Ayad Futaih al-Rawi (1942-) was a Colonel-General of Ba'athist Iraq's Iraqi Republican Guard under Saddam Hussein, being awarded 27 medals for his service in the Iran-Iraq War. al-Rawi was a staunch loyalist of Saddam, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 for his actions during the quelling of the Shia and Kurdish uprisings in 1991.
Biography[]
Ayad Futaih al-Rawi was born in Rawa in 1942, and he joined the Iraqi Army as an officer in an armored unit in 1965. Under Saddam Hussein, al-Rawi was a staunch Iraqi Ba'ath Party loyalist, and he was the commander of the Iraqi Republican Guard at the Second Battle of al-Faw on 17 April 1988 during the Iran-Iraq War. al-Rawi received a head wound in the battle, and he went on to be awarded 27 medals for his service. In the years in between the war with Iran and the 2003 United States invasion, al-Rawi served as Governor of Baghdad Governorate and later Kirkuk Governorate, and he took part in the quelling of Shia and Kurdish uprisings. During the Gulf War of 1990-1991, al-Rawi commanded Iraqi forces at major tank battles such as 73 Easting, Phase Line Bullet, and Medina Ridge, and his forces inflicted significant losses against the Coalition forces. al-Rawi was arrested on 4 July 2003 at the start of the Iraq War and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 for offenses committed during the 1991 uprisings.