IRAQ: US officials yesterday put a face to the Iraqi resistance by identifying one of Saddam Hussein's top aides as co-ordinator of attacks on coalition forces.
Former general Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was Saddam's number two and is one of the highest-ranking officials at large in Iraq on America's most-wanted list.
He is accused by Washington of masterminding an alliance between Baath party loyalists the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Ansar al-Islam. Ansar is believed to be channelling into Iraq the foreign fighters who are behind a recent surge in violence in the country, officials say.
The naming of al-Douri reflects how Iraq's resistance forces have been transformed from the fleeing remnants of the Baath Party to a highly organised command structure capable of embracing those opposed to the US-led occupation.
On Wednesday, US officials said two captured members of Ansar al-Islam had identified al- Douri as a force behind some of the attacks against coalition targets.
US officials have long suspected al-Douri of being a key figure in the resistance, but had found nothing before to link him to the radical Islamic group, based in northern Iraq.
Military commanders have said they believe hundreds of non-Iraqi fighters from Ansar have entered Iraq to fight the Us-led occupation
"I think we're beginning to realise what we're up against here," a senior official in Baghdad said. "This is an increasingly organised and sophisticated enemy."
Al-Douri's Baath Party record makes him a natural leader of the resistance. Born the son of an ice-seller in 1942 near Tikrit, where Saddam Hussein had his power base, al-Douri was a close confidant of Saddam who rose through the ranks of the Baath Party. He was one of the key plotters of the coup which brought the Baath Party to power in 1968.
In later years he served as the Iraqi leader's number two in the powerful Revolution Command Council and deputy commander in chief of the armed forces.
He also held a senior post on the committee responsible for northern Iraq when chemical weapons were used in 1988, killing thousands of Kurds.
At the height of his power he was known as Saddam's enforcer, but in recent years, old age and cancer left him marginalised. Since the war, he is believed to have been in hiding near the northern city of Mosul.
Dr Mohsen Abdul Hamid, a member of Iraq's Governing Council, said yesterday: "Al-Douri might be behind the attacks, but people in Iraq are scared because we don't know who is exactly behind the violence.
"Anyone could be attacked at anytime. I don't feel safe sitting in my own offices with armed guards - imagine how ordinary Iraqis feel."