latif said the captured man was suffering from leukaemia and was in very poor health.

The US military has said Ibrahim was directly involved in organising and funding attacks on US forces since the downfall of Saddam. In a deck of cards issued to US troops to help them identify fugitives, Ibrahim was the King of Clubs.

The news spread fast in Baghdad, and in some Shi'a districts residents fired AK-47s in the air in celebration.

Ibrahim was Saddam's number two in the Revolutionary Command Council, and held a senior post on a government committee in charge of northern Iraq when chemical weapons were used against the town of Halabja in 1988, killing thousands of Kurds.

The red-haired Ibrahim was born in 1942 near Tikrit, 160km north of Baghdad, the son of an ice seller.

Ibrahim was one of Saddam's top aides and most trusted confidants. His daughter was briefly married to Saddam's elder son Uday, bonding him within the ruling elite.

If confirmed, the news will be a welcome boost for Iraq's interim government as it tries to crush a deadly insurgency and grapples with a hostage crisis.

France's government said on Sunday it remained hopeful that two French hostages would be freed, although its foreign minister returned empty-handed from a Middle East mission intended to secure their release.

"We have serious reasons to believe both of them are in good health and that a favourable outcome is possible," Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told reporters after discussing the hostage crisis with President Jacques Chirac.

"Our top priority today remains to secure their release. Our priority is their safety," he said. "We are working hard, calmly, cautiously and discreetly."

Journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were seized on August 20 by militants from the Islamic Army in Iraq, who demanded Paris rescind a law banning Muslim headscarves in state schools. France refused the demands and the law went into force on Thursday.

France was shocked to be caught up in the hostage crisis as it opposed the US-led war in Iraq and has no troops there.

Militant groups waging a bloody insurgency against the U.S.-backed interim Iraqi government have turned to kidnapping foreigners as part of a campaign to force firms and foreign troops to leave Iraq. About two dozen foreign hostages have been killed, some of them beheaded.

Police said on Sunday the body of an Egyptian who was kidnapped last month had been found in northern Iraq.

The body of the Egyptian, who was snatched on Aug. 27, was found on Saturday at a roadside near the town of Baiji, 180km north of Baghdad, police said. They said the body bore signs of torture, with hands and legs bound together.

(Additional reporting by Huda Majeed Saleh and Ibon Villelabeitia in Baghdad and Timothy Heritage in Paris)

[blam]

"They said the body bore signs of torture, with hands and legs bound together."

Just for the fun of it apparently. Sick Islamic bastards!

[blam]

Saddam top aide's capture denied

BBC

A reward of $10m has been offered for Douri's capture

Reports that Saddam Hussein's top aide Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri is in custody in Iraq have proved unfounded. Initial announcements by the Iraqi authorities suggested he had been arrested on Saturday while receiving treatment at a clinic near Tikrit.

But the US military have made it clear he is not in their custody, and the Iraqi national guard later denied involvement in any operation.

There have been several previous false reports about his arrest.

Mr Douri - known as Saddam Hussein's enforcer - has been described as the most senior figure in the former regime still at large, and the most wanted.

Mr Douri was Saddam Hussein's number two in the Revolutionary Command Council, and is sixth on the list of 55 most wanted members of the regime. The top five have all been captured or killed.

He is accused of financing insurgent groups, and has a $10m price tag on his head.

[nuconvert]

alDouri and 80 others captured plus 70 of his men killed .....

What a haul! Great Work!

[nuconvert]

PonG!

[basil]

Personally, I would prefer that they had killed the 80 others that they took as prisoners. Sure would save a lot of trouble in the long run.

[tiki]

-151 more terrorist in the world making it a little safer for school children. Monster pigs who deserve to wallow in their own slop for the rest of their lives.

[Savage219]

Shi'a districts residents fired AK-47s in the air in celebration. ........ i've always wondered why you don't hear of people being hit by falling bullets from all of the Arab shooting celebrations.... oh well

[No Blue States]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri (born July 1, 1942) was a military commander under the Iraq Saddam Hussein regime until 2003, and was vice-president and deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council.

His family hails from the region around Tikrit, where his father worked as an ice seller. Al-Douri is one of the three surviving plotters, along with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Taha Yassin Ramadan, who brought the Ba'ath Party to power in a coup in 1968.

Following the coup, he continued to retain a prominent position in the Ba'ath regime. He played a key role in the chemical shelling of rebellious Kurdish villagers near the city of Halabjah in 1988 that resulted in the deaths of 5,000 civilians.

In Austria he has been implicated in war crimes. Following the Gulf War, he was frequently sent abroad to represent Iraqi interests. His daughter was briefly married to Uday Hussein al-Tikriti, a son of President Saddam Hussein. In 1998, he survived an assassination attempt against him in Karbala.

On March 20, 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq, leading to the toppling of the regime of President Saddam Hussein on April 9. Following the fall of Baghdad, al-Douri went into hiding and has been charged by U.S. officials to be involved in directing the subsequent Iraqi insurgency against U.S. forces. He is believed to be directing and funding guerilla attacks as well as brokering an alliance between Ba'athist insurgents and militant Islamists. Other reports, however, suggest that he is suffering from leukemia and is directing all his energy to avoiding capture.

He is the King of Clubs in the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. Following the capture of Saddam Hussein he is now the most wanted man in Iraq.

He was widely considered to be the right hand man of Saddam Hussein.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri?

Yes, I believe it is.

[Delta 21]

This one was a long time coming! He is a very bad man.

[No Blue States]

"He played a key role in the chemical shelling of rebellious Kurdish villagers near the city of Halabjah in 1988 that resulted in the deaths of 5,000 civilians."

He is going to get the new Iraqi DP.

[shield]

Good job...troops!!!

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS...THEY ARE DOING ONE H3LL OF A JOB!!!;o)

[JediForce]

DNC Talking points : We question the timing of this capture. We believe that it was timed to take away attention from Hurricane Frances.

Tom Dasshole's office responds...." I am deeply saddened by this situation and question the timing of this."

Kerry Campaign response: " I served in Cambod..er..ah..Vietnam.

[Sgt_Schultze]

He's been available to the right people for some time now. You just had to know where to look...

[shrinkermd]

This was also the home town of Saladin the man who beat the Crusaders centuries ago. Saddam took great pride in that even though Saladin was rumored to be a Kurd.

[nuconvert]

Oh, CRUMB! They're backing off this story.......

[WayneM]

Only 70? I guess things can't always go well.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Earlier thread:

Top Saddam regime fugitive al-Douri arrested

[Solamente]

In happier times...