General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Jasim Mohammed Saleh Habib (not to be confused with sahwa leader Jasim Mohammad Saleh Suwaidawi) was an Iraqi level-2

Baathist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology is ...

who commanded the Iraqi Army under

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 ...

. After US forces failed to capture Fallujah, they turned control of the city over to Saleh, and his own private militia in the hope that he could restore order to the city. A former chief-of-staff for a

Republican Guard A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...

brigade who later commanded the Iraqi 38th Infantry Division, Saleh was stationed in

Amarah Amarah (), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between ...

in 1991 to help quell a

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

uprising. Saleh agreed to formally report to US General

James T. Conway James Terry Conway (born December 26, 1947) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Among his previous postings were Director of Operations (J-3) on the Joint Chiefs of ...

, who had arranged the transfer without conferring with US superiors. There was less than a week's discussion about the deal, after Saleh approached the

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

promising that he could bring the city under control. A native of Fallujah, Saleh was a prominent member of the city's largest tribe and closely related to its leader. Upon entering the city as with 200 troops, Saleh was wearing his Republican Guard uniform and waving the

Flag of Iraq Since the 14 July Revolution, 1958 Iraqi coup d'état, the various republican governments of Iraq have used a number of different flags, all featuring the Pan-Arab colours, pan-Arab colors of green, black, white, and red. The current official and ...

, which had just been abolished by the

Iraqi Governing Council The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi ...

several days earlier. He also had a large flag placed at the entrance to the city. Saleh drew controversy on May 2, just days after the handover of power, when he stated that there were no foreign fighters in Fallujah. This, combined with the discovery that Saleh had been involved in atrocities against

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

during 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 ...

, led to US military authorities announcing he would not be allowed to lead his private militia any longer. Two days later it was announced that

Muhammed Latif Muhammed Latif () is an Iraqi major general, and former member of the Baath Party. The city of Fallujah was handed over to Muhammed Latif, replacing the earlier U.S. choice, Jasim Mohammed Saleh, when it was discovered that the latter had been i ...

would be given control of the city instead.

References

Iraqi Sunni Muslims Iraqi generals Living people 1955 births {{Iraq-mil-bio-stub