Colonel General Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

Iyad Futayyih Al-Rawi (; 194218 May 2018; also spelled Ayad Futayyih) was an Iraqi Army officer during

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

's rule. He later served as the head of the

Jerusalem Army Jerusalem Army, also known as Al Quds Army, (), was a paramilitary volunteer force created on 17 February 2001 by the Iraqi government to assist the Palestinians to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem from Israel Israel, officially the State of ...

. He started his service in the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...

as an officer in an armoured unit, later fighting in the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, receiving numerous medals and suffering a severe head wound whilst leading an Iraqi counterattack against an Iranian offensive. In all, Futayyih was awarded 27 medals during the Iran–Iraq War. He was perceived to be a staunch Saddam loyalist.

Biography

Futayyih was born in

Rawa Rawa may refer to: Places Poland *Rawa Mazowiecka, a town *Rawa (river) *Rawa County * Rawa, Lublin Voivodeship, a village Other places * Rawa, India *Rawa, Iraq, a town in Iraq *Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park, on the Indonesian island of Sul ...

in 1942, and died of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

on May 18, 2018.

Iran–Iraq War

He served as commander of the Republican Guard forces at the

Second Battle of al-Faw The Second Battle of al-Faw (also known as the Operation Ramadan Mubarak (Blessed Ramadan), fought on 17 April 1988, was a major battle of the Iran–Iraq War. After their defeat at the First Battle of al-Faw two years earlier, the newly restru ...

, which comprised some 60% of the forces deployed. During his interview with the Iraqi Perspectives Project, he was named by General Hamdani as one of the few first-rate commanders. Hamdani lists one of the few reasons why Hussein Kamel's attempts to improve the quality of the Republican Guard during the Iran-Iraq War was successful was that he listened to Futayyih.

Later career

Futayyih went on to serve as Governor of both

and Ta'mim Governorates. He later became the Chief of Staff of the Al Quds Volunteer Army, a paramilitary force created in early 2001 in response to the beginning of the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

. The force's objective was seemingly to defeat Israel and liberate Palestine and Jerusalem, and the force was declared to be composed of some 21 divisions and 7 million Iraqis, although in reality the force was small, ineffective and largely a propaganda stunt to show support for the Palestinians. Prior to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, Futayyih was on a list of sanctioned individuals.

Invasion and aftermath

Futayyih was arrested on 4 June 2003, following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He was no. 30 of Central Commands ''Top 55'' list, appearing as the seven of clubs in the

Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards During the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ran ...

. Despite its claimed size, the Al Quds Army ended up playing virtually no role in the war. In 2008 Futayyih received a life sentence for war crimes committed in the suppression of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. He died in 2018 in prison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawi, Ayad Futayih al- 1942 births 2018 deaths Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region politicians Governors of Baghdad Governorate Governors of Kirkuk Governorate Iraqi generals Iraqi prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Iraqi people who died in prison custody Prisoners of war held by the United States Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Iraq Iraq War prisoners of war Iraqi prisoners of war Prisoners who died in Iraqi detention