Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has been urged to pressure Jordan to
reduce its military budget.

The Council on Foreign Relations has issued a report that called on the
administration of President Barack Obama to pressure the Hashemite kingdom.
The report said Washington should push King Abdullah to reduce the budget of
the Air Force, the most well-financed of the military services, to free up
funds for improved health and education.

“Washington could encourage the government to shrink the procurement budget for the Air Force, which has long enjoyed special attention — and oversized budgets — despite its peripheral role in national security, in favor of the land forces, which provide the men and equipment that are vital in addressing threats facing the kingdom,” the report. titled “Political Instability in Jordan,” said.

Authors Robert Satloff and David Schenker did not cite Jordan’s military budget. The kingdom has been receiving more than $450 million in annual defense assistance from the United States.

Jordan has been modernizing its air force with the procurement of some
50 F-16 multi-role fighters. The kingdom also sought to acquire advanced
combat helicopters as well as the Patriot air and missile defense system.

The report warned that Jordan could be ripe for an Islamist revolution,
similar to that in Egypt and Tunisia. Satloff and Schenker, leading members
of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and frequent visitors to
the Middle East, said the Islamist opposition could exploit the new presence
of some 500,000 Syrian refugees, many of them linked to the Islamists.

“While external threats pose significant challenges, the most serious
danger to the regime is when these threats catalyze or exacerbate domestic
instability,” the report said. “Here, the three most plausible contingencies
are the following: a ‘Tahrir Square-like uprising’ in Amman, an Islamist
squeeze play against the monarchy, and the defection of the regime’s core
base of support in the East Bank.”

The report said the most threatening scenario was the defection of
Jordan’s East Bank constituency. The constituency, comprised mostly of
Bedouins, has been the leading supplier of recruits for the military and
security forces.

“Particularly during difficult economic times, it is important that
Jordan retain traditional levels of funding for military hospitals and
schools, a critical social service for poor East Banker families,” the
report said.

“Jordan should be counseled to not commit the ‘unforced error’
of slighting military infrastructure that is essential for its internal
stability.”

  Council on Foreign Relations, F-16 multi-role fighters, King Abdullah, Report: Jordan’s focus on Air Force increasing its vulnerability, Washington Institute for Near East Policy