13 on 'most-wanted' list still unaccounted for
By Mike Dorning
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON — With the capture of Saddam Hussein, 41 of the 55 fugitives on the military's most-wanted list of former Iraqi leaders have either been killed or captured.
Department of Defense
Some of the most prominent and notorious members of the former regime are no longer at large, including Saddam's two sons, Qusai and Odai, who were killed in a July 22 attack by U.S. forces.
With Saddam Hussein, the ace of spades in the deck of fugitive playing cards, captured, the leading figure still at large is the king of clubs: Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam's former second-in-command.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his reported role in directing poison gas attacks against Kurdish villages during the 1980s, was captured in August.
According to the U.S. Army's Central Command, 13 people remain unaccounted for. And one has been released — a former defense minister who surrendered in September.
Still, some of the Iraqi leaders at large are considered serious threats to American forces, including trusted confidants of Saddam believed to have access to stores of money and munitions and networks of contacts that could aid the insurgency.
"A good handful of key security people are still out there," said Phebe Marr, author of a history of modern Iraq and a former senior fellow at the National Defense University.
In recent weeks, military officials have focused attention on Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam's former second-in-command and one of the three surviving plotters who started the 1968 coup that installed Saddam's Baathist party in the seat of government.
Ibrahim, the "king of clubs" on the deck of fugitive playing cards distributed to coalition soldiers, is sixth on the most-wanted list and the leading figure still at large.
In public statements, military officials in Iraq recently have said they believe Ibrahim may be helping direct insurgent attacks, possibly serving as a paymaster. Still, others doubt he is playing an important role because of his age and health. He is 61, seriously ill with leukemia and underwent a lengthy hospitalization before the war.
The coalition posted a $10 million reward for Ibrahim's capture. Military officials believe they came close earlier this month, in a raid on a village near Kirkuk in northern Iraq during which more than 50 suspected insurgents were arrested. Members of the country's governing council initially announced his capture but had to retract those statements.
Marr noted that other, younger fugitives on the most-wanted list pose a potentially greater threat in assisting the insurgency.
Hani al-Latif Tilfah, director of Saddam's Special Security Organization, and Rafi al-Latif Tilfah, the regime's director of general security, close relatives who are respectively numbers 7 and 15, are members of Saddam's most inner circle.
The two men have deep and wide connections among tribes that are loyal to Saddam and they could draw on those ties to recruit for the insurgency. They also would have access to concealed stores of money and munitions as well as a network of contacts through their respective security organizations.
Other key leaders of Saddam's carefully vetted security organizations also remain at large. They include Sayf al-Din Fulayyih Hasan Taha, chief of staff of the Republican Guard, No. 14 on the list, and Tahir Jalil Haboush, chief of the Iraqi intelligence service, No. 16.
