Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (born 1 July 1941) is a former Iraqi politician and military commander. He served as Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and was regarded as the closest advisor and deputy under former President Saddam Hussein. He leads the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order, an underground Ba'athist insurgency group based in Iraq.

Al-Douri is the most high-profile Ba'athist official to successfully evade capture after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and was the king of clubs in the infamous most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. Al-Douri continued to lead elements of the Iraqi insurgency such as the Naqshbandi Army against the then-occupation forces and waged an insurgency against the current regime in Baghdad. Following the execution of 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.

Al-Douri was reportedly killed in action—along with his nine bodyguards—on 17 April 2015 in a large-scale military operation by Shi'ite militias and Iraqi forces near the Al-Alaas oil fields in Hemreen east of Tikrit. The Shi'ite militant organization Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq has alleged to have killed him and transported his apparent body to Baghdad to confirm its identity. According to the BBC, Shi'ite militias claimed to have killed him, but the Iraqi Ba'ath party denied his death. A Kurdish news source also reported that Iraq did not have al-Douri's DNA to confirm his death. Al-Douri has since appeared in videos talking about events that have taken place after his alleged death.

Biography
Al-Douri was a senior member of the Ba'athist government under Saddam Hussein. This was due to the fact that both al-Douri and Hussein came from the same Tikriti tribal background. When the Ba'athists seized power in 1968, he was made interior minister where he oversaw efforts to sideline political rivals to the Ba'ath Party, mainly the Iraqi Communist Party. Al-Douri became the vice chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council prior to 2003, giving him unprecedented amounts of power and influence within the Iraqi political sphere.

As vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, al-Douri was involved in the wars against Iran and Kuwait. During the 1988–1989 Al-Anfal Campaign, al-Douri was said to have ordered Ali Hassan al-Majid (aka 'Chemical Ali') to use Mustard and Sarin nerve gas on Kurdish fighters in Halabja. He was complicit in the invasion of Saudi Arabia and the attack on the town of Khafji in January 1991. During the 1991 uprisings in Iraq, he was involved in the suppression of the revolt led by the Iraqi marsh Arabs. When the Kurds rebelled again in 1991, al-Douri warned them "If you have forgotten Halabja, I would like to remind you that we are ready to repeat the operation."

In 1993, al-Douri was involved in the state-sponsored Return to Faith Campaign (al-Hamlah al-Imaniyyah), which sought to encourage devotion to Islam in Iraqi social life. This saw aspects of Islam fused into the Iraqi media, education system and judicial system.

On 22 November 1998, al-Douri escaped an assassination attempt when visiting Karbala.

Following the October 2000 events, Arab leaders including al-Douri gathered in Cairo condemning Israel's reaction to the protests. In response to the Palestinian protests, Al-Douri was said to have remarked "The Jews will be taught a lesson."

On 5 March 2003, during an emergency summit of the then Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation, al-Douri made a heated address where he accused the neighbouring Gulf states of being "traitors" for cooperating with the United States and Israel. He blamed Kuwait for being responsible for Iraq's suffering and scrutinised the United States of America's aggressive stance towards Iraq. These comments sparked the Kuwaiti representative to stand up and protest to which al-Douri responded "Shut up, sit down you small American agent, you monkey!"

Al-Douri, a member of the Naqshbandi Order, was able to use his position in the regime to leverage support to the Naqshbandi community within Iraq. This form of patronage would eventfully culminate in the rise of the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order during the Iraqi insurgency, of which al-Douri would play a leading role.