Posted on 04/23/2008 5:27:31 PM PDT by blam
Saddam Hussein's ally Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri 'captured' in Iraq
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:57am BST 24/04/2008
American forces have captured Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party heir, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most wanted former regime official still at large, it has been reported.
A Middle Eastern television channel said Douri, a key force in the country's devastating insurgency, had been seized in a mountain raid in Saddam's home province of Salahaddin.
Most wanted: Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
Douri was King of Clubs in the deck of cards of most wanted Iraqis issued to American soldiers after the war.
But he was almost unique in evading capture within the top rungs of the regime deposed by the US-led coalition in 2003.
A US spokesman said the Baghdad command was unable to confirm his capture, but the television reports said he had been handed to US forces and DNA tests would be carried out to confirm his identity.
Abu Mohammed, described as Douri's representative in Syria, claimed the reports were fabricated, saying Douri was free and "leading the resistance and jihad in Iraq".
Western intelligence credited Douri, whose name derives from the neighbouring village to Saddam's native town, with a continuing important role in the insurgency.
A wizened bureaucrat with red hair, the former vice-chairman of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council was not cut out for the underground but he survived for five years on guile and a broad range of connections.
Mowafaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's National Security adviser, told a Saudi newspaper that Syria was sheltering Douri and accused the 65-year-old of playing a key role connecting former regime officials with al-Qa'eda followers.
As the last recognised leader of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, he found post-war support in Syria and used his position in Damascus to frustrate attempts by moderates to start negotiations with democratic regimes.
Known since childhood as the Ice Man, his state of health was rumoured to be fragile and several reports had said he died of leukaemia.
But he enjoyed strong tribal support among Sunni Muslim sympathisers as well as Al-Qa'eda sympathisers.
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An Iraqi court announced that Tariq Aziz, the urbane Christian Iraqi who was the dictatorship's voice to the world, would face trial for the persecution of Baghdad merchants in the 1990s.
The announcement of charges for Aziz and six other top officials, including Saddam's half brother, Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, dashed hopes in the Vatican that the long-serving foreign minister would be freed on grounds of ill-health.
The trial centres on the execution of 42 merchants rounded up after the first Gulf War and accused of profiteering from Iraq's isolation.
A US spokesman said the Baghdad command was unable to confirm his capture, but the television reports said he had been handed to US forces and DNA tests would be carried out to confirm his identity.
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he had been handed to US forces
Now that is a VERY interesting Statement....
Do you suppose ...who ever gave him up....wanted to make sure the American's got him....rather than the Iraqi's....
And wouldn't that lend credence to the individual was some one of High Value.....
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There....got my euphoria worked back up.......
Was he hiding in a hole in the ground, too? LOL
I thought they captured captain moustache 3 times already. This is getting really old.
LOL! Love the seal. So accurate. :)
No F’n way! Great news. Stick a fork in the Baathist insurgency.
OK,...backing away a bit from my euphoria.
Oh darn! Another head popped off. One of these days we have to make the rope a little shorter. One of these days we’ll get to it.
Oh yeah !!! Hope we finally got this one !!!
Or some 45 minutes after being handed over, a black helicopter showed up, some ID was flashed, and “bye bye” went the helicopter, along with the detainee, whose ID had never been “established”....>B-)
They still haven’t hanged Chemical Ali.
If he was captured it probably was a month ago.
Please PING us if you hear anything official.
Quit crying, gas is $4.17 here in Hawaii. And that if regular. That’s today, tomorrow it will be higher.
Then hang him high.
Leni
Yike, and I thought it was expensive to visit tubebender. I don't think I'll be driving to Hawaii this summer ;o)
How many cards are left? Like 2 or 3 in the deck?
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.”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23590691-12335,00.html
The man is dying of cancer BUT politically and psychologically his capture is - as you say - a huge event.
As is Petraus replacing Dhimmi Admiral Fallon who openly stated that Iran would never be attacked in HIS watch! And refused to obey orders and send a third carrier force to the Middle East.Bye bye felonious Fallon.
CENTCOM was/is riddled with old fuddy duddy generals who all fall into the felonious Fallon camp. I hope Petreaus does a great Spring Cleaning of CENTCOM and then a clean up in Iran. Maybe after sluicing out Syria.
Oooohhhhh Yeah!!! One by one..............
I hear that the Pacific Northwest is not much cheaper than over here. On top of Hawaii being high, I live on Maui and it’s the highest of all the islands here. Aloha
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