Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (; 1 July 1942 – 25 October 2020) was an Iraqi politician and army field marshal. He served as Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and was regarded as the closest advisor and deputy under President Saddam Hussein. He led the Iraqi insurgent group Naqshbandi Army.
Al-Douri was the most high-profile Ba'athist official to successfully evade capture after the 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 Shiite militias and Iraqi forces near the Al-Alaas oil fields in Hemreen east of Tikrit. The Shiite militant organization Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq has alleged that it killed him and transported his apparent body to Baghdad to confirm its identity. According to the BBC, Shiite militias claimed to have killed him, but the Iraqi Baath 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 appeared in videos talking about events that took place after his alleged death. He died on 25 October 2020.
Biography
Early life
Born in 1942, al-Douri was born in Ad-Dawr, near the Iraqi town of Tikrit, to Ibrahim Khalil al-Douri, a farmer, and Hamdah Saloum al-Douri. His family belonged to the Al-Shuwaikhat clan of the Jabour tribe. Nicknamed "the Iceman" for his humble origins selling blocks of ice, he became involved in revolutionary politics in his late teenage years, despite having had only a primary school education. He befriended Saddam Hussein in 1963, then they both served in the early intelligence apparatus of the Ba'ath Party and participated in what would be known as the 17 July Revolution in 1968.
During the Ba'athist government
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 Saddam 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 October 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!"