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Iraqi Intelligence Service

Coordinates: 33°18′35″N 44°21′33″E / 33.309651°N 44.359075°E / 33.309651; 44.359075
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Iraqi Intelligence Service
جهاز المخابرات العراقي
Jihaz Al-Mukhabarat Al-Eiraqii
IIS logo
Agency overview
Formed1973
Preceding agency
  • Jihaz al Khas (Special Apparatus)
Dissolved23 May 2003
JurisdictionGovernment of Iraq
HeadquartersAl-Harthiya Garrison, Baghdad 33°18′35″N 44°21′33″E / 33.309651°N 44.359075°E / 33.309651; 44.359075
Agency executive
Parent agencyIndependent

The Iraqi Intelligence Service (Arabic: جهاز المخابرات العامة العراقية, romanized: Jihaz Al-Mukhabarat Al-Eiraqii, lit. 'General Intelligence Directorate of Iraq') also known as the Mukhabarat, General Intelligence Directorate, or Party Intelligence, was an 8,000-man agency and the main state intelligence organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The IIS was primarily concerned with international intelligence collection and analysis but also performed many activities inside Iraq in conjunction with the Directorate of General Security as a secret police organization.

The most important section of the IIS was Directorate 4: the Secret Service. One of the well known Directors was Rafi Daham al-Tikriti (Arabic: رافع دحام مجول التكريتي) the former Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey and the last Chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service. The Secret Service was tasked with infiltrating both foreign and domestic governments, unions, embassies, and opposition groups. IIS often worked closely with the Iraqi General Security Directorate (the Iraqi equivalent of the FBI) when conducting domestic activities.

IIS is alleged to be responsible for a number of assassinations and attempted assassinations abroad. These include the assassinations of former Iraqi prime minister Abdul Razzaq an-Naif in London (July 1978), Salih Mahdi Ammash in Helsinki (January 1985), Sheikh Talib al-Suhail al-Tamimi in Beirut (April 1994), Ayatollah Mehdi al-Hakim in Sudan (January 1988) and Ayad Habashi in Rome (October 1986),[citation needed] as well as the attempted assassinations of President George H. W. Bush, the Emir of Kuwait[1] and the former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.[citation needed]

Structure

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IIS was organised as a number of Bureaus, which oversaw the individual directorates. The following list gives the directorates divided by bureau, and a brief description of the directorate:[citation needed]

Political Bureau

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  • Directorate 4 – Secret Service
Located inside the headquarters of the IIS, Directorate 4's activities took place in both Iraq and abroad, with agents infiltrated within Iraqi government departments, the Ba'ath Party, associations, unions and organizations, Iraqi embassies[2] and opposition parties. In addition, the Secret Service received information from the Al Hadi Project. The directorate included a number of offices responsible for the collection of information about a specific country or region. These offices included areas for Southeast Asia, Turkey, Iran, America (North and South), Europe, Arab states, Africa and the former Soviet Union. Directorate 4 worked in coordination with Directorates 3, 5, 9, 12, 14 and 18. The last director of Directorate 4 was BG Mohammed Yasin Al Shammari from Mosul.
  • Directorate 8 – Technical Affairs
Located in the headquarters of the ISS, Directorate 8 was responsible for the fingerprinting of all IIS employees and the development of materials needed for covert offensive operations. These included weapons, explosives and poisons. Directorate 8 also assembled cameras, communications equipment and employed many engineers and scientists with advanced degrees. The last director of Directorate 8 was Mohammed al-Masri, who was of Egyptian origin.
  • Directorate 9 – Secret Operations
One of the most important directorates within the IIS. Directorate 9's work was mostly outside Iraq in coordination with Directorates 5, 12, 14 and 18, focusing on operations of sabotage and assassination. The last director of Directorate 9 was MG Abdul Hameed Khalaf al-Bayati, with BG Hussain Abdul Khaliq ad-Douri, from Dour as his Assistant Director.
  • Directorate 12 – Electronic Surveillance
Responsible for the planting, monitoring, and analyzing video and audio surveillance devices within the IIS. Also partially responsible for the forging of currency.
  • Directorate 17 – National Security Institute
Responsible for the training of IIS officers. Located in the Jihad district (possibly at Abu Ghraib in the western suburbs of Baghdad), it contained full living quarters and a supermarket. High-school graduates undertook a three-year course, and college graduates an 18-month course prior to entering the intelligence service as junior officers.
  • Planning Office
Responsible for collecting and analyzing information from around the world, including open sources such as radio, satellite TV, and newspapers.
  • Propaganda Office
Responsible for conducting psychological warfare operations, including the dissemination of false information.

Special Bureau

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  • Directorate 5 – Counter-Intelligence
Responsible for the detection and neutralization of foreign intelligence agents, with a particular focus on Syrian infiltrators. Directorate 5 works in conjunction with Directorates 3, 4, 14 and 18. Undated sources name BG Sadoon Ali al-Tikriti, from Auja as director of Directorate 5, and LTC Ahmed Lahij ad-Dulaimi as Assistant Director.
Responsible for the conduct of officers and other members of the IIS. Directorate 6 was responsible for the issuing of papers, passports, and marriage sanctions for all ISS employees. The last director of Directorate 6 was MG Abdul Hameed Yasin al-Ghurairi, with COL Ibrahim al-`Aani as his Assistant.
The primary interrogation center of the ISS was Al Haakimiya, located opposite the Passport Office on 52nd Street.
  • Directorate 19 – Personnel Supervision
Responsible for surveillance of IIS employees.
  • Directorate 22 – Protection
Responsible for personal protection of senior IIS officials and visiting dignitaries.
  • Office 16
Uncertain designation. Conducted training of agents for the Clandestine operations abroad.
Rapid intervention force of the IIS, armed with light and semi-heavy weapons.

History

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Following an unsuccessful assassination attempt by the Ba'ath Party on Iraq's ruler Abdul Karim Qasim in October 1959, Saddam Hussein was placed in charge of Jihaz al Khas (Special Apparatus), sometime between 1964 and 1966. Codenamed Jihaz al-Haneen (Instrument of Yearning), the organisation concentrated on security and intelligence work.

After the Ba'ath Party seized power on 17 July 1968, Saddam expanded the Special Apparatus and took control of the Amn (State Internal Security Department).

Following the failed coup attempt led by Director of Internal Security Nadhim Kzar in 1973, Jihaz was transformed into Da'irat al Mukhabarat al Amah (The General Intelligence Department or the GID).

In 1983, under the leadership of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, the GID organized the massacres of the villagers of Dujail and Jezan Al Chol, the disappearance of the Barzanis from the Qushtapa camp, and the assassination of 18 members of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim's family.

As a result of the Gulf War (1991), the department dealing with external affairs was reduced to less than half of its pre-1990 size, while the department dealing with internal affairs was enlarged to deal with increasing anti-Saddam activities within Iraq.

On 13 April 1993, the IIS planned and executed an assassination attempt against former US President George H. W. Bush and the Emir of Kuwait through the use of a large car bomb driven by two Iraqis.[citation needed][3] However the plan was foiled and Kuwaiti officials arrested 16 persons suspected of carrying out the plot after a car bomb was found. Two Iraqi nationals, during the FBI interviews in Kuwait, admitted to attempting to carry out an attack under direction of the IIS. On 26 June of that year, in response to an attempted assassination by IIS on former US President George H. W. Bush, US President Bill Clinton[1] ordered two U.S. warships, namely USS Peterson and USS Chancellorsville, to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles on the IIS principal command and control complex in Baghdad.[4] 16 of the 23 missiles hit their target; three struck a residential area, killing nine civilians and wounding 12. Four of the missiles were unaccounted for.

In June 1995, Saddam Hussein dismissed his stepbrother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti from his role as head of the IIS, due to his failure to increase domestic security within Iraq. Brigadier General Ali Hasan al-Majid was named as his successor.

The IIS was officially dissolved on 23 May 2003 by the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, per CPA Order Number 2.[5]

Directors

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "U.S. Strikes Iraq for Plot to Kill Bush", The Washington Post.
  2. ^ Schram, Jamie (October 12, 2016) "Saddam Hussein Had A Secret Torture Chamber In NYC", New York Post
  3. ^ "The Bush assassination attempt". Department of Justice/FBI Laboratory report. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
  4. ^ Von Drehle, David & Smith, R. Jeffrey (Jun 27, 1993). "U.S. Strikes Iraq for Plot to Kill Bush". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  5. ^ Ibrahim, Arwa (20 March 2023). "20 years on, was removing Saddam Hussein worth the war in Iraq?". Al Jazeera.
  6. ^ Kanan Makiya, Samīr al-Halīl. "Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq", Updated Edition, (1998), p. 16.
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