Wafiq Ajeel Homood al-Samarrai ( ar, وفيق عجيل حمود السامرائي; 1 July 1947 – 29 August 2022) was an Iraqi general who was chief of the country's general military intelligence.

Military career

Al-Samarrai served as the deputy of the Military Intelligence Director in 1988 during the

Anfal Genocide The Anfal campaign; ku, شاڵاوی ئەنفال or the Kurdish genocide was a counterinsurgency operation which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988, at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted rur ...

, in the Iraqi Intelligence during the Iran–Iraq War and was appointed head of Military Intelligence Agency in 1990.

Defection

He defected in December 1994 and drove up to

Kirkuk Kirkuk ( ar, كركوك, ku, کەرکووک, translit=Kerkûk, , tr, Kerkük) is a city in Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate, located north of Baghdad. The city is home to a diverse population of Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds, ...

, then walked for 30 hours to cross the frontier into the Northern Kurdish enclave. At first he allied himself with

Ahmad Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi ( ar, أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of ...

, the leader of the

Iraqi National Congress The Iraqi National Congress (INC; Arabic language, Arabic: المؤتمر الوطني العراقي ''Al-Moutammar Al-Watani Al-'Iraqi'') is an Iraqi political party that was led by Ahmed Chalabi who died in 2015. It was formed as an umbrella I ...

. They fomented a mini war in March 1995 between Kurdish groups and the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup ...

that went wrong when the insurgents failed to secure American military air support. Al-Samarrai moved to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and eventually made his way to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1998, where he headed an opposition group called the Higher Council for National Salvation which is based in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Following his defection,

Qusay Hussein Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti (or Qusai, ar, قصي صدام حسين; 17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in ...

told senior Iraqi officials, including

Ra'ad al-Hamdani Ra'ad Majid Rashid al-Hamdani ( ar, رعد مجيد الحمداني) is a former General of the Iraqi Republican Guard, and was one of Saddam Hussein's favourite officers. Early career Hamdani graduated from the Iraqi Military College in Baghda ...

, that al-Samarrai had been an undercover agent for Jalal Talabani and Iran since 1982. Former Maj. Gen. Mizher Rashid al-Tarfa al-Ubaydi of Iraqi Intelligence claimed that al-Samarrai fled because he believed he was about to be arrested.

Post invasion of Iraq

In 2003, he returned to his hometown

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...

, Iraq and remained there until he was appointed the national security advisor to President

Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani ( ku, مام جەلال تاڵەبانی, translit=Celal Talebanî; ar, جلال طالباني ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as ...

in 2005 and moved to the Green Zone in Baghdad. He was relieved of his post in 2008 after the discovery of documents implicating him in the Iraqi forces' operations against rebels in the 1991 uprisings. On 6 March 2008, the Iraqi presidency website publicized a judicial decision to lift off all restrictions imposed on General Wafiq al-Samarrai, including a freeze on his assets, after Supreme Criminal Court Judge Adnan Al Badri reportedly announced that a probe found no evidence implicating al-Samarrai in 1991

attacks on Kurds and Shia. However, Samarrai left for London and announced that he will not return to Iraq in the future. On 29 August 2022, he died in

, a year after he had been admitted to hospitals there, while suffering from cancer.

References

External links

General plots Saddam's downfall step-by-step
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The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

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قرار قضائي ينفي أي مسؤولية جنائية عن الفريق أول الركن وفيق السامرائي ويلزم برفع كل القيود عنه
iraqipresidency.net {{DEFAULTSORT:al-Samarrai, Wafiq 1947 births 2022 deaths Iraqi defectors Iraqi emigrants to the United Kingdom Iraqi generals People from Samarra