Jordan Caught in Political Crossfire

Jordan Caught in Political Crossfire
Daoud Kuttab - IPS - 4/14/03

AMMAN, Apr 14 (IPS) - Jordan, a small country strategically larger than its geographical size, has found itself caught between a rock and a hard place; the rock the continuing anger of its people against the occupation of Iraq and Palestine, the hard place its attempts to remain in the U.S. political camp.

The contradictory moves and statements from Jordanian officials in the first two weeks of the U.S.-led war on Iraq pointed clearly to Jordan's political difficulties.

A Jordanian fuel truck driver became the first war casualty. He was killed in a missile attack as he stopped on the highway into Baghdad. The missile was fired no doubt in an effort to control western Iraqi locations from where many of the Scuds were fired on Israel in the earlier Gulf War.

Many Jordanians came to believe that their country was actively supporting U.S. attempts to control western Iraq. Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb called a press conference to insist that Jordan was not involved in the war, and that no fighting troops had joined the war from Jordan. The only U.S. troops in the kingdom, he said, were U.S. troops manning Patriot missiles to protect Jordan from any incoming missiles.

But the death of the truck driver brought another signal. Jordan, with no known oil resources, has depended for long on cheap Iraqi oil. During the years of the economic sanctions, Saddam Hussein further subsidised the cost of oil because Jordan provided Iraq with its only land route to the rest of the world.

Once the war began, Jordan stopped sending trucks to pick up oil from Iraq. Jordan began instead to get similarly subsidised oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia under a deal not previously announced.

After former Iraqi deputy president Taha Yassin Ramadan criticised Jordan publicly on the third day of the war for its oil switch, Jordan's foreign minister Marwan Muasher told a crowded press conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Amman that Jordan had only suspended supply from Iraq because of the danger on the roads.

The support to Iraq that became evident on the streets of Jordan forced the Jordanian government to send at least a few more lorries to pick up oil from Iraq.

The Jordanian government made a similar turnaround after it seemed to respond to the U.S. call on all countries to close down Iraqi diplomatic missions. On the fourth day of the war the Jordanian government announced that it had asked three Iraqi diplomats to leave. The diplomats were accused of meddling in Jordan's internal affairs.

The move angered the Jordanian public. Several unions, Islamic groups and other organisations accused the government of buckling under U.S. pressure. Within 48 hours Jordan's ruler King Abdallah announced that Jordan is ready to welcome new Iraqi diplomats. Jordanian authorities were evidently afraid of the public anger.

King Abdallah announced his sympathies with protesters on the second day of the war. "I know the pain and anger you are feeling because of the suffering and ordeal that the Iraqi people are facing," he said on the state-run Jordan TV. "I am one of you. I share the feelings of every one of you."

But he asked people to show restraint. "As for the demonstration of our feelings towards the brotherly Iraqi people, it has to be expressed in a civilised manner that will help to ease the anguish of our brothers," he said.

Few Jordanians, however, heard the King. Most were following the war on Al Jazeera or Abu Dhabi TV channels. Those who did, did not appear to be convinced.

As protests rose, the Jordanian King went public with another statement given to the Jordanian Petra News Agency. He called the attack an "invasion" and spoke of the Iraqi "shaheeds (martyrs)". This time the leading Arab satellite stations and all radio stations carried the message aimed at absorbing the Jordanian anger.

Jordanian officials were hugely relieved when the war drew to a close, and Iraqi people were shown to be welcoming U.S. forces. Jordan said now that it would not interfere in determining the future of Iraq.

"The future and destiny of Iraq should be in the hands of its people," minister of state for political affairs and minister for information Mohammad Adwan said. "Jordan will under no circumstances accept the division of Iraq. He said the top priority of Jordan now is to carry out its "brotherly duty" of assisting the people of Iraq in overcoming their difficulties.