Key Saddam deputy and top militant leader al-Douri killed in Iraq

[Saif al-Arab]

The Iraqi regime has announced his death 10 times or so since 2003. I will wait for the DNA tests.
In any case he was an old man with outdated ideas who also was suffering from leukemia since the 1990's. I doubt that he played any significant role anymore. If he did he would not have been killed alongside some young ISIS members (apparently). No, he would have been in Mosul along with the leadership planning the next moves.

He also released an audio message less than 2 weeks ago.

We thank him for his sacrifice against the Mullah's. Job very well done. Anyway there are literally 400 million al-Douri's out there when it comes to Iran and Farsis. 1 gone (possibly) makes no difference at all.

 

[Madali]

Wow, he looks just like Heseinberg,

 

[Hindustani78]

Last Updated: Sunday, April 19, 2015 - 23:25
Iraqi officer under Saddam masterminded rise of Islamic State: Spiegel | Zee News


Berlin: A former intelligence officer for the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was the mastermind behind Islamic State`s takeover of northern Syria, according to a report by Der Spiegel that is based on documents uncovered by the German magazine.


Spiegel, in a lengthy story published at the weekend and entitled "Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State", says it gained access to 31 pages of handwritten charts, lists and schedules which amount to a blueprint for the establishment of a caliphate in Syria.

The documents were the work of a man identified by the magazine as Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, a former colonel in the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein`s air defence force, who went by the pseudonym Haji Bakr.

Spiegel says the files suggest that the takeover of northern Syria was part of a meticulous plan overseen by Haji Bakr using techniques -- including surveillance, espionage, murder and kidnapping -- honed in the security apparatus of Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi national was reportedly killed in a firefight with Syrian rebels in January 2014, but not before he had helped secure swathes of Syria, which in turn strengthened Islamic State`s position in neighbouring Iraq.

"What Bakr put on paper, page by page, with carefully outlined boxes for individual responsibilities, was nothing less than a blueprint for a takeover," the story by Spiegel reporter Christoph Reuter says.

"It was not a manifesto of faith, but a technically precise plan for an `Islamic Intelligence State` -- a caliphate run by an organisation that resembled East Germany`s notorious Stasi domestic intelligence agency."

The story describes Bakr as being "bitter and unemployed" after U.S. authorities in Iraq disbanded the army by decree in 2003. Between 2006 to 2008 he was reportedly in U.S. detention facilities, including Abu Ghraib prison.

In 2010 however, it was Bakr and a small group of former Iraqi intelligence officers who made Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the official leader of Islamic State, with the goal of giving the group a "religious face", the story says.

Two years later, the magazine says, Bakr travelled to northern Syria to oversee his takeover plan, choosing to launch it with a collection of foreign fighters that included novice militants from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Europe alongside battle-tested Chechens and Uzbeks.

Iraqi journalist Hisham al-Hashimi, whose cousin served with Bakr, describes the former officer as a nationalist rather than an Islamist. The story argues that the secret to Islamic State`s success lies in its combination of opposites - the fanatical beliefs of one group and the strategic calculations of another, led by Bakr.

Spiegel said it had obtained the papers after lengthy negotiations with rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo, who had seized them when Islamic State was forced to abandon its headquarters there in early 2014.

 

[jamahir]

Last Updated: Sunday, April 19, 2015 - 23:25
Iraqi officer under Saddam masterminded rise of Islamic State: Spiegel | Zee News


Berlin: A former intelligence officer for the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was the mastermind behind Islamic State`s takeover of northern Syria, according to a report by Der Spiegel that is based on documents uncovered by the German magazine.


Spiegel, in a lengthy story published at the weekend and entitled "Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State", says it gained access to 31 pages of handwritten charts, lists and schedules which amount to a blueprint for the establishment of a caliphate in Syria.

The documents were the work of a man identified by the magazine as Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, a former colonel in the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein`s air defence force, who went by the pseudonym Haji Bakr.

Spiegel says the files suggest that the takeover of northern Syria was part of a meticulous plan overseen by Haji Bakr using techniques -- including surveillance, espionage, murder and kidnapping -- honed in the security apparatus of Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi national was reportedly killed in a firefight with Syrian rebels in January 2014, but not before he had helped secure swathes of Syria, which in turn strengthened Islamic State`s position in neighbouring Iraq.

"What Bakr put on paper, page by page, with carefully outlined boxes for individual responsibilities, was nothing less than a blueprint for a takeover," the story by Spiegel reporter Christoph Reuter says.

"It was not a manifesto of faith, but a technically precise plan for an `Islamic Intelligence State` -- a caliphate run by an organisation that resembled East Germany`s notorious Stasi domestic intelligence agency."

The story describes Bakr as being "bitter and unemployed" after U.S. authorities in Iraq disbanded the army by decree in 2003. Between 2006 to 2008 he was reportedly in U.S. detention facilities, including Abu Ghraib prison.

In 2010 however, it was Bakr and a small group of former Iraqi intelligence officers who made Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the official leader of Islamic State, with the goal of giving the group a "religious face", the story says.

Two years later, the magazine says, Bakr travelled to northern Syria to oversee his takeover plan, choosing to launch it with a collection of foreign fighters that included novice militants from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Europe alongside battle-tested Chechens and Uzbeks.

Iraqi journalist Hisham al-Hashimi, whose cousin served with Bakr, describes the former officer as a nationalist rather than an Islamist. The story argues that the secret to Islamic State`s success lies in its combination of opposites - the fanatical beliefs of one group and the strategic calculations of another, led by Bakr.

Spiegel said it had obtained the papers after lengthy negotiations with rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo, who had seized them when Islamic State was forced to abandon its headquarters there in early 2014.

spiegel is putting out another nato disinfo article... and the terrorist-supporter member, ebray, has already posted this in the "syria civil war" thread in a longer version.

this is just like how george bush junior and tony blair were connecting saddam with qaeda in 2003.

 

[Hindustani78]

If i remember correctly shortly after 9 11 attack. President Bush pointed out towards Baathist leadership and thier International allies.

 

[jamahir]

If i remember correctly shortly after 9 11 attack. President Bush pointed out towards Baathist leadership and thier International allies.

indeed... first verbally, until tony blair compiled his "dossier" in 2003.

 

[Hindustani78]

indeed... first verbally, until tony blair compiled his "dossier" in 2003.

I think US Establishment was aware since starting but United States was thinking about the Eastern European Nations who were struggling during that time.

There were intelligence reports from British, Saudi and Egyptians about a possible massive attack before 9 11 occured.

 

[jamahir]

I think US Establishment was aware since starting but United States was thinking about the Eastern European Nations who were struggling during that time.

There were intelligence reports from British, Saudi and Egyptians about a possible massive attack before 9 11 occured.

1. by eastern europe, you mean those nations who were asking to join nato... or do you mean something else??

2. when bush junior first became president in 2001, i knew then that saddam hussain and iraq would be his primary targets, and that he would finish what his father had started.

In any case he was an old man with outdated ideas

outdated??

 

[Hindustani78]

1. by eastern europe, you mean those nations who were asking to join nato... or do you mean something else??

2. when bush junior first became president in 2001, i knew then that saddam hussain and iraq would be his primary targets, and that he would finish what his father had started.

1. Those countries were on thier way to join EU to uplift thier economies and with time in Military block NATO.

2. In reality all the Establishment allied with USSR and Russian Federation were the problem because of the same Cold war tactics. 9 11 attacked was carried out with the involvement of many intelligence agencies who were not Pro United States.

United States and its international allies helped Eastern Europeans alot but the problem was this that it was turned into Islamic nation Vs West similar like the Clash of Civilizations term used by Samuel Huntington in 1993 during the fighting in Balkans, which in reality was not the case. Some nations were trying to show that they are good nations.

 

[jamahir]

1. Those countries were on thier way to join EU to uplift thier economies and with time in Military block NATO.

nations like lithuania and estonia... there is a saying in urdu... "naye faqir ko bhikh ki jaldi"... these former eastern bloc nations were keen to taste the "free west" even if it really meant becoming slaves of usa government.

9 11 attacked was carried out with the involvement of many intelligence agencies who were not Pro United States.

who??

United States and its international allies helped Eastern Europeans

so what is the difference between eastern europeans being in warsaw pact and being in nato?? the ability to use cell phone??

 

[Hindustani78]

nations like lithuania and estonia... there is a saying in urdu... "naye faqir ko bhikh ki jaldi"... these former eastern bloc nations were keen to taste the "free west" even if it really meant becoming slaves of usa government.

Most of the warsaw pact countries from Eastern Europe after gaining Independence were moving towards being economically stable. By 1996 , Ukraine gave up Nuclear weapons and after that only Baltic countries and Poland joined EU and NATO.

United states was working in different direction along with founding members of EU but Russians were having other plans.

who??

If i remember carefully even Serbians have made claimed that they were behind 9 11.

so what is the difference between eastern europeans being in warsaw pact and being in nato?? the ability to use cell phone??

Warsaw Pact countries were in USSR block where as the NATO was the counter block.

 

[Hindustani78]

Iraqi Shi'ite militia says DNA tests prove Saddam aide dead| Reuters
Mon Apr 20, 2015 2:54am EDT

(Reuters) - An Iraqi Shi'ite militia group said on Sunday it had conducted DNA tests to prove the death of Ezzat al-Douri, former right-hand man to the late president Saddam Hussein, who after the 2003 U.S. invasion was ranked by Washington as the sixth most-wanted Iraqi.

The Kataib Hizbollah group published a video on Saturday showing its fighters undressing the body of the man believed to be Douri, who was laid out on a metal trolley, and snipping off a piece of his flame-red beard.

"The final results prove that the body belongs to the criminal Ezzat al-Douri," the group's spokesman Jaafar Husseini told Reuters, saying his DNA had been tested in the Iranian-backed Kataib Hizbollah's own special hospitals. He did not reveal details of where those hospitals were located.

"We are 100 percent certain," he added without elaborating.

Husseini said the body would be handed over to the government on Monday.

The governor of Iraq's Salahuddin province announced on Friday that Douri had been killed in an ambush in the Hamrin mountain area.

Baghdad has mistakenly announced Douri's death more than once before, but this time photographs are circulating of a man that bears some resemblance to him.

An exiled spokesman for Saddam's outlawed Baath Party, of which Douri later became head, denied he had been killed, although he offered no evidence the insurgent leader was still alive.

After the U.S.-led invasion, Douri was ranked 'King of Clubs' in the U.S. military's deck of playing cards representing the most wanted members of Saddam's administration, with a $10 million reward offered for his capture. He was the highest-ranking Saddam loyalist still at large.

The prime minister's spokesman, Saad al-Hadithi, confirmed the body had yet to be handed over to the government, adding he was not aware of any other laboratories other than the Ministry of Health's that could reliably test the remains.

"The testing needs to be conducted in official, trusted laboratories in the Ministry of Health's morgue," he said.

Kataib Hizbollah is one of a number of Shi'ite paramilitary groups that have risen to prominence fighting Islamic State militants who overran around one third of Iraq last summer after the army's northern divisions disintegrated.

 

[Hindustani78]

• Iraqi officials say Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, 72, has died in fighting in Tikrit
• He was one of Saddam Hussein's most trusted henchmen in Ba'ath Party
• Had a $10m bounty on his head and was one of the US's most wanted men
• Body returned to Baghdad today and delivered to the Ministry of Health
• WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
  
  

Paraded in a glass coffin and flanked by jostling civilians, members of the armed forces and the media scrum, the former right-hand man of Saddam Hussein was handed over to the authorities today.

Iraqi officials said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri had died in fighting with government troops in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, on Friday.

Today, his body was returned to Baghdad and delivered to the Ministry of Health as crowds gathered to get a closer look at the 'King of Clubs'.

Scroll down for video

+11
The body of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was today delivered to the Ministry of Health in Baghdad

+11
Civilians, members of the armed forces and photographers try to get a closer look at the body

+11
Al-Douri was ranked sixth on the US military's list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis after the offensive to overthrow Saddam and had a $10m bounty on his head

+11
Al-Douri, 72, was reportedly killed near Tikrit, where he was working alongside ISIS militants

+11
Al-Douri was deputy to Saddam when he was deposed following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003

A glass coffin with transparent panels carrying the body of Al-Douri - with his bright orange beard - was transferred from a van into a government vehicle. The event was broadcast live on state television in Iraq.

Al-Douri, 72, headed the Naqshbandi Order insurgent group, an important faction behind the recent rise of ISIS.

He was one of Saddam's most trusted henchmen, helping to lead his 1968 bloodless coup. Both Al-Douri and Saddam came from the same Tikriti tribal background.

His daughter was briefly married to Saddam's elder son, Uday, who - together with his brother Qusay - was killed by US forces in Mosul in July 2003.

 

[Hindustani78]

Last Updated: Saturday, May 16, 2015 - 19:22
Baath-linked channels release recording of Saddam deputy | Zee News

Baghdad: TV channels with links to Iraq`s former ruling Baath party on Friday released an audio recording purportedly of the elusive Saddam Hussein deputy some officials said had been killed last month.


Several officials and leaders of Shiite militia groups had claimed to have killed Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri more than a month ago near the city of Tikrit.

Pictures had emerged of the body of a red-haired man bearing some resemblance to Saddam`s feared deputy, who is the most senior former regime member believed to still be at large.

The authorities, however, have since been unable to positively identify the body as Duri`s, arguing that they lacked DNA samples for comparison.

Friday`s two-hour audio recording was released by the pro-Baath Al-Faris Al-Arabi and Al-Ezz channels. A shorter version was aired moments earlier by Al-Tagheer, a Jordan-based station believed to be close to the Baath but which denies any links.

Duri clearly refers in the recording to events that have happened since rumours of his alleged death surfaced on April 17, notably the deployment of Shiite paramilitary groups in the Nukhayb region earlier this month.

"Nukhayb represents a strategic position for Iran inside Iraq, and one of the aims of occupying Nukhayb is to open a front against Saudi Arabia, and connect with the fronts in Syria and Lebanon after the northern passages were closed," he said.

"I affirm in this gathering that what`s happening today in our country is a direct and a comprehensive Persian occupation, under the obnoxious cover of sectarianism," he said.

An introduction to the full-length version of the recording says Duri was speaking at a recent meeting in Baghdad of the three main bodies of the Baath.Nicknamed "The Iceman" for his humble origins selling blocks of ice, he was the King of Clubs in the US Army`s deck of cards of most-wanted Iraqis.

The Army of the Men of the Naqshbandiyah Order -- known by its Arabic initials JRTN and believed to be close to Duri -- took part in a sweeping militant offensive that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last June.

The Islamic State group was the driving force, however, and Duri had to align with the group. But in Friday`s recording he distanced himself from IS.

"We do cross paths... but what stops us from meeting is that even if we wanted to, they would not accept because they consider the Baath infidels," Duri said.

He used the word Daesh, an Arab acronym considered derogatory by IS, and claimed that the group was detaining a third of the Baath`s command.

Duri went on to claim that the number of IS victims in Iraq "does not equal one percent of those killed by the militias".

"Except for what happened in Speicher, Speicher is a massacre that we denounce and condemn," he said, in reference to the slaughter of hundreds of mostly Shiite cadets captured in June last year from the Speicher base near Tikrit.

The Speicher massacre was a key moment in the mobilisation of Shiite fighters against IS. Burial sites were discovered recently, when government forces retook Tikrit and surrounding towns.

AFP