22 Facts About Hardan al-Tikriti

Hardan 'Abdul Ghaffar al-Tikriti was a senior Iraqi Air Force commander, Iraqi politician and ambassador who was assassinated on the orders of Saddam Hussein.

Hardan al-Tikriti's father was a police officer, a Sunni Arab and a member of the tribe of Al-Shiyasha.

In 1961, Hardan joined the Baath Party and he played a key role in both the 1963 and 1968 revolutions in Iraq.

On 8 March 1963, with the Baath Party fighting to gain control of Syria, Hardan al-Tikriti ordered an air attack on the part of the Syrian air base at Aleppo that was in the hands of supporters of the old government.

Hardan al-Tikriti then relinquished his command and was appointed Defence Minister in which capacity he served from November 1963 until March 1964.

Hardan al-Tikriti appointed Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, a devoted Ba'thists, to be his vice president and Ali Salih al-Sa'di as his Minister of the Interior.

Hardan al-Tikriti played the major role in this coup by delivering the final blow.

Hardan al-Tikriti then escorted Arif to the airport where the deposed Prime Minister was flown out of the country.

Hardan al-Tikriti was re-appointed Minister of Defence in the aftermath of the 1968 coup.

Ammash, Bakr, and Hardan al-Tikriti had helped each other make their way to the top with the 1968 coup.

Hardan al-Tikriti thought strategically that Bakr was his key to that power.

Hardan al-Tikriti aligned himself with Bakr by supporting his policies.

Hardan al-Tikriti was the biggest political challenge because the military had become his stronghold where he controlled almost all if not everything that concerned the military.

In 1969 Hardan al-Tikriti tried to show his power and authority by convincing Bakr to send Saddam into exile for having questioned his power and motives in front of the council.

Saddam did this by simply convincing Bakr that Hardan al-Tikriti was after his presidential seat.

Hardan al-Tikriti was given the position as Vice President but this meant nothing because he no longer had the power to control cabinet meetings.

Finally on 15 October 1970 Hardan al-Tikriti was dismissed from all positions he carried because he was accused of disregarding efforts of the Ba'thist Party to help the Arabs.

Hardan al-Tikriti was later sent into exile and like all others he was put on a plane and flown out of the state.

Hardan al-Tikriti returned weeks later to Iraq to try to clear his record.

However, Hardan al-Tikriti disliked being away from the Iraqi political scene and he travelled to Kuwait from where he attempted to organize a coup against Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein.

On 30 March 1971, Hardan al-Tikriti was killed in a car belonging to the Iraqi Embassy during a medical checkup at a Kuwait hospital.

Hardan al-Tikriti was buried in Tikrit, and his burial site was destroyed by ISIS on 11 February 2014 when they planted IEDs in it.