IRAQ: U.S. Troops Arrest Relative of Al-Douri

The Las Vegas Sun ^ | : February 04, 2004 at 11:55:16 PST | CHRIS BRUMMITT AP

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

U.S. Troops Arrest Relative of Al-Douri

By CHRIS BRUMMITT
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -

U.S. troops arrested a relative of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, and believe he may help in the hunt for the most senior former regime figure still at large, a U.S. officer said Wednesday.

The man, who was not identified, was arrested late Tuesday in a raid in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, said Lt. Col. Steven Russell, who led the operation.

Russell described the suspect as a "close relative" of al-Douri, who was the vice chairman of the Baath Party's Revolutionary Command Council and a longtime confidant of Saddam.

The suspect was arrested based on information received from a man soldiers had detained earlier Tuesday for possessing firearms, Russell said.

"We believe that he may have some useful information" in the hunt for al-Douri, Russell said. "The family he comes from has been harboring 'deck of cards' guys," he said, referring to the U.S. list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis.

Al-Douri, in his late 60s, is No. 6 on the wanted list. The United States has put a $10 million bounty on his head.

Late last year, al-Douri's wife and daughter were detained. In January, troops arrested four of his nephews who were suspected of helping him hide. All six are believed to remain in U.S. custody.

Since Saddam was arrested Dec. 13, al-Douri has taken on the title of the Pentagon's most wanted man in Iraq.

Nevertheless, it is unclear what role, if any, he is playing in the insurgency that continues to plague U.S. troops in areas north and west of Baghdad.

Last month, New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the U.S. military of kidnapping in its arrests of al-Douri's wife and daughter. The two women remain in U.S. custody even though they have not been charged.

"Detaining persons for the purpose of compelling actions from the opposing side amounts to hostage-taking, which is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions - in other words, a war crime," Human Rights Watch said.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the group urged a halt to such tactics and asked him to ensure U.S. forces abide by the 1949 Geneva Conventions, holding soldiers accountable for ordering, condoning or carrying out serious violations of the laws of war.

--

[Cap Huff]

see my post 20

[Coop]

Thanks. I'm gonna post this as a separate article, if'n you don't mind. Big news which could be VERY big news.

[Cap Huff]

Go ahead. By the way, thanks for the tips on posting articles. I'm swamped with things to do for the next week or so, but after that I'll give it a go.

[Coop]

My pleasure. When you get some time, check out the html Sandbox, a great place to practice and learn.

[Dog]

Bet this is Al-Douri's son..

[Coop]

Who? There are six of them.

[Dog]

Col. Ahmed al-Douri of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

[Coop]

Oh, I see. You're referring back to this thread's original article. I mistakenly thought you were following up on Cap's link to the six more arrests.

[Dog]

We did capture a relative of Izzy right?

[Coop]

Yeah, acc to this 4 Feb article. But Cap and I were today discussing the 6 Feb article saying they had 6 more in custody - some of the last remaining players in the main opposition, or something like that.

[Dog]

We caught these two the other day .....and I have searched and can't find anything about them..

Brig. Gen. Abu Aymad al-Tikriti

Majid Ali Abbas al-Dazi

The Brig, Gen is in the Iraqi Intelligence Service in Northern Iraq.

He has to be a major player.

Can you look around and see if you can find anything on him.

[Coop]

I did look, the same time you and someone else were Googling. I came up with nothing other than his intel title.

[Cap Huff]

From this link:

http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040205-0424.html


“On Tuesday, coalition forces conducted a raid near Tikrit, targeting a weapons dealer suspected of possessing Saddam Hussein's personal collection of firearms. Six individuals were captured, one the brother of a suspected Fedayeen member, and another individual, Nessar Shayhab (ph), reported to be the nephew of Ibrahim al-Douri and a member of the local Fedayeen cell.”

This seems to be the close relative from the other day. By coincidence (I think) today’s story also is about six people, but I think it is a separate incident. Maybe today’s nab was the son, but there was a hint of finality to the statement from the Lt. Col. that gives me some hope that it may be the old man himself . . . they are just not giving any more details right now.

[Dog]

Maybe the spelling is wrong..

Get this I tweaked the spelling of Brig Gen Abu Ayman al-Tikriti.....and did Abu Ahmad.....guess who uses that for an alias.

Izzat al-Douri.

[Dog]

And who is this guy...

In a separate operation, coalition suspects -- coalition soldiers recognized and captured a suspected Ansar al- Islam facilitator, Wafsi Hunan (ph).

[Cap Huff]

Somebody who'll lead us to Zarqawi maybe??? I saw that too, but forgot to look any further.

[Shermy]

Loftus, on the John Batchelor show, just said Al Douri, the Ace of something, is in Saudi and might be managing the rebellion in Iraq.

He's mentioned this may times over the past weeks, but nowhere else is it reported.