Well........ Baghdad Bob says so!
Has this been confirmed by any reliable news outlets?
No, we don't even know if he is/was in Iraq.
Well........ Baghdad Bob says so!
BAGHDAD, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Iraq's Baath party supporters confirmed on Saturday reports of the death of Saddam Hussein's deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was seen as a key figure in the insurgency since Saddam's fall in 2003.
"On the soil of Arabic Iraq, the soul of Comrade Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri returned to God the Creator on Friday at dawn," said a statement on alBasrah.net which publishes news from Baath supporters in Iraq. Al Arabiya satellite television had reported on Friday that Ibrahim, the most senior member of the former regime still at large, had died, but since his whereabouts were unknown there was still some uncertainty about his fate.
The alBasrah.net statement, which was dated Saturday, described Ibrahim as "the field commander for the heroic resistance".
There was no independent verification of his death.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said earlier his death would be a good thing for Iraq and a blow to the insurgency.
Ibrahim was number six on the U.S. military's list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis, with a $10 million reward offered for his capture. He was the deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council which Saddam headed.
An analyst in Baghdad said Ibrahim's death could change the shape of the insurgency in Iraq.
"Baathists now are in two camps -- one which wants to join the political process and another, which is influenced and led by Ibrahim, which believes in armed struggle," political analyst Hazim Naimi told Reuters.
"Ibrahim was against the political process. Now with his death the balance will go towards taking part in the political process. We will see a new generation of Baathists."
LOYAL
Ibrahim, a red-haired and moustachioed figure who was among Saddam's most loyal aides, had been widely rumoured to have cancer and had been very ill while in hiding.
His family hails from the region around Tikrit, where his father worked as an ice seller. Despite a basic education and no academic qualifications, his loyalty to Saddam helped him to take prominent positions in the leadership.
He was one of the three surviving plotters, along with Saddam and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who brought the Baath Party to power in a coup in 1968.
Following the coup, he continued to retain a key position in the Baath rule, one of few close confidants who never fell out of favour with Saddam.
After the toppling of Saddam's regime, Ibrahim went into hiding and was believed by U.S. commanders to be directly involved in funding and guiding the insurgency against U.S.-led forces, as well as brokering an alliance between Baathist insurgents and militant Islamists.
Days before announcing his death, the Web site issued a statement from Ibrahim himself in which he outlined the new "political and strategic programme of the Iraqi resistance", urging insurgents to attack U.S. forces in Iraq.
"Many mistakes happened during the Baath ruling but the party -- God willing -- will work on fixing them as soon as possible," he said in the statement.
"We have started building a (united) resistance front which will include all the nationalist and Islamic resistance groups working in the field," it said.