(  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289213.html )

The Coalition Provisional Authority today announced the new military leaders who are to stiffen up the security forces declining to fight fellow Iraqis in Fallujah on behalf of the US army.

The CPA have taken care to appoint representatives of the three major communities:

- a Sunni Kurd, General Babekr al-Zibari, will be the top general (Senior Military Advisor).

- a Shi'a Arab, Lieutenant General Daham al-Assal, will be Deputy Chief of Staff

- and a Sunni Arab, General Amer al-Hashimi, will be Chief of Staff.

The first seems to have a history of opposition to Saddam Hussein: al-Zibari was a Peshmerga resistance fighter. The provenance of the other two are less certain, and slightly glossed in the CPA's press release.

Al-Hashimi was definitely a senior officer in the Iraqi army until 1997, as well as a member of the Baghdad City Council since 1997. He was interviewed in a French TV documentary shown earlier this year, where he describes being present at Saddam Hussein's last public appearance amongst Fedayeen fighters in the Adamya district of Baghdad on 7th April 2003, while, across town, his statue was being pulled down. (See  http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3208,36-358253,0.html for a review of the film).

I couldn't find any information about al-Assal beyond the CPA's information that he had had the rank of major general in the previous military.

Any more information would be greatly appreciated, particularly about the human rights records of these commanders, and in particular whether they were involved or not in actions under the Saddam regime against Kurds, Shi'ite rebels, marsh Arabs etc.

The CPA press release is here:  http://www.cpa-iraq.org/pressreleases/20040418_MoD_leadership.html