Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed al-Shahwani
| Mohammed Abdullah al-Shahwani | |
|---|---|
| محمد عبد الله الشهواني | |
| Director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service | |
|
In office April 2004 – August 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Zuheir Fadel Abbas al-Ghirbawi |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 4, 1938 Mosul, Kingdom of Iraq |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  |
| Service/branch | Iraqi Army |
| Years of service | 1955 - 1989 |
| Rank | Brig. Gen. |
| Unit | Republican Guard |
| Battles/wars |
Yom Kippur War Iran-Iraq War |
Mohammed Abdullah al-Shahwani is an Iraqi general and the former director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service.
Al-Shahwani is a Sunni Turkoman born in either Mosul or Kirkuk and began his career as an international athlete; in 1963 he competed in a decathlon in Jakarta, Indonesia where he won a gold medal. In 1967 he was sent by Iraq to the U.S. Army Ranger School, and in the 1980s he was promoted to head of the Iraqi Special Forces School. During the first half of the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) al-Shahwani was a Brigadier General in charge of a Republican Guard helicopter unit. He made a name for himself by retaking Kardamand mountain in Iraqi Kurdistan from an entrenched Iranian force that numbered in the thousands in an air assault; because of this President Saddam Hussein viewed him as a potential threat and subsequently placed him under the surveillance of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in 1984. He was finally arrested and interrogated in 1989, so in May 1990 al-Shahwani decided to defect to London.
Al-Shahwani soon returned to Jordan to collect intelligence on Iraq during the Gulf War.
In the fall of 1994 al-Shahwani began planning a coup against Saddam Hussein with the support of his three sons then serving in the Republican Guard. Al-Shahwani also brought in Iraqi National Accord leader Iyad Allawi, who in turn informed MI6, and consequently the CIA. The CIA directed coup was foiled by Iraqi security in June 1996, and while al-Shahwani was able to escape, hundreds of Iraqi officers, including his sons, were arrested. His sons and 82 other operatives were later executed.
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