Posted on 03/27/2006 8:14:55 AM PST by Valin
BAGHDAD, Iraq, AP - Saddam Hussein's chief deputy, who has eluded capture since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq three years ago, purportedly called for Arab leaders to back Iraq's Sunni-backed insurgency, in an audiotape broadcast Monday.
The tape, which Al-Jazeera television said was made by Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, appeared to be an address to the Arab League summit in Khartoum, Sudan, this week.
The voice on the tape said Iraq's Sunni-led insurgency was "the sole legitimate representative of the Iraqi people." It was impossible to determine the tape's authenticity.
Al-Douri was sixth on the U.S. deck of cards that enumerated the most-wanted members of Saddam's regime. He had been Revolutionary Command Council vice chairman and a longtime Saddam confidant.
The voice also said Arab leaders should "boycott the regime of mercenaries and treason and besiege it by taking the necessary decision to support the people of Iraq, its courageous, national resistance and its jihad until liberation."
The tape also sought to distance the insurgency from attacks on civilians and religious targets, calling them "the pinnacle of lowliness, vileness and criminality. Our people and your resistance will take revenge from the culprits sooner or later."
Al-Douri, who is at least 62, was among Saddam's oldest and closest associates.
As the insurgency spread, the United States and its allies offered a $10 million reward for information leading to al-Douri's capture.
It was unclear whether al-Douri, who had been in poor health for years, still had a direct role in leading the insurgency. In June, the Iraqi government said he was losing influence among the pro-Saddam wing of the rebellion.
Various reports of his death and capture have proven incorrect in the past.
al-Douri is hiding like the craven cowards all those Saddamist regime Scumbags are/were.
LOL.
This guy has as many lives as bin Laden.
Saddam's Number 2 ... I like that description.
He's hiding in huggery-buggery land I see......
Poor Izzy, still grasping on to the dream of the old regime. A more efficient planner is al-Sadr. Realizing he was going to get himself killed a few years back, he's decided to wait things out for a few years and settle into a role where he offers vocal resistance based on religious convictions.
He'll undoubtedly wait a few more years before trying to cross over politically on a platform of "In true Arabic and Islamic spirit, I resisted the Americans, and gave us a true voice. If you have pride in your religion and your fellow Arab countrymen, you'll side with me to stand on our own honorably and with pride"
"The tape also sought to distance the insurgency from attacks on civilians and religious targets, calling them "the pinnacle of lowliness, vileness and criminality. Our people and your resistance will take revenge from the culprits sooner or later.""
There is the pot calling the kettle black. Interesting, though, that he takes the time to spread some red-on-red bile around. However this plays out, the end-game includes the foreign arab fighters getting whacked.
However this plays out, the end-game includes the foreign arab fighters getting whacked.
and that's a good thing.....no make that a VERY good thing.
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