There is further news of the clandestine US preparations for war against Iraq and the use of Jordan in that operation. The New York Times published a report today sugegsting that the US would be specially focusing on protecting Israel from Iraqi missile counter strikes. The report maintains that the US is thinking all this on its own but has not yet brought the matter up with the Jordanians. The authoritative Arabic language Beirut paper as-Safir today once again publishes information from "diplomatic sources" that indicates that the US preparations and Jordanian involvement are already well underway. We publish a translation of the story from as-Safir followed by The New York Times story (which as-Safir also reports extensively).

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As-Safir, Beirut, Thursday, 11 July 2002.

"as-Safir" publishes details of preparations for the war on Iraq:

Washington successfully concludes negotiations with four participating countries

"As-Safir" has learned from diplomatic sources that the United States has completed intense negotiations with Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, and Turkey on the use of those countries' territories and airspace to carry out attacks on Iraq and to topple President Saddam Hussein. The sources say that contacts with the Iraqi opposition have made considerable progress towards drawing up a temporary framework for the stage following the military strike.

The sources say that Saudi Arabia has informed Washington of its final decision refusing the use of its territory or any American base in Saudi Arabia in any battle against Iraq. They say that the Americans have halted their pressure on Riyadh in this regard. On the other hand, however, Washington is striving, according to the sources, to reaffirm its agreements with other states neighboring Iraq, and they say that an agreement has been reached with Jordan on the implementation of a military plan for American ground forces to enter Iraq.

The diplomatic sources report that five thousand Jordanian army troops who are of Jordanian descent, most of them of the Bani Hasan bedouin tribe, have been selected to be charged with the rear-guard tasks. They are to undergo special training. Available information indicates that they will be detailed to enter residential areas through which or around which the American forces have gone. These Jordanian troops have begun training with light medium-weight weapons.

Along these lines, the diplomatic sources report that 200 Jeeps, in particular open, GMC models, that carry medium-caliber machine guns have arrived in Jordan. Jordanian troops are currently being trained with the Jeeps in how to cut land routes, prevent breakthroughs by opposing forces, patrolling areas near the front lines, and in how to make contact with the local people in Iraq.

The sources say that 1,600 American men and officers have thus far deployed in the areas of northern Jordan and that some 800 other men have deployed in areas in the south of the country. In addition American special forces commandos have undertaken various types of reconnaissance work in the areas on the border with Iraq, including in Iraqi territory.

The sources have disclosed that the areas of al-Mafraq and al-Safawi on the Jordanian-Iraqi border have been chosen as jump-off points for military operations against Iraq, when a plan is put into action in those areas according to the following stipulations: "preparation of two military airfields and various radar stations specially with the airforce and missile forces, and to build surface-to-air, and surface-to-surface missile bases and a military hospital."

According to the same sources, additional measures will be taken in the area of the Jordan Valley in order to protect Jordan from any penetration. In this connection, missile forces will be deployed and special forces units stationed along with Patriot anti-missile batteries in the Jordan Valley.

In addition, the sources have reported that the American side has intensified its meetings with all the members of the Iraqi opposition, including Shiite groups that do not have good relations with Washington. The sources add that the discussions are currently focusing on the formation of a "provisional administration" to take on the task of coordination between the decentralized leaderships in the regions that the Americans have proposed to partition off in the first stage. The opposition has decided, according to the sources, that attempts to attract high ranking Iraqi officers have failed as have efforts to get influential bedouin tribes to agree to cooperate.

[English translations by this website's expert]

July 10, 2002

U.S. Considers Wary Jordan as Base for an Attack on Iraq

By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, July 9 -- American military planners are considering using bases in Jordan to stage air and commando operations against Iraq in the event the United States decides to attack Iraq, senior defense officials said today.

But Jordan has not yet been consulted specifically about the possible use of its bases, and Jordanian officials have criticized such a plan.

An American military planning document prepared at the Central Command calls for air-, land- and sea-based forces to attack Iraq from three directions, but the details of which countries might be involved are just coming to light.

Using Jordanian bases would enable the Pentagon to attack Iraq from the west, as well as from the north via Turkey and the south via several Persian Gulf states.

Such an arrangement would also introduce American forces between Iraq and Israel to help detect, track and destroy Scud missiles that Baghdad might shoot at Israeli targets, as it did during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, the officials said.

A final military plan for attacking Iraq has not yet been prepared, but "every country in the region, from Turkey to Jordan to the gulf states, was being considered when you're talking about mounting an operation," a senior defense official said.

President Bush has discussed with King Abdullah of Jordan the administration's goal of toppling President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and the political landscape without Mr. Hussein, officials said.

But in a telephone interview from Amman today, Jordan's foreign minister, Marwan J. Muasher, said:

"Our public position is the same as our private position. Jordan will not be used as a launching pad, and we do not have any U.S. forces in Jordan."

The reason for Jordan's anxiety is clear. King Abdullah, who presides over a poor country in need of aid and good will from the United States, is trying to be a friend to Washington. He has met with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney at the White House four times in the past two years, most recently on May 8.

The king is to meet privately with Mr. Bush here later this month, officials said.

At the same time, most of Jordan's population is of Palestinian descent, and Palestinians have been ardent supporters of President Hussein.

Jordanian sensitivities regarding Iraq have a long history. During the gulf war, the current king's father, King Hussein, essentially sat on the fence as Palestinians in the West Bank and in Jordan repeatedly held boisterous and sometimes violent demonstrations in support of Iraq.

Now Iraq sends large cash payments to families of Palestinian suicide bombers, further cementing the Iraqi leader's popularity among Palestinians.

King Abdullah would risk alienating many Palestinians in his kingdom, destabilizing the fragile balance that maintains Jordan as a viable state, if he allowed American troops to mount an attack from Jordanian territory.

Indeed, when Mr. Cheney visited the king in Amman in March, the Jordanian authorities issued a statement expressing the monarch's concern about "the repercussions of any possible strike on Iraq and the dangers of that on the stability and security of the region."

American military planners, operating without the political filters that their superiors would impose if an attack were imminent, say Jordan's role could be similar to that of Pakistan in the war in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has allowed American Special Operations forces and search and rescue crews to work out of bases in the country, but neither nation publicly acknowledges the arrangement.

A spokesman for the National Security Council, Sean McCormack, said the administration would not comment on war planning, but noted that "Jordan is a close friend and ally."

There are several signs that military cooperation between Washington and Jordan is increasing. The administration has requested $25 million from Congress as part of a larger emergency spending bill to provide Jordan with military equipment and "upgrades for land and air base defense," as well as border security, said a congressional aide.

The military's Central Command, which is responsible for planning military operations in 25 countries from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, has rated the construction projects in Jordan among its highest priorities, one official said. Some of the American aid could go toward lengthening runways at two Jordanian air bases to accommodate larger planes, the official said.

Two weeks ago, Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the head of American forces in the Middle East, met in Amman with King Abdullah and with the defense minister and the senior military officer. Col. Ray Shepherd, a spokesman for General Franks, said the meeting was a "routine" visit.

American forces have conducted joint operations in Jordan. A year ago, 2,200 marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, Calif., took part in an exercise in Aqaba. In the late 1990's, American warplanes flew missions to enforce the no-flight zone over southern Iraq from Jordanian air bases.

The United States and Jordan have also carried out intelligence cooperation for many years.

Internal military planning over how to use Jordanian bases comes as the outlines of a plan to attack Iraq are evolving and apparently working their way through military channels.

Once a consensus is reached on the concept, the steps toward assembling a final war plan and the element of timing for ground deployments and launching an air war represent the final decisions for President Bush to make.

The existence of the military planning document was first reported in an op-ed article in The Los Angeles Times last month. The New York Times published details of the document last Friday.