(Adds comments from Iraqi President in paragraphs 9-10) By Suleiman al-Khalidi AMMAN, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Iraqi former officers and soldiers behind a four-year insurgency plan to escalate attacks after the hanging of their leader Saddam Hussein, an Iraqi Sunni politician said on Thursday. Sheikh Majeed al-Gaood, who has ties with the former regime's once powerful army generals and officers who form the backbone of the Sunni insurgency, said the message came from Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most senior member of the past regime still at large. "The Mujahid (holy warrior) Izzat urged them to escalate their attacks to attain victory God willing, against the occupiers and their backers, the traitors," Gaood said. But Gaood said insurgents were ready to offer Washington a "truce", scaling down military operations against U.S. troops if they cracked down on Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias. "The resistance is ready to reduce their attacks against the Americans in return for ending their logistical support to the militias behind death squads and the ethnic cleansing," Gaood said. Douri, with a $10 million reward offered for his capture, was formally chosen to replace Saddam as "leader of the insurgency" by top tribal leaders and Baathists on the day their leader was executed on Dec 30, Gaood said. Their response to Saddam Hussein's hanging would be more lethal military attacks that employ "longer range missiles and deadlier bombs," Gaood who heads the Baghdad-based Sunni "Wahj al-Iraq" party said. "They are carrying out their promise to ignite the situation. The execution of Saddam has been a blow to Arab dignity," he said. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told Reuters he believed Douri was in Yemen. "It had been said that Izzat al-Douri was in Syria but he is in Yemen. The government has not yet discussed requesting from Yemen to hand him over. We have had this information for a while. We have been tracing his movements," said Talabani. CRACKDOWN Iraq has announced plans for a major U.S. backed operation to curb militia violence in Baghdad, seen as a last chance to avert a civil war between Sunnis and Shi'ites that could draw in Shi'ite Iran and Arab states on opposing sides. The image of Saddam going to his death amid sectarian taunting resonated around the region and has fuelled sectarian tensions. A series of attacks this week has been blamed by the Iraqi Shi'ite government on followers of Saddam Hussein. The attacks were blamed by the Iraqi Shi'ite government on followers of Saddam Hussein. Mainstream insurgents now believe Iran is a bigger threat to Iraq's sovereignty and the future of Arabs than a U.S. presence in Iraq that was approaching its end, Gaood said. "Our focus now is on Iran's occupation of Iraq. The American occupation never drilled eyes or hanged people on lampposts but Safavid Iran has deep seated hatreds against Arabs," he said. Safavid is a reference to the dynasty which established Shi'ite Islam as the Iranian state religion from the 16th century and which sometimes controlled parts of Iraq. Many Sunnis in Iraq say Iran's growing influence in their country seeks to revive Safavid influence in Iraq.
