As Jordan's King Abdullah comes to Washington for meetings with President Bush, he is reviewing a British proposal for a
forward military base along Jordan's frontier with Iraq for use in any campaign
to topple President Saddam Hussein.
Arab diplomatic sources said U.S. and British military personnel have
examined the frontier area for use as a forward base in an attack against
Baghdad. One goal is to ensure that Iraq will be stopped in firing medium-range
missiles from the western desert toward Israel, Middle East Newsline reported
Jordan's King Abdullah will meet President George Bush and senior
administration officials in Washington on Wednesday. The talks, which will
include a meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are expected to
focus on ways to bolster Jordan to resist any Iraqi attack on the kingdom.
The sources said London and
Washington have expressed interest in using existing Jordanian facilities to
house special operations forces and aircraft to patrol western Iraq for
Scud-class missile launches.
In 1991, Iraq fired 42 Al Hussein medium-range missiles toward Israel.
U.S. combat aircraft failed to stop any of the launches, which targeted the
Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv.
The sources said Washington estimates Iraq may be preparing to
install chemical warheads on its Scud arsenal in any war against the United
States. The U.S. assessment is that Iraq would fire its missiles toward
Israel and Kuwait.
[On Tuesday, Iraqi gunners fired surface-to-air missiles toward British
and U.S. warplanes that patrolled the no-fly zone in northern Iraq. The
allied aircraft, guided by early-warning aircraft, were not hit and returned
to the Turkish base at Incerlik.]
"Jordan is another Muslim country that is making one of the largest
contributions to the coalition in Afghanistan," U.S. Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the World Affairs Council last week. "And its
courageous king, Abdullah, has condemned terrorism in clear and heart-felt
language."
The Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas said any allied base in Jordan
would be under U.S. control. The newspaper said last week that a favored
site is Areiha, a Jordanian prison located six kilometers from the Iraqi
border. The facility would be used for reconnaissance operations in western
Iraq.
Jordan's cooperation with the United States has resulted in expanded
international cooperation to help the kingdom obtain fugitives charged with
security-related crimes. On Wednesday, the London-based Al Hayat daily
reported that Jordan has obtained the extradition of Mohammed Shamayleh,
regarded as the chief suspect in a $100 million embezzlement scheme that
affected Jordan's security services. The newspaper said Shamayleh will
arrive from an unnamed country on Wednesday to face trial in the Hashemite
kingdom.
