Before I go into his life and recent supervision of the Iraqi resistance, let me quote a couple of news articles that used wording that any journalist working for the smallest monthly publication would be fired for using.

Here's how Al-Jazeera News started its article about al-Douri:

MSNBC wrote:

The bogus words are "dissolved" and "former" as used in front of "Ba'ath Party." The Ba'ath Party is neither dissolved nor former. If it was, how could the Party make statements? Another news report on Al-Jazeera called it the "defunct" Ba'ath Party. If all these adjectives were true, no one would be available to make statements to the press. So much for journalistic accuracy.

In addition, 150,000 U.S. military people know all too well that they are dodging bullets and bombs every day in Iraq that are being supplied by the Ba'ath Party. And, many towns and municipalities are being run by the Ba'ath Party today in Iraq.

Let's talk about al-Douri. Most U.S. citizens do not know of him and will affix little thought to his death. Since 1991, the U.S. media have kept the names of leading Iraqis out of their reports, only occasionally mentioning Tariq Aziz.

Perhaps al-Douri's legacy will be that of forming the Iraqi resistance into a formidable defending force against U.S. invaders and Iraqi quislings. Until December 2003, Saddam Hussein was calling many of the shots for the resistance. At first, it was fragmented, but began to become more organized and cohesive as time went along. Then, Saddam was kidnapped.

Al-Douri became the resistance leader and took over where Saddam left off, building the movement into a solid entity. He is given credit for creating an alliance between the Ba'athists and those Islamists who opposed the U.S. occupation. No longer were they at cross purposes. The organizational skills of the Ba'athists and the determination of the Islamists were a good combination that enhanced the movement to where it is today.

Al-Douri was with the Ba'ath revolution, that brought the party to power in Iraq in 1968, from the beginning. He was a top military commander and after the Gulf War of 1991, he took over diplomatic tasks. His most famous actions occurred in 2002 at the Beirut Arab summit. At the time, Iraq had mended fences with countries in the area and was beginning to get diplomatic recognition. At the summit,

Al-Douri shook hands with the Kuwaiti foreign minister and then embraced the Saudi crown prince. These actions shook the Arab world.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabi refused to have official relations with Iraq after the 1991 war. Al-Douri's actions were prompted by behind-the-scenes discussion with officials from both countries. In other words, the ostracizing of Iraq was beginning to thaw.

This meeting was given little attention in the U.S. primarily because the old lie of "He's (Saddam) threatening his neighbors" was still in vogue. It was a crucial meeting of which history been deficient in reporting. It also was a reason for Bush to push for a quick war agenda. He would have been embarrassed by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia opening diplomatic relations with Iraq while he was telling the world that the two oil-rich kingdoms were in Saddam's military crosshairs.

Al-Douri's brilliance came to the forefront as the leader of the Iraqi resistance. He was never caught by the U.S., a fact that frustrated Bush & Co. Even on the day he died, he was still working. He had just left a meeting he held with local tribal leaders in Anbar province.

Al-Douri was suffering from leukemia. Many stories had been told of his death or of him being near death in the last two-and-a-half years. Evidently, this was the reason for his passing.

There are those who speculate he did not have cancer and used this as a guise to make the occupiers think he was near death and that previous statements of his demise were issued to throw the U.S. off guard. This time, however, it appears true that al-Douri died.

In trying to apprehend al-Douri, the U.S. kidnapped his family and imprisoned them. They also bombed and destroyed two houses owned by al-Douri. This is keeping in the fine American tradition of killing, torturing or kidnapping family members of regimes that disturb the U.S.

Before Ghadaffi became a "good Arab," his house was bombed, killing his daughter. The U.S. killed Saddam Hussein's sons and grandson with a force of about 600 people surrounding a house, accompanied by air power and tanks. There is no honor in this type of killing. Yet, the U.S. public still believes its leaders when they talk of "family values." The ignorance and hypocrisy are stifling.

One thing is certain: al-Douri's passing, although sad, will not stop the resistance. It may actually enhance it in the same manner it was strengthened by the kidnapping of Saddam. The resistance fighters will have another symbol of tenacity to follow.

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri experienced it all. He was at the beginning of the Ba'athist rule in Iraq. He was a military commander in three wars. When called upon to turn his skills to diplomacy, he was ready and able. Then, when the biggest disaster to hit Iraq occurred, he did not acquiesce to the will of the occupiers. He fought to his last breath. Al-Douri was a true comrade.