Jordan: It depends on what you mean by cooperate

AMMAN — Jordan has dismissed the prospect of cooperation with the United States to maintain military sanctions on Iraq.

The Jordanian dismissal came a day after Jordan's King Abdullah met senior U.S. officials and were said to have discussed the establishment of a panel to stop Iraqi military imports through the Hashemite kingdom.

Jordanian Information Minister Taleb Rifai said Abdullah never agreed to establish such a committee. On Tuesday, U.S. State Department Richard Boucher said the king and Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed ways to maintain restrictions on Iraq to ensure that it does not develop weapons of mass destruction.

"We totally deny that," Rifai said. "There is no committee or any kind of arrangements with Jordan in that respect."

Rifai said Abdullah told the Bush administration that he wants sanctions lifted from the regime of President Saddam Hussein. Earlier, the king told reporters in the White House that "there is still tremendous concern about a weapons of mass destruction program. The Iraqis mentioned at the summit that this is not their program, that they are willing to comply with the United Nations but basically they say that there should be a reasonable approach to limitations on weapons of mass destruction. They seem to be willing to do it if others in the region are willing to do it too."

Last week, Iraq complained of Jordan's reported cooperation with the United States on the issue of sanctions. The Saddam regime charged that U.S. troops were being deployed along the Iraqi border, something denied by Jordan.

In another development, Iraq and Syria have established a company to develop communications and satellite services. This after, a senior Iraqi official said the United Nations has suspended all contracts Baghdad had signed regarding the Internet. Iraq has opened Internet centers in several regions of the country.