TIME magazine has published
an interview with Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, former vice president of Saddam's revolutionary council, and the highest level official from Saddam's regime still at large. The "King of Clubs" in the
Deck of Cards spoke to Time through a series of letters. Problem is the guy has been dead for several months.
The BBC and several other news organizations sighted a Baath Party press release annoucing the death of al-Douri on November 11, 2005.
Here are some choice sections of the interview from TIME. He praises the late Zarqawi.
TIME's questions were sent to al-Douri in May through intermediaries, and it's not exactly clear when his written answers, delivered in Arabic and authenticated by trusted sources, were composed -- the fact that they refer in the present tense to the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi suggest they were written before Zarqawi was killed in June. Al-Douri praises the Qaeda man's "courage, the strength of his faith, and the sacrifices of his fighters," but rebukes Zarqawi's advocacy of mass sectarian killing of innocents.
He is supposal hiding in Syria and and is under the protection of the Syria government.
Al-Douri, the former Vice-President -- the "King of Clubs" in the U.S. deck of cards naming the Saddam regime's most wanted figures -- is among several Ba'athist leaders believed to be hiding in Syria, under the protection of the regime of President Bashar Assad. He is believed to be in poor health, possibly suffering from stomach cancer. Nonetheless, al-Douri said the Ba'ath Party has been restructured under his leadership as a "revolutionary, struggle-oriented" organization, in which he plays an influential role.
So let's sum up.
1. He is no longer dead or near dead (it has been reported that he is/was terminally ill with either stomach cancer or Leukemia depending who you talk to).
2. He is being sheltered by the Syrian Government.
3. He is helping run the insurgency from Syria with the help of Bashar Assad's government.
4. He thinks the late Zarqawi is "courageous". Which conveniently suggests an alliance between the nationalist, home-grown insurgency and Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq.
This is my take on this "interview". Now that Zarqawi is dead and there are questions about his successor, Ayyub al-Masri, the new leader of "al Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers", al-Douri has magically resurfaced for propaganda purposes. As we know from Tom Ricks in the Washington Post, Zarqawi was used by US Military as a propaganda tool to exploit Iraqis distrust of foreigners in order to drive a wedge between the general population and the insurgency. Since this al-Masri person didn't pan out al-Douri becomes the new boogeyman. Back in the early part of the war coalition forces claimed that al-Douri was one of the former Baathists running the show. But with the rise of Zarqawi and rumors about his heath, al-Douri faded from the scene. Now he's back with a bang. The fact that he may be hinding in Syria is simply a bonus given the fact we are trying to pressure Assad and his government over Hezbollah in Lebanon.