A Future Jordan - نحن الأردن

IT'S UP TO HUSSEIN'S SON TO SAVE KINGDOM BY URI DAN - THE NEW YORK POST

IT'S UP TO HUSSEIN'S SON TO SAVE KINGDOM
By URI DAN
THE NEW YORK POST, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2005

SUDDENLY, Jordan is in the eye of the terrorist storm — and it's up to King Abdullah to save the kingdom.

The king, who inherited the best security service of the Arab world from his father, King Hussein, is ready to wage a gloves-off war on al Qaeda. Those close to him expect a bloody battle.

"I knew King Hussein, and I know King Abdullah," ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said. "When the king was on his way to die, he chose Abdullah to succeed him not because he was more intelligent than the other princes but because he knew Prince Abdullah would be the toughest of them all if the moment arrived when the Hashemite Kingdom was in danger."

That danger comes from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda chieftain from Zarga, Jordan, who orchestrated Wed- nesday night's synchronized attacks on three Amman hotels. In the past, Abdullah's security service had managed to uncover such plots, including one to attack Western tourists during the 2000 millennium celebrations at Christian holy places along the Jordan River. But some observers see laxity plaguing the secret service of late, allowing an al Qaeda support network in Jordan to help Zarqawi carry out the hotel bombings.

Abdullah has refrained — so far — from fighting Zarqawi with the brutal methods of his dad, who in 1970 crushed the Black September uprising of Palestinians hellbent on overthrowing him.

"Jordan is a controlled democracy now," an Israeli intelligence officer said yesterday. "But if the king wants to strike against terrorists with what democracies call 'police state methods,' he would absolutely do it to save his throne." [ ]

posted by Ashraf Zeitoon @ 7:42 AM