Maher Abd al-Rashid

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Maher Abd al-Rashid
ماهر عبد الرشيد

Rashid (far right) during the Iran-Iraq War.
Born 1942 (age 71–72)
Tikrit, Iraq
Allegiance Iraq Ba'athist Iraq
Service/branch Iraqi Army
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands held 3rd Army
Battles/wars

Iran-Iraq War

1991 uprisings in Iraq
Relations Abdullah Maher Abdul Rashid (son)
Sahar al-Rashid (daughter)
Marwan Taher Abdul Rashid (nephew)
Qusay Hussein (son-in-law)

Maher Abd al-Rashid (Arabic: ماهر عبد الرشيد) was a General of the Iraqi army and a member of the Al-Bu Nasir tribe.[1] Rashid rose to prominence during the Iran-Iraq war, and was regarded as one of Saddam's best generals,[2] serving as Chief-of-Staff of the Iraqi after being brought out of a retirement that he had been forced into in 1983.[3] Rashid also played a prominent role in helping Iraq to regain her initiative during the war. Not all assessments of Rashid were so kind, and Ra'ad al-Hamdani refers to him as "one of the dumbest generals in the army".[4]

Iran–Iraq War

High Iraqi losses during the conflict[5] nearly led to a mutiny led by Rashid, father-in-law of Hussein's second son.[6] Rashid began by public criticizing Saddam Hussein, and claimed that many of Iraq's casualties were caused by Saddam's meddling into military affairs.[7] Saddam ordered him back to Baghdad due to both his public criticism and his failure to remove the Iranians from the al-Faw peninsula. Aware that an order to return to Baghdad was probably a death sentence for Rashid, his officers warned Saddam that if anything were to happen to Rashid they would mutiny.[8] This confrontation with the military led to the greater independence of military planning from Ba'athist-leadership interference. Shortly afterwards, the Iraqi Air Force once again established air superiority.[9] These changes in organisation led to Hussein focusing most of his energy on Iraqi Kurdistan, which had revolted.

Despite this, Rashid was placed under house arrest following the end of the Iran-Iraq war in an effort to reduce the power of Generals who had become influential during the war years in order to prevent any possible coup attempts from forming.[1][10]

1991 Uprisings

Following the Gulf War Iraq experienced a wave of uprisings and Saddam called on Rashid to help put down the uprising against the Ba'athist government.[11]

Iraq War

Rashid's son, Abdullah Maher Abdul Rashid, and his newphew, Marwan Taher Abdul Rashid, were arrested in Tikrit on 8 March 2005 following a tip off from residents. Rashid was believed to have received large sums of money from his former son-in-law Qusay Hussein which were being used to fund the insurgency.[12]

Personal life

Rashid was a Sunni Muslim from Tikrit, and was both a close friend of Saddam Hussein and also a member of the same tribe; the Al-Bu Nasir tribe.[1][13] In 1985 his daughter, Sahar, married Saddam Hussein's son Qusay. Rashid had promised to liberate the al-Fao peninsula in the Iran-Iraq war and had offered his daughter to Saddam's son Qusay to show his certainty.[4] They had three children but later divorced.[14]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The Iraqi Tribes and the Post-Saddam System". Brookings. 8 July 2003. 
  2. ↑ Karsh, Efraim The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988, London: Osprey, 2002 page 48
  3. ↑ "Gulf War - Iran Iraq War: Iraqi Reaction". Yahoo. 2 March 2009. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Woods, Kevin M. (2011) [2010]. Saddam's Generals: Perspectives of the Iran-Iraq War. 4850 Mark Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia: Institute for Defense Analyses. p. 73 
  5. ↑ Coughlin, Con (2005). Saddam: His Rise and Fall. Harper Perennial. pp. 209/218–219. ISBN 978-0060505435 Check |isbn= value (help). 
  6. ↑ Coughlin, Con (2005). Saddam: His Rise and Fall. Harper Perennial. p. 219. ISBN 978-0060505435 Check |isbn= value (help). 
  7. ↑ Coughlin, Con (2005). Saddam: His Rise and Fall. Harper Perennial. p. 220. ISBN 978-0060505435 Check |isbn= value (help). 
  8. ↑ Karsh, Efraim The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988, London: Osprey, 2002 page 53
  9. ↑ Tripp, Charles (2010). A History of Iraq. Cambridge University Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-052152900X Check |isbn= value (help). 
  10. ↑ Tripp, Charles (2002) [2000]. A History of Iraq (2nd ed.). The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 249. ISBN 0-521-52900 Check |isbn= value (help) 
  11. ↑ Woods, Kevin M. (2009). Saddam's War: An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War. Washington, D.C.: Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defence University. p. 80. ISSN 1071-7552 
  12. ↑ "2 Relatives of Hussein and Ex-Aide Are Arrested". NY Times. 15 March 2005. 
  13. ↑ Woods, Kevin M. (2009). Saddam's War: An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War. Washington, D.C.: Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defence University. p. 67. ISSN 1071-7552 
  14. ↑ "Qusay Hussein". The Telegraph. 15 March 2005. 
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