IRAQ: US army denies capture of Saddam's No. 2

Ezzat Ebrahim Al Douri served as vice president during Saddam Hussain's regime.

Baghdad: The US military in Baghdad on Thursday denied that Ezzat Ebrahim Al Douri, Saddam Hussain's former vice president, had been arrested in Salaheddin.

Iraqi army officers also denied the report, although Iraq's national security adviser Muwaffaq Al Rubaie said the army had arrested a group of terrorists and will conduct DNA tests.

"We can say at this stage that he is not under arrest for the coalition forces and we do not have any reports about the arrest by Iraqi security forces," the US military said in a statement.

Al Douri became the most-wanted former regime figure in Iraq after Saddam's capture in 2003. He is believed to have played a role in financing militant attacks.

Al Douri has been the only member of the former leadership headed by Saddam who had remained at large.

AP Ezzat Ebrahim Al Douri served as vice president during Saddam Hussain's regime. US army denies capture of Saddam's No. 2

Baghdad: The US military in Baghdad on Thursday denied that Ezzat Ebrahim Al Douri, Saddam Hussain's former vice president, had been arrested in Salaheddin.

Iraqi army officers also denied the report, although Iraq's national security adviser Muwaffaq Al Rubaie said the army had arrested a group of terrorists and will conduct DNA tests.

"We can say at this stage that he is not under arrest for the coalition forces and we do not have any reports about the arrest by Iraqi security forces," the US military said in a statement.

Al Douri became the most-wanted former regime figure in Iraq after Saddam's capture in 2003. He is believed to have played a role in financing militant attacks.

Al Douri has been the only member of the former leadership headed by Saddam who had remained at large.

The U.S. army responded to inquiries by The France Press agency via e-mail saying, "We are aware of the information circulated by the press, about the arrest of Izzat Al Douri.

It is all very confusing,....just came across this with Google's help:

Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri / Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri

*****************EXCERPT*********************

A Nov. 11, 2005 statement attributed to Iraq's ousted Baath Party reported that Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri had died that day, possibly from Leukemia from which he had been known to suffer from since the late 1990s.

Izzat [Ezzet] Ibrahim al-Douri, former vice president of Saddam's revolutionary council, was believed to be behind some attacks against coalition forces and Iraqis. He is the "King of Clubs" No. 6 on the coalition's most-wanted list. Following the capture of Saddam Hussein he became the most wanted man in Iraq.

On 23 June 2004 Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in an interview on MSNBC Hardball said " ... it's not insurgency. An insurgency implies something that rose up afterwards. This is the same enemy that butchered Iraqis for 35 years, that fought us up until the fall of Baghdad and continues to fight afterwards. It was led by Saddam Hussein up until his capture in December. It's been led, in part, by his No. 2 or 3, Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, since then."

Jaysh Muhammad (JM) is an anti-Coalition group with both politically motivated and religiously motivated elements. The politically motivated members are Ba'athist, pro-Saddam elements who tend to be of the Sufi religious soca. The Sufi enjoyed special status during the Baath Regime and hold Izzat al-Duri, the ex-vice-president, in exceptionally high esteem. They were members of intelligence, security, and police forces from the previous regime.

The red-haired Ibrahim was born in 1942 near Tikrit. Coming from the same clan area as Saddam, he had no independent power base, and posed no threat to Saddam. Saddam and Ibrahim were among the leading plotters of the 1968 coup which returned the Baath party to power. His daughter was briefly married to Uday Hussein al-Tikriti, a son of President Saddam Hussein.

He was Vice-Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) and Northern Region Commander. He also served as Deputy Secretary General of the Ba'th Party Regional Command and Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces. After the 1991 Gulf War, he was frequently sent abroad to represent Iraqi interests.

He had a well-deserved and well-known reputation as a killer. As Vice-Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, he was complicit in launching two wars of aggression against Iran and Kuwait, invading Saudi Arabia and attacking the town of Khafji in January 1991. He was involved in the brutal repression of the Uprising which followed the Gulf War in 1991 including mass executions, torture and wanton destruction. He was complicit in the deliberate destruction of the Marsh Arabs' way of life. He was also complicit in the genocidal Anfal campaigns waged against the Kurds, including chemical weapons attacks, the destruction of rural villages and infrastructure, and mass executions.

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