Douri urges unity of Iraqi groups

02/08/2009| IslamWeb

An audio message, attributed to Izzat al-Douri, the leader of Iraq's Socialist Baath Party, has urged Iraqi resistance groups to engage in the country's political life.

The audio recording was posted on websites on Saturday.

Al-Douri called for a unified leadership to "develop the principles for dealing with the enemy," in reference to the US military.

A "national, political or supreme leadership council [would] include all armed and unarmed resistance groups that would reinstate the rule of law that was in force before the US-led invasion of Iraq," al-Douri said in a statement.

His message comes one month after US forces withdrew from Iraqi urban centers, the first step in a bilateral security pact that led many resistance groups to claim victory over US forces.

US troops are supposed to fully withdraw by 2012.

'Recognize the resistance'

Al-Douri also stipulated that the council would only negotiate with the US until they officially and completely withdraw from Iraq and "recognize the resistance as the only most legitimate representative of the Iraqi people."

As a final request, he stressed the need for "the occupying forces to compensate Iraq for all the damage they have caused the country" and demanded the release of all Iraqi prisoners.

Al-Douri, who was rated number six in a deck of 55 cards that showed pictures of the US army’s most wanted Iraqis, disappeared from the public eye after the US occupation.

The US army's list of most wanted Iraqis was made of people close to Saddam, most nominally members of Iraq's former ruling Baath party and military elites.

Al-Douri served as the Iraqi vice president and deputy chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, the highest appointment in Saddam's government.

Following Saddam's execution on December 30, 2006, al-Douri is believed to have become the new leader of the banned Iraqi Baath Party on January 3, 2007.

PHOTO CAPTION

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri

Al-Jazeera