Hmm...Syria, Ba'ath Party, missing WMD, what a total surprise, eh?
Jordan's King Abdullah II, asserting that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network is "still very, very effective," said Friday that his security services had foiled a plot to blow up major government buildings and perhaps the U.S. Embassy in Amman.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Chronicle's editorial board, Abdullah, who is Washington's closest ally among Arab leaders, gave a bleak assessment of the fight against terrorism and the situation in neighboring Iraq, where he said civil war was "a possibility."
He admitted being blindsided by President Bush's strong embrace of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday, embodied by Bush's decision to back Israeli annexation of some land in the West Bank.
In a sign that Jordan may not totally escape the bloody convulsions now ripping through Iraq, Abdullah revealed that the arrest of two suspected terrorists two weeks ago had exposed plans to mount one of the most deadly terrorist attacks ever in the Arab world.
The monarch said his security services had followed the trail of the suspects and captured five trucks packed with 17.5 tons of high explosives, which apparently were intended for an attack on the Jordanian prime minister's office and the intelligence ministry.
"It was a major, major operation," Abdullah said. "It would have decapitated the government."
Casualties would have been "in the thousands," he added. "It couldn't have been more sinister."
Abdullah said European anti-terrorism experts were aiding the Jordanian police investigation, but details were still sketchy -- including a solid identification of the type of explosive the suspects were carrying.
He said that although the trucks had come from Syria, "I'm completely confident that Bashir did not know about it," he said, referring to Syrian President Bashir Assad, whom U.S. officials have accused of allowing terrorist groups to use his country's territory.
Abdullah's comments amplified a little-noticed announcement issued two weeks ago. On April 1, Jordanian officials said they had arrested several terrorist suspects and were hunting for two cars laden with explosives. Five days later, the State Department said the attackers were linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist believed linked to al Qaeda, and intended to attack the U.S. embassy in Amman.
On Friday, Abdullah noted that the State Department had publicly said the embassy was a target in the plot, but he said Jordanian investigators had not been able to confirm this.
The incident in Jordan is significant because of Abdullah's low-key yet crucial role as the most pro-American leader in the Arab world -- a role that puts him in a tight bind, squeezed between Washington's desires and the sentiments of his country's population. Jordan is heavily dependent on U.S. aid, yet 60 percent of its population is Palestinian, and anti-American attitudes are widespread.
Asked for an assessment of al Qaeda's strength after three years of intense U.S. pursuit, Abdullah said quickly that it had increased.
But when a Chronicle editor reminded him that Bush had said that al Qaeda had been badly damaged, the monarch backed off. "The organization has been very badly hurt, but ... that doesn't mean it can't hurt you, as we saw in Madrid," he said, referring to the terrorist attacks in Spain last month. "They're still very, very effective."
Abdullah declined to comment directly about Bush's apparently dramatic shift in policy toward Israel -- throwing U.S. support behind Israel's decision to leave some Jewish settlements in the West Bank in place and agreeing that Palestinian refugees cannot be allowed to return to their homes in Israel, which they left during the country's 1948 war of independence.
Abdullah said he had not been forewarned by Bush, an omission that would be widely considered a significant diplomatic snub to a major U.S. partner.
"There were discussions beforehand with members of the administration, but what came out in Washington was different," he said. "We really are at a loss for information. ... Washington has taken us a bit by surprise.
"Honestly, we don't know what the implications are."
Abdullah will have an opportunity for clarification next Wednesday, when he is scheduled to meet with Bush in Washington.
Jordan has had full diplomatic relations with Israel ever since Abdullah's late father, King Hussein, signed a peace treaty with the country in 1994.
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