Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri

Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri (Arabic: عزة ابراهيم الدوري‎),("Al-Douri" being the written form and "Addouri" is how it is pronounced) (born 1 July 1942) is an Iraqi military commander and was vice-president and Deputy Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.^[1][2] Following the execution of former President Saddam Hussein on 30 December 2006, Al-Douri was confirmed as the new leader of the banned Iraqi Ba'ath Party on 3 January 2007.^[3]

At the time of the invasion, Al-Douri, along with President Saddam Hussein and Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was among the three surviving plotters who had brought the Ba'ath Party to power in a coup in 1968.^[2] Following the coup, he had continued to retain a prominent position in the Ba'ath regime. This was aided by the fact that Al-Douri came from the same clan area as Saddam and had not acquired a distinct power base; thus he did not pose a threat to Saddam's ambitions. Saddam's eldest son Uday Hussein was once married to Al-Douri's daughter, but he later divorced her.^[2] On 22 November 1998 Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri escaped an assassination attempt when visiting Karbala.

Al-Douri is also believed to be suffering from leukemia and is said to undergo blood transfusions every six monthes. In 1999, he visited Vienna, Austria for treatment. The Austrian opposition demanded that he be arrested for war crimes, but the government allowed him to leave the country.

On 20 March 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq, leading to the toppling of the regime of President Saddam Hussein on 9 April 2003. Following the fall of Baghdad, Al-Douri went into hiding. U.S. officials claimed that he was involved in the subsequent Iraqi insurgency against U.S. forces, directing and funding guerrilla attacks, as well as brokering an alliance between Ba'athist insurgents and militant Islamists. In a June 2008 interview, Al-Douri detailed his strategy, indicating that "any negotiations with the invaders without it represents a desertion and treason, and is refused by all national, Pan-Arab and Islamic factions of the resistance."^[4]

1. An official pronounced recognition of the armed and unarmed national resistance, including all its factions and (political) parties, as the sole legitimate representative of the people of Iraq.
2. An official declaration of unconditional withdrawal from Iraq by the U.S. leadership.
3. Declaring null and void all the political and legislative institutions, as well as all the laws and legislations issued by them, since the occupation, with the de-Ba'athfication law in the forefront, and compensating all who were adversely affected by them.
4. A stop to raids, prosecutions, arrests, killings and displacement.
5. Release of all prisoners of war (POWs), prisoners and detainees without exception and compensating all for their physical and psychological damage.
6. Reinstating the army and the national security forces in service in accordance with their pre-occupation laws and regulations, and compensating all who were adversely affected by dissolving them.
7. A pledge to compensate Iraq for all the material and moral losses it incurred because of the occupation.

Al-Douri is reportedly the head of the Iraqi insurgency groups Jaysh Rijal al-Tariq al-Naqshabandi (JRTN) and Higher Command for Jihad and Liberation (HCJL) based on his longstanding positions of leadership in the Naqshbandi sect in Iraq. ^[5]

On November, 10, 2011, A man claiming to be Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri released an audio tape condemning a recent arrest campaign targeting Ba'athist Party members.

Al-Douri's current whereabouts remain unknown.

References

1. ^ "Saddam's No. 2 seeks help for insurgency". USA Today. March 27, 2006. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-27-saddam-deputy_x.htm. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri / Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri". Global Security. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/al-douri.htm. 
3. ^ "Saddam aide is new Ba'ath leader", BBC News, 3 January 2007.
4. ^ Nasser, Nicola (June 10, 2008). "Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri Outlines Anti-US Strategy, Tactics of Resistance, an Interview Translated". Cross-Cultural Understanding. http://www.ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2008/June/10%20o/Izzat%20Ibrahim%20Al-Douri%20Outlines%20Anti-US%20Strategy,%20Tactics%20of%20Resistance,%20an%20Interview%20Translated%20By%20Nicola%20Nasser.htm. 
5. ^ "The JRTN Movement and Iraq’s Next Insurgency". Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-jrtn-movement-and-iraq%E2%80%99s-next-insurgency.