Posted on 12/02/2003 2:40:46 AM PST by 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:
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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.
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, second in command to ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, has been captured by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said.
``Yes, he has been captured,'' Mahmud Uthman, a Kurdish member of the council, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio from Baghdad. ``I don't have more details,'' he said, adding that the council was informed of the capture earlier today.
Reuters earlier cited Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, another council member, as saying that al-Duri has been either captured or killed as part of ``a major action'' in the area around Kirkuk.
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. After Hussein, Al-Duri is the highest-ranking fugitive from the regime still at large.
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.
Last Updated: December 2, 2003 08:45 EST
Email this slideshow A wanted poster, released by the US-led coalition, shows Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s number two, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri. Reports say that he has been captured or killed by US forces.(AFP/File/Marina Passos)
U.S. May Have Captured 'Big Fish' in Iraq
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
KIRKUK, Iraq - U.S. troops have captured or killed a "big fish" in a large military operation in Kirkuk, a member of Iraq's Governing Council said Tuesday. Other officials said Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s top former deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was the target.
The U.S. military, however, could not confirm that it was al-Douri — the top Iraqi fugitive after Saddam. The Americans have pointed to al-Douri as a coordinator of the insurgency against U.S. forces, and last week offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a member of the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, told the Arabic television station Al-Jazeera that there was "a very big military operation" in Kirkuk and that those killed or captured included a "big fish."
"We are trying to verify the identity of this important figure," al-Rubaie said. "Preliminary examination has been very positive."
A senior Kurdish official in Kirkuk said, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he heard al-Douri had been "killed or captured," citing sources in his political party. The official said family members of al-Douri bodyguards were seen crying and saying that al-Douri had been captured.
The official also said the family members were in Hawija, 30 miles west of Kirkuk, and that American soldiers had arrested dozens of people there in an overnight raid.
For months, U.S. officials have pointed to him as a coordinator of incessant attacks on American forces in Iraq — and that al-Douri could be working with the al-Qaida-linked militant group Ansar al-Islam.
In the latest such violence, a U.S. soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed Tuesday near Samarra, the site of weekend fighting between American troops and guerrillas, the military said.
U.S. commanders claimed that up to 54 guerrillas were killed in the clash Sunday , but this has been disputed by residents and hospital officials who say less than 10 people — most of them civilians — died.
After the weekend fighting, U.S. forces said Samarra attacks demonstrated a greater level of coordination in the Iraqi insurgency, although U.S. forces said they had anticipated the attacks and blunted them with superior firepower.
An Associated Press photographer who arrived at the scene Tuesday saw American soldiers using a stretcher to carry a body covered in plastic to a military truck.
Witnesses told the photographer that a roadside explosive was detonated under a U.S. military Humvee, which then collided with an Iraqi civilian vehicle. The incident occurred on the highway just south of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
At a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he had no information about the possible arrest of al-Douri, and his aides said they were pursuing the report.
No. 6 on the American military list of most-wanted Iraqis, al-Douri was vice chairman of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council. U.S. troops last week 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 landmark in the Iraqi capital.
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.
In addition to attacking coalition forces, rebels in recent days have killed a number of nonmilitary personnel, including two Japanese diplomats, two South Korean electrical workers and a Colombian contractor.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's chief representative in Iraq, warned that insurgents are now turning to softer targets and urged foreigners to increase security levels.
"People have to be very careful. The Spaniards and the Japanese who were killed this week were not following the strictest possible protection rules," Greenstock told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Greenstock said he was confident coalition troops would retain a grip on events and said the coalition backed the aggressive approach to tackling security problems being taken by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
During the past month, U.S. troops have pounded suspected guerrilla targets under a new "get-tough" campaign against the insurgency. Despite the crackdown, November has proven to be the deadliest for coalition troops since the war began.
The increasing death toll has raised concerns in some nations taking part in the U.S.-led coalition.
On Tuesday, Thailand's Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said government leaders will discuss the possibility of withdrawing Thailand's contingent from Iraq if the security situation continues to deteriorate.
Thailand dispatched 422 soldiers in September in a non-combat capacity to help rebuild roads, buildings and other infrastructure destroyed during the war, and to provide medical services.
U.S. forces may have killed or captured Izzat Ibrahim, the most wanted man in Iraq after Saddam Hussein and believed to be a mastermind of the guerrilla resistance, Iraq Governing Council sources said on December 2, 2003. News of the possible elimination of a man with a $10 million price on his head emerged as Spain mourned seven intelligence officers killed in Iraq and U.S. allies agonized over whether the occupation was worth the cost in blood. Ibrahim is seen in Damascus in this March 6 file photo. Photo by Reuters
Just show me the corpse on the gurney, please...
Several different sources have confirmed that there indeed is a rumor on the streets of Kirkuk that Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has been captured or killed. We have no idea if this is true.
No, he's just "pining". ;)
(sic) "The Reuters news agency Azza Ibrahim Aldori is the dismissed Iraqi vice-president Saddam Hussein he may have been kill or he was detained through an American campaign in Kirkuk city . So that the vernal did not confirm in statements to AlJazeera a correctness what was informed it from it the agency content with the saying the joint operation that the Iraqi forces participated in was successful to a great extent and she resulted in the killing of a big fish . And the vernal added that it now the assurance of the identity of the old personality happens and that the first examination results bode good and she is a positivity, confirming that the one that delivered to this successful operation they am the Iraqis who co-operated with us, and the nation who became weary of the terrorism and the suffering and the violence . And he said that an official as my answer refused the mention of its name Azza Ibrahim may be killed or he was detained, referring that members in its party confirmed that they watched guards families Ibrahim they make cry sayings Aldouri was detained . And an official in the Iraqi police declared that the American forces started yesterday evening in Kirkuk region in north of Iraq the greatest search operation carried out it until now for the finding of Azza Ibrahim and seniors officers in the previous regime . And he added that the operation leans on mentioned reports from the intelligences that confirms that it was present in the region, confirming that the search operations focused in Alhwega city in west of Kirkuk and rationality village in its south . An attack and detentions The rains did not stop the American operations ( the French ) And the manager of Alhwega police said the occupation forces besieged since the dawn Alhwega totally a search for the second man in the previous Iraqi regime, confirming that tens of civilians were detained through the operation . And he clarified that the American forces believe that the..."
KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - The U.S. military said Izzat Ibrahim, the most wanted man in Iraq (news - web sites) after Saddam Hussein, had not been captured in a raid near Kirkuk on Tuesday -- despite reports to the contrary from Iraq's Governing Council.
"He was definitely not captured in today's mission," Major Doug Vincent of the 173rd Airborne Brigade told reporters who accompanied troops on the raid in Hawija, near Kirkuk.
Recalls the scene in Kelly's heroes where Oddball's Sherman tank platoon finally finds a bridge that can get them across an intervening river.
Tank Commander Oddball: "Well, it's a railroad bridge isn't it?" "Well then, beautiful, we swing down on the railroad tracks, and rigghht over da bridge...."
Moriarity: "All over da bridge. Sure. Suppose the bridge ain't there?"
Oddball: "Oh man. Don't hit me with them negative waves so early in the morning." "Think: "That bridge will be there," and it'll be there. It's a mother-beautiful bridge, and it's gonna be there"
Oddball: "It's still up!"
[Airplanes pass over, and bombs and explosions blow the bridge to splinters]
Oddball: "No it ain't.... See what sending out them negative waves did, Moriarity?"
Moriarity: "Hey, that ain't my fault. I've had nothing but good thoughts about that bridge ever since we left." "What Now?"
Oddball: "It looks like we're gonna have to find ourselves another bridge...."
Moriarity: "And where are we going to find another bridge?"
Oddball: "There you go again: more negative waves. Have a little faith, baby, have a little faith...."
He's been captured...No he ain't....
[Have a little faith, baby....]
-archy-/-
I haven't even taken my tank out for a spin, yet.
"That bridge will be there."
(^:
Me neither...
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