Other rumours focus on someone Raghdad calls an “uncle” - Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, whom the New York Times describes as “a top military commander and a vice president in the Hussein government and one of the few prominent Baathists to evade capture”. The stories say that al-Douri is in Tikrit - or earlier, he was supposed to be in Mosul - and planning to lead an army against the Shiite Muslim militias. Stories about al-Douri are backed by tales about the alleged arrest of his driver in the area, or the capture of his friends and relatives.
Given that Shiite Muslims in Iraq were oppressed by Saddam Hussein and his commanders for a long time, these rumours are perfectly timed to encourage the Shiite Muslim fighters into battle against someone who stands for all they hate.
Another aspect to the rumour mongering is the way that local media have built up certain characters in the war. One of these is a militia member called Abu Azrael. He's amassed a huge following on Iraqi social media and his rise as a symbol of the Shiite Muslim fight back against the IS group, including his appearance on the Facebook page “reportedly belonging to Iran's special forces”, has been documented by several media observers.
Additionally senior Iranian military commander, Qasim Soleimani, one of Iran's formerly most secretive and most influential envoys, has also featured large in Iraqi media. He is often seen alongside Shiite Muslim militias and the pictures and praise are clearly meant to celebrate Iran's role in this fight.
Often basking in the glory too, is Iraqi politician, Hadi al-Ameri, leader of the Shiite Muslim militia, the Badr Brigades – al-Ameri is a staunch advocate of Iran's role in this crisis and has often been quoted saying that Iran saved Baghdad from falling to the IS group last year. Most recently he's talked about how the militias don't need US air support to take Tikrit. Only weaklings would ask for their support, he is reported to have said.
For some Iraqis, these campaigns to lionize certain individuals and win a psychological war of words and online media against the IS group and potentially also Sunni Muslim lobby groups, have worked. They repeat the stories of battle field heroism and you can find many using a picture of one or other of the above characters – particularly Soleimani – as a personal profile shot on their Facebook profiles.
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