U.S. praises Jordan's intelligence work against Al Qaida
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, February 21, 2002
WASHINGTON Ñ U.S. officials said Jordan's intelligence services have been among the
most successful in foiling Al Qaida's bombing campaign throughout the
kingdom and in arresting insurgency suspects. The officials said the
operation demonstrated the high quality of Jordan's intelligence service,
trained by the CIA.
"The Jordanian intelligence service did a great job of shutting that
down," a Pentagon official told a briefing on Tuesday. "And it's across the
board."
U.S. officials said Jordan has been besieged by insurgency plots. They
said the plots are supported by Iran, Iraq and suspected insurgents have
infiltrated from Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon.
Earlier this month, Jordan's King Abdullah relayed to the Bush
administration details of the arrests of suspected insurgents believed
supported by Iran. At least 10 suspects linked to Iran are said to have been
arrested late last year.
The Pentagon official said Jordan's efforts were the key to foiling the
plot by Osama Bin Laden to bomb U.S. and Israeli installations in the
kingdom and throughout the West. Jordan arrested about 30 people in
connection with a bombing plot more than two years ago, information that was
used by Washington in its investigation of Al Qaida plots.
"I think the millennium was a combination of good work, good
intelligence work, good Ñ you know, sometimes it's luck," the official
said. "You know, I think you've heard Ñ all heard that before, and it does
come down to it, to some extent."
In a related development, Jordan's intelligence service has been rocked
by the closure of a key
technology supplier amid an investigation into millions of dollars in
unsecured loans obtained by former military and security chiefs. So far,
Jordanian authorities have either arrested or seized the passports of 65
people.
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