Baghdad , Iraq ( CNN ) -- An audio message purportedly from the highest-ranking at-large member of Iraq 's Saddam Hussein regime has been released . The speaker is identified as Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri , Iraq 's former military commander and vice president who has eluded capture since the fall of the Hussein regime more than seven years ago . The message -- issued on the occasion of the 1968 bloodless coup that brought the Baath Party to power in Iraq -- saluted people who resist the `` occupation . '' CNN has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the voice on the tape , posted Friday on a website devoted to national resistance in Iraq . There have been at least five other purported audio messages from al-Douri . Al-Douri , 66 , served as vice-chairman of Hussein 's Revolutionary Command Council . He has been reported killed and captured during the post-U.S. invasion insurgency , but those reports later turned out to be erroneous . He is the King of Clubs ( No . 6 ) on the U.S. military 's card deck of most-wanted regime officials . In the message , al-Douri calls himself `` secretary-general '' of the Baath Party . The U.S. military says he has helped finance the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq with Iraqi funds he transferred to Syria before Hussein 's government collapsed in April 2003 . However , the military says his influence has waned while he has been in hiding . U.S. officials say al-Douri played key roles in the chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988 and in putting down Kurdish and Shiite revolts after the 1991 Persian Gulf War .
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has erroneously been reported killed in the past . The U.S. military said it was aware of reports that a senior Iraqi official had died but could not confirm it. The military says his influence has waned .