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Al Qaeda warning by king of Jordan
Abdullah says his forces thwarted major bomb plot
Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Jordan's King Abdullah II, asserting that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network is "still very, very effective," said Friday that his security services had foiled a plot to blow up major government buildings and perhaps the U.S. Embassy in Amman.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Chronicle's editorial board, Abdullah, who is Washington's closest ally among Arab leaders, gave a bleak assessment of the fight against terrorism and the situation in neighboring Iraq, where he said civil war was "a possibility."
He admitted being blindsided by President Bush's strong embrace of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday, embodied by Bush's decision to back Israeli annexation of some land in the West Bank.
In a sign that Jordan may not totally escape the bloody convulsions now ripping through Iraq, Abdullah revealed that the arrest of two suspected terrorists two weeks ago had exposed plans to mount one of the most deadly terrorist attacks ever in the Arab world.
The monarch said his security services had followed the trail of the suspects and captured five trucks packed with 17.5 tons of high explosives, which apparently were intended for an attack on the Jordanian prime minister's office and the intelligence ministry.
"It was a major, major operation," Abdullah said. "It would have decapitated the government."
Casualties would have been "in the thousands," he added. "It couldn't have been more sinister."
Abdullah said European anti-terrorism experts were aiding the Jordanian police investigation, but details were still sketchy -- including a solid identification of the type of explosive the suspects were carrying.
He said that although the trucks had come from Syria, "I'm completely confident that Bashar did not know about it," he said, referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom U.S. officials have accused of allowing terrorist groups to use his country's territory.
Abdullah's comments amplified a little-noticed announcement issued two weeks ago. On April 1, Jordanian officials said they had arrested several terrorist suspects and were hunting for two cars laden with explosives. Five days later, the State Department said the attackers were linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist believed linked to al Qaeda, and intended to attack the U.S. embassy in Amman.
On Friday, Abdullah noted that the State Department had publicly said the embassy was a target in the plot, but he said Jordanian investigators had not been able to confirm this.
The incident in Jordan is significant because of Abdullah's low-key yet crucial role as the most pro-American leader in the Arab world -- a role that puts him in a tight bind, squeezed between Washington's desires and the sentiments of his country's population. Jordan is heavily dependent on U.S. aid, yet 60 percent of its population is Palestinian, and anti-American attitudes are widespread.
Asked for an assessment of al Qaeda's strength after three years of intense U.S. pursuit, Abdullah said quickly that it had increased.
But when a Chronicle editor reminded him that Bush had said that al Qaeda had been badly damaged, the monarch backed off. "The organization has been very badly hurt, but ... that doesn't mean it can't hurt you, as we saw in Madrid," he said, referring to the terrorist attacks in Spain last month. "They're still very, very effective."
Abdullah declined to comment directly about Bush's apparently dramatic shift in policy toward Israel -- throwing U.S. support behind Israel's decision to leave some Jewish settlements in the West Bank in place and agreeing that Palestinian refugees cannot be allowed to return to their homes in Israel, which they left during the country's 1948 war of independence.
Abdullah said he had not been forewarned by Bush, an omission that would be widely considered a significant diplomatic snub to a major U.S. partner.
"There were discussions beforehand with members of the administration, but what came out in Washington was different," he said. "We really are at a loss for information. ... Washington has taken us a bit by surprise.
"Honestly, we don't know what the implications are."
Abdullah will have an opportunity for clarification next Wednesday, when he is scheduled to meet with Bush in Washington.
Jordan has had full diplomatic relations with Israel ever since Abdullah's late father, King Hussein, signed a peace treaty with the country in 1994.
Jordan's economy is almost completely dependent on the United States -- in the form of family remittances as well as official U.S. aid. Money sent home by Jordanians living in the United States amounts to $2 billion a year. That accounts for 23 percent of gross domestic product and represents the highest percentage for remittances of any country except Haiti, according to the International Monetary Fund. Official assistance this year amounts to $350 million in economic aid and $204 million in military aid.
On other issues, Abdullah was discreetly critical of Bush administration policy and of Arab politicians:
-- Iraq: He warned that the country might be descending into further conflict. "We're getting closer to that line that makes civil war a possibility," he said. "Six months ago, I didn't think it was a possibility. I still don't think it is, but for the first time we're nervous."
Abdullah sharply criticized the "de-Baathification" campaign in Iraq, saying the decision by U.S. and Iraqi authorities to disband the 500,000-man Iraqi Army and to ban tens of thousands of members of the former ruling Baath Party from government jobs was counterproductive.
"What you did is, you took a third if not more of society and said, 'You're persona non grata,' so a third of the country is isolated," he said. "The problem is that if (Iraqis) wanted to be a teacher, an engineer, or have any job, (they) had to have a party card as a condition of employment. You have to readjust that policy."
The de-Baathification process has been directed by Ahmed Chalabi, a former exile who is a favorite of the Pentagon yet is a fugitive from justice in Jordan. In 1992, a court there convicted Chalabi of fraud and embezzlement in the collapse of a major Jordanian bank in the 1980s and sentenced him to 22 years of hard labor.
Abdullah suggested that Chalabi and other U.S.-backed exiles had ulterior motives in seeking to completely uproot the former regime rather than just removing its top officials.
"When the interim Iraqi government went in, a lot of the people obviously were from the outside, from the opposition groups," he said. "If I can be quite frank, the reason why they didn't want the Iraqi army or the police to be active is because that was the only institution that could have given them a run for their money. Now, by removing law and order, the members of the interim government could strengthen their position."
-- Jordan: Abdullah said that his country of 5.5 million inhabitants is making slow but steady progress toward democracy. Elections for the lower house of parliament last year were generally viewed as free and fair. But Abdullah, who has near-absolute powers, complained that local politicians aren't ready for full democracy yet.
"There are 30 political parties with no agendas," he said. "If you talk to any of the political parties or their representatives in Parliament and ask them, 'What is your agenda, political or social or economic?' they don't have a clue." Abdullah said that he is pressing for a merging of some of the country's parties. "You need to get down to two, three or four parties, left, right and center."
Asked whether he would be willing to turn Jordan into a constitutional monarchy, Abdullah indicated that he was not opposed to the concept. "I see monarchies have to modernize," he said. "Five years, 50 years, it all depends on how the process of maturity of these politicians proceeds."
-- Arab reform: Abdullah said Bush's attempts to spread democracy through the Arab world require greater U.S. diplomatic involvement.
"Unless you solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, your progress will be limited," he said, adding that Jordan would continue to advocate reform anyway. "If you're forcing reforms on any group, it's always more difficult than having it come from within. Jordan is somewhat isolated in the Middle East because every time we talk about reform ... everybody would say, 'Oh, the Americans are telling you to push reform.'
"No, we're doing reform because we know which way the world is going, and we want to get our act together because it's the right thing to do."
Addressing himself to his fellow Arab rulers, Abdullah said: "We have to press reform. If you -- Arab countries -- do not have enough of a political agenda, it will be forced on you. They have to look in the mirror, but they have to do it in a way in which reform is acceptable, so the country doesn't get taken over by extremists."
Email Robert Collier at
rcollier@sfchronicle.com.
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