Maher Abd al-Rashid

June 20, 1945 (age 69)

Tikrit, Saladin Governorate, Iraq

Rashid rose to prominence during the Iran-Iraq war, and was regarded as one of Saddam's best generals, serving as Chief-of-Staff of the Iraqi after being brought out of a retirement that he had been forced into in 1983. Rashid also played a prominent role in helping Iraq to regain her initiative during the war. Not all assessments of Rashid were so kind, and Ra'ad al-Hamdani refers to him as "one of the dumbest generals in the army". High Iraqi losses during the conflict nearly led to a mutiny led by Rashid, father-in-law of Hussein's second son. Rashid began by public criticizing Saddam Hussein, and claimed that many of Iraq's casualties were caused by Saddam's meddling into military affairs. Saddam ordered him back to Baghdad due to both his public criticism and his failure to remove the Iranians from the al-Faw peninsula. Aware that an order to return to Baghdad was probably a death sentence for Rashid, his officers warned Saddam that if anything were to happen to Rashid they would mutiny. This confrontation with the military led to the greater independence of military planning from Ba'athist-leadership interference. Shortly afterwards, the Iraqi Air Force once again established air superiority. Despite this, Rashid was placed under house arrest following the end of the Iran-Iraq war in an effort to reduce the power of Generals who had become influential during the war years in order to prevent any possible coup attempts from forming. Following the Gulf War Iraq experienced a wave of uprisings and Saddam called on Rashid to help put down the uprising against the Ba'athist government. Rashid was given command by Saddam over the Iraqi Armed Forces's Southern Command in the run up to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Saddam also appointed him as the General Supervisor for the Iraqi Army's 3rd, 4th, and 7th Corps. After the fall of the Iraqi government Rashid disappeared, before being arrested in July 2003 in Tikrit. He spent the next five years in prison. During his time in prison several of his relatives were either killed or kidnapped. Following Rashid's release in 2008 Rashid returned to Tikrit, and lived in some desert land owned by the city of Tikrit. Rashid died on 29 June 2014 in hospital in the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, two months after having suffered a stroke. Rashid had also been suffering from a long standing illness.

Maher Abd al-Rashid Edit Profile

officer general officer

Career

Rashid rose to prominence during the Iran-Iraq war, and was regarded as one of Saddam's best generals, serving as Chief-of-Staff of the Iraqi after being brought out of a retirement that he had been forced into in 1983. Rashid also played a prominent role in helping Iraq to regain her initiative during the war. Not all assessments of Rashid were so kind, and Ra'ad al-Hamdani refers to him as "one of the dumbest generals in the army".

High Iraqi losses during the conflict nearly led to a mutiny led by Rashid, father-in-law of Hussein's second son. Rashid began by public criticizing Saddam Hussein, and claimed that many of Iraq's casualties were caused by Saddam's meddling into military affairs. Saddam ordered him back to Baghdad due to both his public criticism and his failure to remove the Iranians from the al-Faw peninsula.

Aware that an order to return to Baghdad was probably a death sentence for Rashid, his officers warned Saddam that if anything were to happen to Rashid they would mutiny. This confrontation with the military led to the greater independence of military planning from Ba'athist-leadership interference. Shortly afterwards, the Iraqi Air Force once again established air superiority.

Despite this, Rashid was placed under house arrest following the end of the Iran-Iraq war in an effort to reduce the power of Generals who had become influential during the war years in order to prevent any possible coup attempts from forming. Following the Gulf War Iraq experienced a wave of uprisings and Saddam called on Rashid to help put down the uprising against the Ba'athist government. Rashid was given command by Saddam over the Iraqi Armed Forces's Southern Command in the run up to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

Saddam also appointed him as the General Supervisor for the Iraqi Army's 3rd, 4th, and 7th Corps. After the fall of the Iraqi government Rashid disappeared, before being arrested in July 2003 in Tikrit. He spent the next five years in prison.

During his time in prison several of his relatives were either killed or kidnapped. Following Rashid's release in 2008 Rashid returned to Tikrit, and lived in some desert land owned by the city of Tikrit. Rashid died on 29 June 2014 in hospital in the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, two months after having suffered a stroke.

Rashid had also been suffering from a long standing illness.

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