Inside the Ring

Most-wanted Iraqis

The Iraqi government has compiled a detailed list of the 29 most-wanted insurgents and terrorists, offering rewards of $50,000 to $25 million for their capture.

The wanted men are in Iraq and neighboring states and are being sought for “funding and coordinating terrorist operations inside Iraq in an attempt to disrupt the country’s march toward democracy and autonomous government,” according to a U.S. Central Command statement accompanying the list.

We obtained a copy of the list that is the first public disclosure by the Iraqi or U.S. governments identifying the terrorists and former regime officials behind the insurgency.

Topping the list of most-wanted former regime officials is Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the former vice chairman of Saddam Hussein’s Revolutionary Command Council.

“Al-Duri is believed to be the current leader of the New Regional Command and the New Ba’ath Party,” the statement said. “As such he provides guidance, financial support and coordination of the former regime insurgency.”

He is funding the insurgents through “expropriated” Iraqi money and is a major source of attacks on U.S. and allied forces.

The second on the list is Muhammad Yunis al-Ahmad, who is identified as a “financial facilitator and operational leader” of the New Regional Command and New Ba’ath Party.

“Yunis is charged with providing funding, leadership and support to several insurgent groups conducting attacks against the Iraqi people, the interim government, Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi police and coalition forces,” the statement said.

Another wanted former regime leader was identified as Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Mashadani, “a critical link between the senior Ba’athist leaders hiding in Syria and the insurgents within Iraq.”

The top most-wanted terrorist on the list is Abu Musab Zarqawi, who the statement said has mobilized foreign al Qaeda terrorists and criminals in killing 500 Iraqis in the past year. Zarqawi fled Fallujah in November, the statement said. Sources previously told The Washington Times that Zarqawi fled the city the previous summer and was moving around Iraq.

Another key insurgent was identified as Muhammad Rajab al-Hadushi, a lieutenant colonel in Saddam’s presidential guard and Special Security Organization.

Another key terrorist on the list is Sheik Abdalluh Abu Azzam, known as the Amir of Anbar, who has killed current government officials and was described as “a grave threat to the Iraqi people and to the rebuilding of Iraq.”

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