During The Saddam Years
At the time of the invasion, Al-Douri, along with President Saddam Hussein and Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was among the three surviving plotters who had brought the Ba'ath Party to power in a coup in 1968. Following the coup, he had continued to retain a prominent position in the Ba'ath regime. This was aided by the fact that Al-Douri came from the same clan area as Saddam and had not acquired a distinct power base; thus he did not pose a threat to Saddam's ambitions. Saddam's eldest son Uday Hussein was once married to Al-Douri's daughter, but he later divorced her. On 22 November 1998 Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri escaped an assassination attempt when visiting Karbala.
Al-Douri is also believed to be suffering from leukemia and is said to undergo blood transfusions every six months. In 1999, he visited Vienna, Austria for treatment. The Austrian opposition demanded that he be arrested for war crimes, but the government allowed him to leave the country.
Read more about this topic: Izzat Ibrahim Ad-Douri
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