He was once the butt of jokes, but now he’s the most wanted man in Iraq. With the capture of Saddam Hussein, US forces are now focusing on Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a longtime deputy of Saddam.He is one of 13 ex-regime members who remain at large from the US list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, and the only one with a $10-million bounty on his head. Under Saddam, al-Douri served as vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council — at least on paper. ‘‘There are still high-value targets out there such as al-Douri’’ Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Military commanders stepped up their hunt for al-Douri in recent weeks, destroying one of his homes and detaining his wife and daughter. The arrests seemed intended to pressure him into surrendering or to gather information that may lead to him. When US officials announced the $10-million reward for information leading to al-Douri’s capture or killing, many Iraqis were bewildered as he was the subject of much ridicule during Saddam’s regime. ‘‘In the days of Saddam, you couldn’t tell jokes about Saddam, but you could tell jokes about al-Douri,’’ said Atwan Rasul, 38.Al-Douri often represented Iraq at international meetings. At an Islamic summit two weeks before the US invasion, he derided a Kuwaiti diplomat, shouting: ‘‘Shut up, you monkey! Curse be upon your moustache, you traitor.’’ — LAT-WP
