Saddam Deputy Possibly Captured or Killed (Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri)

MSNBC | 12/02/03 | Reuters

[GulliverSwift]

I just saw something on MSNBC that Saddam Hussein's top deputy may have been captured or killed.

Here's an older article about the search for him:

============

US launches massive search in northern Iraq for Saddam's deputy

KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) - The US military launched a massive search operation around Iraq (news - web sites)'s northern oil centre overnight in its intensifying hunt for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, a senior police official said.

"It's the biggest search operation ever launched around here," the official in Kirkuk told AFP, asking not be identified.

"They're searching for Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri and other top officials of the former regime following intelligence reports he was in the region," said the official.

The operation was concentrated on the town of Hawijah, 45 kilometres (nearly 30 miles) to the west of Kirkuk, and the village of Rashad, 60 kilometres (nearly 40 miles) to the south, he added.

Duri is Saddam's longtime deputy and alleged paymaster of many attacks on US-led coalition troops. He is the highest-ranking official of the former regime still at large, apart from the ousted president himself.

Earlier this month, US commanders posted a 10-million-dollar bounty on Duri's head and sent in warplanes to destroy two of his homes near the town of Samarra further south that they charged had been used to mount attacks.

[MEG33]

Here's a thread

[Peach]

Let's hope this proves to be true. We're taking the major players out of action, one at a time.

[Catspaw]

I'd like to see confirmation from one of our guys, but if we've got him alive, I want him squeezed good.

[MEG33]

It would be great to catch him..good to discombobulate the fayadeen.

[MEG33]

I am trying to keep my positive thinking cap on until denied.I was getting too gloomy!

[prairiebreeze]

Thanks. His name is spelled differently in the article i posted. Didn't turn up in search

Prairie

[John H K]

Iraqi police officer: Saddam Hussein’s top deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was killed in US search operation in the town Hawijah 30 miles west of Kirkuk and Rashad 40 miles to the south. Saturday

WOW! DUMBKA is amazing! They can read the Reuters wire and repeat Reuters without giving them attribution!

(They went ahead and said he's "dead" instead of "possibly dead," I'm sure, so that if he is dead they can pretend to claim they "broke" that he's dead, and if he isn't, people will forget and simply blame the people that actually broke the story, Reuters.)

[MEG33]

Hoping this is true!

[FreedomPoster]

Who's got a link to the Iraqi leaders playing card status page?

[prairiebreeze]

Me too MEG. Me too.

Prairie

[MEG33]

It would be on Flengineer's homepage.Right at the top.

[FreedomPoster]

Thanks!

[MEG33]

Your welcome.

[anglian]

``There was a major action against a highly suspicious objective last night in Kirkuk and it is very possible that Izzat Ibrahim has been captured or killed,'' Reuters cited the council member, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, as saying in the capital, Baghdad. Al- Rubaie said he had been in contact with the U.S. military.

The U.S.-led coalition last month offered a $10 million reward for information leading to al-Duri's capture. Al-Duri is ``directly implicated'' in some attacks on coalition forces, and the U.S. seeks his capture or death, Brigadier General Mark Kimmett said in announcing the reward. Al-Duri is the highest- ranking fugitive from the regime after No. 1-ranked Hussein.

There was no immediate information on al-Duri's fate as a result of the search, a U.S. military spokesman in Kirkuk said in a telephone interview. The hunt was led by the 173rd Airborne Brigade, using Black Hawk helicopters, with support from the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and police, another spokesman said. (rooters) Last week, U.S. troops arrested a wife and a daughter of al-Douri in an apparent attempt to pressure him into surrendering.

In Baghdad, workers on Tuesday began dismantling four giant bronze busts of Saddam Hussein that have long been a Baghdad landmark.

The workers used a construction crane to take down the busts in the Republican Palace, in yet another move aimed at eradicating the former leader's influence. The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority announced last month that it would dismantle the 13-feet-high busts. It was not clear how long the operation would last.

[CurlyBill]

Bye Bye!

I really hope these reports are accurate!

[epluribus_2]

Al Duri may have been killed or captured.

This is not news. This is the possibility of news. Saddam's WMD intentions may have been documented. Syria may have helped Saddam buy banned missle technology. Howard Dean may have a secret life crossdressing as streetwalker named Alice. May or may not means nothing.

[steveegg]

You may want to keep an eye on the FReeper pager today just in case this can be confirmed (at the moment, it's "The king of spades may have been killed or captured" - emphasis added).

[ISonnet]

I hope they beat him like a red-headed step child!
(With apologies to any RHSC in the group.)

[steveegg]

FL_engineer's been paged so he can keep a close eye on this "maybe" big story.

[FreedomPoster]

Good call.