AMMAN Ñ Jordan and the United States have completed a joint military
exercise that involved U.S. special forces and took place near the border with Iraq.
Officials said the exercise, called Operation Infinite Moonlight, was
comprised of about 8,000 soldiers from both countries. Most of them were
were members of special operations forces, the officials said.
The two-week exercise began in mid-August amid assertions by Jordan
that the maneuvers were unrelated to Washington's threats against the Iraqi
regime of President Saddam Hussein. Much of the exercise took place near the
Iraqi frontier.
Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb said the 4,000 U.S. soldiers
would begin leaving the country by Wednesday, Middle East Newsline reported. Abu Ragheb said the exercise
was part of the military program drafted by Amman and Washington for 2002.
"Jordan seeks to balance between brotherly and economic relations with
Iraq and strategic relations with the United States, Abu Ragheb told a news
conference on Monday.
Western diplomatic sources several thousands of additional U.S. military
personnel helped provide logistics during Operation Infinite Moonlight. They
said that over the last month Jordan and the United States reviewed the
kingdom's military needs as well as the prospect of U.S. weapons and
logistics prepositioning.
On Monday, King Abdullah visited the military's general headquarters and
met with senior commanders. The official Petra news agency said the king
discussed with Jordanian Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Khalid Jamil Sarayreh a
"number of issues of concern to the armed forces."
Earlier, officials said all U.S. troops would leave the kingdom by Sept.
8. They said the U.S.-Jordan maneuvers focused on improving the combat
skills of the Hashemite kingdom as well as interoperability between the two
militaries.
Officials said the United States has helped Jordan's special forces with
funding and military surplus. They said the current joint exercise has been
accompanied by a review of Jordan's military needs by the U.S. Central
Command.
Much of Jordan's defense industry focuses on equipping the special
forces. The King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau has developed
armored systems, tactical vehicles and combat vehicles. Last year, the unit
also received Spartan armored personnel carriers from Belgium.
Officials said Jordan has exported its knowledge of special operations
forces to the rest of the Arab world. They said the kingdom has been
training troops from a range of Arab countries, including the Gulf
Cooperation Council states, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya and Morocco.
