Safely in Iran, Al-Hakim became an open enemy of the Baathists, forming the Supreme Council of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (SCIRI), a revolutionary group dedicated to overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime. In 1983, Hussein responded by arresting 125 members of Al-Hakim's family who had remained in Iraq, and executing 18 of them. This further embittered Al-Hakim's view of the Baathists in general and Hussein in particular. With Iranian aid, SCIRI became an armed resistance group, periodically making cross-border attacks on Iraqi facilities, maintaining covert connections with resistance elements within the country, and generally being a perennial thorn in Hussein's side.
Al-Hakim returned to Iraq in May 2003 following the overthrow of Hussein's regime by the US-led invasion of Iraq. There he emerged as one of the most influential Iraqi leaders, with his longtime opposition to Hussein gaining him immense credibility, especially among the majority Shia population.
Initially he was very critical of the US-led occupation of Iraq, saying "we do not put confidence in the Americans, they have always acted against the interests of the Iraqi people" and urging Iraqis not to follow the US's administration's dictates. However, he did give the US credit for overthrowing the hated Baathist regime, and through the summer of 2003 indicated some willingness to work with the Americans in setting up a civilian government in Iraq. By the time of his death, he remained distrustful, but urged Iraqis to abandon violence, at least for the time being, and give the interim government a chance to earn their trust.
It is unclear (as of late August 2003) who was behind the massive bomb attack that killed him. A spokesman for SCIRI in London suggested that supporters of Saddam Hussein may have been behind the attack; others suggest it may have been orchestrated by Sunnis not necessarily connected to Hussein who are opposed to the increasing Shia influence in the country; a few suggest it may have been carried out by hard-line Shia groups critical of Al-Hakim's increasingly conciliatory line towards the United States. However, as his assassination comes in the midst of a pattern of violence against Shia clerics in Najaf in recent weeks (Al-Hakim is the fourth to be assassinated), it is considered likely that the attack was motivated by anti-Shia sentiment rather than by a conflict between Shia moderates and hardliners.
John Whiteaker
John Whiteaker (May 4, 1820-October 2, 1902) was an American politician, a Democrat, and served as the first state Governor of Oregon from 1859 until 1862.
Born in Dearborn County, Indiana to farmers, Whiteaker only spent six months of formal schooling, and as a result, was almost entirely self-educated. Before moving west, he had performed odd jobs, carpentry, and volunteered for military service during the Mexican War, although his unit was never called into battle. In 1849, he joined the California Gold Rush, earning enough to move his family to a farm in Lane County, Oregon. Once in Oregon he became active in Democratic Party activities, Elected to office first as Judge of the Probate Court for Lane County (1856), then as a legislator in the Territorial Legislature (1857).
Oregon was preparing for statehood in 1857, as voters had just approved a state constitution. Whiteaker was selected as a Democratic faction's nominee in the first state gubernatorial election, held in June 1858. Whiteaker won by a margin of 1,138, and was innagurated July 8, 1858. He did not assume office until word that Congress had passed Oregon's statehood bill on February 14, 1859. Technicaly, Oregon had two governors in the interrum, as Territorial Governor George Law Curry, was legally in charge until the state government-in-waiting was legally empowererd to take control.
Once in office, the new governor set out to untangle the large amounts of land claims and counter claims on public lands. He also promoted economic policies favoring home industries, products that Oregonians could make self-sufficiently. Although nicknamed "Honest John", this did not deflect his controversial stands on issues of national importance. Whiteaker held pro-slavery views which did not sit well with apopulation mostly in the abolitionist camp. Opponents often used this to attack him as a traitor as the United States descended into the Civil War.
Whiteaker was not nominated again by the Democrats in the 1862 election, and thus left office. He did stay in local politics, winning three terms as a state representative (1866-1870), and election to the State Senate in 1870.
Whiteaker was elected to Congress in 1878, as Oregon's Representative-at large. The Democrats had been weakened in the House, and needed one vote to prevail in their nominee for Speaker of the House. The vote was needed by March 18, 1879. Whiteaker, all ready on his way to Washington, recieved word of this urgency while on a steamer between Portland and San Fransisco, California. Upon docking in San Francisco on March 12th, he was met by a railroad agent, and rushed to a special Central Pacific Railroad express train at Oakland. The regular transcontinental train was 25 hours out of Oakland, but Whiteaker's train managed to catch up with it. He arrived in Washington on the morning of March 18th, in enough time to be promptly seated by Congress and cast his vote.
The trip cost $1500 at the time, an expense widely criticized by the Democrat's political oppostition and the media. Many referred to it as "Whiteaker's ride".
Whiteaker served in Congress until 1881, retiring to his farm near Eugene.
John Whiteaker would be called back into politics one more time, in 1885 when President Grover Cleveland appointed him as Oregon's Collector of Revenues at the U.S. Customs House in Portland. After 1890, moved back to Eugene, purchasing 10 city blocks in the central city. The area today is now known in Eugene as Whiteaker's Addition. He stayed in Eugene until his death in 1902.
A. C. Gibbs
Addison C. Gibbs was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Oregon from 1862 until 1866.
Addison Gibbs was born on July 9 1825, in Cattaraugus County, New York. He attended and graduated from a state run normal school before becoming a teacher. Later he passed the bar and moved to California in 1849.
In 1850 A.C. Gibbs moved to the Oregon Territory. There he moved to the town of Gardiner on the Umpqua River where he would become a member of the Territorial Legislature in 1852. He was also appointed as a customs collector for Gardiner, located at the mouth of the Umpqua.
Then in 1860 Gibbs relocated to Portland, Oregon, where he was elected to the state house. Next, in 1862 he was elected as governor of Oregon, serving as the governor during the American Civil War. During the war in 1864, responding to orders from Congress, Gibbs raised an infantry regiment despite opposition from Oegonians.
George Lemuel Woods
George Lemuel Woods (1832–1890), was a Republican Oregon State Governor (1866–1870), and was then appointed Utah Territory Governor (1871–1875) by President Ulysses S. Grant.
La Fayette Grover
La Fayette Grover (b. November 29, 1823 – d. May 10, 1911) was a Democratic representative and senator from Oregon, USA.
Grover was born in Bethel, Maine. He was educated at Bethel's Gould’s Academy and Brunswick's Bowdoin College. Studying law and passing the bar in Philadelphia in 1850, he moved to Oregon in 1851 and set up practice in Salem.
The Oregon Territorial legislature elected him prosecuting attorney for Oregon second judicial district and auditor of public accounts for the Oregon Territory. From 1853 to 1855 he was elected to the territorial house of representatives. In 1854 he was appointed by the Department of the Interior to audit the claims out of the Rogue River Indian War. He then was appointed by the Secretary of War in 1856 to a board of commissioners to audit the Indian war expenses of Oregon and Washington.