Rashid was born in the town of Khezamia, near Tikrit, in 1940. He received his primary and secondary education in Tikrit.
Career
Rashid joined the military, and graduated from the Iraqi Military Academy in 1962 with a Bachelor's in military science. He graduated from the Iraqi Joint Staff College in 1968 with a Master's degree in military science. He also later received a PhD in the same field.
Following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq Rashid was one of several individuals indicted by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for war crimes. Specifically Rashid was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to possible war crimes carried out against the Kurds during the al-Anfal campaign in 1988. At the time of the campaign Rashid was serving as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces. The trial began on 21 August 2006 and concluded on 24 June 2007, with Rashid, alongside several others, being found guilty and sentenced to death for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In total Rashid was sentenced to three death sentences. After his sentence was read out Rashid, alongside fellow former General Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai, spoke out. As a result the chief judge, Mohammed Ureibi al-Khalifa, ordered that they should be quickly removed from the court. Rashid reportedly shouted “Thanks be to God, we are being executed because we defended our country against thieves and criminals. We defended Iraq.” On 3 October 2007 the Iraqi authorities decided to postpone the date of Rashid's execution. On 28 February 2008 a three member Iraqi Presidential Council agreed to the execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid, however did not approve of the execution of either Rashid or Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai. The Council reportedly argued that Tai and Rashid should not be executed as, being military personnel at the time, they were merely following orders. On 2 December 2008 Rashid was given a further life sentence for his role in the 1991 uprising in Iraq. On 14 July 2011 Rashid, along with numerous other former high-ranking officials, were transferred from US to Iraqi custody. Rashid had been being detained at Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport. Following the transfer several Iraqi lawmakers renewed their calls on the Presidency to not approve the executions. President Talabani had authorized his Shi'ite Vice President Khudair al-Khuzaie to sign the verdict.
