Numerous parallels exist between the shah’s rule and that of Abdullah. Like the shah’s SAVAK security and intelligence service, Jordan’s General Intelligence Department, now in a new hilltop complex in an Amman suburb, operates as a “subdivision” of the CIA, said Alexis Debat, a former French Defense Ministry official who is a counter-terrorism consultant and a senior fellow at the Nixon Center in Washington.
By Debat’s estimates, the Jordanian intelligence agency receives at least $20 million a year in U.S. funding for operations and liaison work. “They’re doing all the legwork for the CIA,” he said.
The Jordanians have become one of Washington’s closest allies in the intelligence-gathering business, second only to Britain’s MI6, counter-intelligence experts say. They are closer to the CIA than the Mossad, Israel’s much-touted intelligence agency, which is considered to have too much of an agenda of its own to be completely reliable, Debat said.
Like the Iran of the 1970s, Jordan has become a receptacle of U.S. interests and trade. American aid to the kingdom has totaled $3.59 billion over the last five years, compared with $1.36 billion during the previous five years, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Like the shah’s regime, the Jordanian monarchy has surrounded itself with American hardware. Just before Hussein’s death, Amman took delivery of 16 advanced F-16 fighter jets. “That was a sort of threshold that Jordan crossed,” said Michael R. Fischbach, a professor of history at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. “They got truly advanced weaponry. It made Jordan have aircraft on par with Israel.”
U.S.-made military hardware abounds on Jordan’s streets. Jordanian soldiers carrying American-made M-16 assault rifles and riding in olive-green U.S.-made Humvees watch over sensitive military and political sites in Amman, the capital. Convoys of U.S. military transport trucks move in and out of the country.
Perhaps most controversially, say Amnesty International and other human rights groups, Jordan has become an important nexus in U.S. intelligence’s subterranean “renditions” network, in which terrorism suspects are secretly detained and interrogated in countries with blemished human rights records. Jordanian officials deny participation in the program.
Many worry that bolstering Jordanian security forces amid widespread reports of abuses against detainees has hampered the country’s baby steps toward democratization.
Sure, King PS2 is one of the most contemptible Arab rulers — even if Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is an unusually addictive Playstation game. But raising the specter of a Jordanian Khomeini is really scare-mongering (there is no one in Jordan with the stature Khomeini had even 20 years before he came to power to Iran.) If Abdullah went, he would probably be replaced by a more intelligent relative. Anyway, I’m no expert on Jordanian domestic politics so just read the whole thing.
I got a kick from the name you’ve given to the Jordanian ruler, King PS2, very catchy!
If Abdullah is one of the most contemptible rulers, who is less contemptible? (I mean that seriously, not sarcastically.)
Less contemptible: Mubarak, King Muhammad VI (called “Sa Majetski” because his hobby is jet-ski), Bouteflika, the UAE sheikhs…. Contemptible is in no way a measure of how horrible they are but rather of how pathetic they are. King PS2 is pretty pathetic. I rate my Arab leaders according to several criteria: degree of pathos, degree of repression, degree of bitch-status, (i.e. how influenceable they are by outside powers) and style points. e.g. Saddam Hussein: not pathetic, fairly stylish, not a bitch, but an extremely repressive mass murderer. Mubarak: increasingly pathetic but still middling, increasingly a bitch, increasingly repressive, totally unstylish. Ben Ali: not particularly pathetic, incredibly repressive, no style except Dracula, a skilled bitch. I should add corruption as a measure to that, except it seems to me they’re all incredibly corrupt. Maybe I should make a chart or something. But anyway, for me the worse are, these days: Ben Ali, King PS2, Bashar al Assad. I would perhaps add Mubarak because he is now holding back a great country from getting on a serious path to development.
(nb: obviously the above is tongue in cheek. But I don’t think how bad a ruler is should only be measured in terms of how repressive he is. Incompetence, mismanagement and personality also count. Most Moroccans would say Hassan II was a classic Oriental despot who was terrible for the country, but still concede he had statesmanship.)
ha! Most of that comment could’ve been an Eddie Izzard skit.
Mr. Al-Amrani,
If true, I do not see the reason why a 40 something man can not enjoy a PS2 game, nor the reasons why he should be criticized, but this is always the case with us, we’re never satisfied, we always think we could do a better job, if you feel that it is immature or to enjoy yourself while doing a hell of job building a country and putting it under the spotlight, then you really need to get a life.
As for your rating of the Arab leaders, well I can not deny that I used to think the same way, I’m sure I can make you fall on your back with comments on Arab leaders and monarchs, but not until recently I’ve realized that I can’t base any judgments after I visited 2 countries who I thought were in absolute turmoil, I decided I can not base any judgments by listening to people like you, or even citizens who can not get what they want simply because they’re socially impotent and have nothing to do but to bitch about the government, I think most Arab countries are progressing in a positive direction, in many perspectives Arab countries are developing quickly and catching up with the western (TGV) development train, while preserving their heritage, and improving the standard of life for every fraction of their communities, I think most Arab leaders are successfully doing their jobs, which is simply leading their nations into a better life, and as a true Jordanian, if this GTA rumor is true, well I think its great that my beloved King enjoys a lifestyle that makes me feel is somehow similar to mine, the life Arab leaders live is just a modest price for the great things they’ve done for their people, they’ve earned it, this is my opinion at least.
I think you should visit Jordan, maybe you’ll see what this great man is really all about, I’d love to be your host, just say when.
TCB!
LoCo!