Malik al‑Kharbit

From the news reports:

When Malik Abdul Karim al-Kharbit turned left, he was going to Amman. It meant that as one of the more powerful tribal leaders in all of Iraq, he was putting his family and his business empire on the line. He was headed for the Jordanian capital, about 800 kilometres away, where he would betray Saddam Hussein in secret meetings with US intelligence agents. ...

Malik, by all accounts, was a man of rare qualities. By tradition, the eldest son of a sheikh assumes the leadership on the death of his father, but Malik was handpicked as a child by his father ahead of his older brothers and groomed for leadership. Thirty-five years old when he died, he was a shrewd tribal chief and businessman.

The Age 12 Jun 2004