September 6, 2004

Battle Blog 30 August - September 5 2004

By Douglas Hanson
As Battle Blog goes up on the web, there has been no confirmation that Saddam's number two man, Izzat Ibrahim Al—Douri has, in fact, been captured.  The Multi—National Forces—Iraq (MNF—I) has stated that he is not under US control, but Iraqi security forces maintain there is a good chance that they have the second—most wanted man in Iraq in custody.  If this is indeed the case, it will be a huge boost for the fledgling Iraqi government. Al—Douri was a military commander, and was deputy chairman of the Ba'athist Revolutionary Command Council.  He and his family are from the region around Tikrit, which is Saddam's birthplace.  Saddam Hussein, Taha Yassin Ramadan, and Al—Douri brought the Ba'ath Party into power in the late 60s.  In addition to 'Chemical Ali,' he was a key operational commander in the chemical attacks against Kurdish villagers near the city of Halabjah in 1988, which resulted in the deaths of 5,000...(Read Full Article)