topic by
DOUGLAS DAVIS
8/3/2002 (24:16) |
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Abdullah 'working closely' with Saddam
By DOUGLAS DAVIS
LONDON The Bush administration has acquired evidence that Jordan's King Abdullah II, once a cornerstone of US policy against Iraq, is in fact working closely with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, according to senior political sources here.
The sources declined to indicate the precise nature of the evidence, but they say it is damning and irrefutable.
Among the most sensational charges, they said, is that Abdullah has been passing sensitive American intelligence material to Saddam and that he has received substantial 'gifts' from Baghdad.
The sources allege that Abdullah is also 'very handsomely rewarded' by Saddam for facilitating the passage of illicit, Iraqi-bound cargoes that arrive in Akaba, and for purchases ostensibly for Jordan, but in fact for Iraq that are made by a select group of Jordanian businessmen.
In addition to Abdullah's intense relationship with Saddam, the sources said he also has a long-standing friendship with Saddam's sons, Uday and Qusai, with whom he spent most of his vacations during the 1990s before becoming king.
'But the friendship appears to be one-sided,' said the sources. 'Uday recently gave Abdullah a gift three Porsches but what he did not tell Abdullah was that the cars had been stolen. All three had been looted from Kuwait. It was a sign of Uday's contempt for Abdullah.'
A leading businessman who acts as a courier between Abdullah and Saddam learned of the 'gift' and bought Abdullah a brand-new, top-of-the-range Mercedes, urging him to dispose of the stolen Porsches. Abdullah accepted the Mercedes, said the sources, but continues to drive the Porsches.
The sources say that Abdullah insists on handling relations with Iraq personally, on one occasion ordering a top official to leave the room while he met with an intermediary to discuss his relations with Iraq.
According to the sources, Saddam has a fund of some $6 billion a year in cash acquired from the sale of oil, either through the UN oil-for-food program or on the black market which he uses to acquire weapons and for 'gifts' and outright bribes to political figures throughout the region, 'particularly in Saudi Arabia.'
'It is no wonder,' said one source, 'that politicians throughout the Middle East are supporting Saddam.'
The revelations of Abdullah's alleged duplicity are likely to seriously complicate his visit to Washington, where he was meeting with top administration officials, including President George W. Bush, yesterday.
They are also likely to upset the Pentagon's military planners, who had been relying on Jordan to play a pivotal role in the mooted US-led military operation to topple Saddam. Plans for Jordan's involvement are now expected to be radically reassessed.
Leaked Pentagon documents, which indicate the high level of trust the US once placed in Abdullah, suggested Jordan had been considered as a 'jumping-off' point for an attack on western Iraq that would have involved up to 250,000 US troops, as well as forces from Britain and other participating US allies.
Jordanian officials denied the report, and Abdullah has been cautioning against an attempt to mount a military operation against Baghdad, insisting that a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must take precedence.
Another sign of Abdullah's affiliation with Baghdad became evident this week when, in an unprecedented display of family disunity, he condemned his uncle, Prince Hassan, for publicly siding with the Iraqi opposition in exile.
Hassan, who was dumped by the late King Hussein as his successor just days before his death, is revered by many Iraqis as the most senior member of the Hashemite royal family.
He caused a sensation when he made a personal appearance at a major conference, held here last month, of all the anti-Saddam groups that was convened by the US-backed Iraqi National Congress. INC leaders have been invited to meet with senior officials in the US administration in Washington next week.
In an interview with The Times of London this week, Abdullah represented his uncle as a dysfunctional political neophyte, when he declared that 'Prince Hassan blundered into something that he did not realize he was getting into and we're all picking up the pieces.'
He also told the paper that when he meets Bush he will demand full backing for Secretary of State Colin Powell against the Pentagon officials who are 'fixated on Iraq,' and he warned that US action against Iraq would open a 'Pandora's box' in the Middle East.
During visits to Paris, London, and Washington this week, Abdullah has strenuously sought to link the Palestinian and Iraqi issues, repeating the mantra with increasing stridency that Washington must first resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before it contemplates action against Saddam.
On Sunday, he told CNN that it is 'somewhat ludicrous' for the US to try to consider actions against Saddam without positive movement on the Israeli-Palestinian track.
And just hours before his meeting with Bush yesterday, he told The Washington Post that international leaders are deeply worried about US plans for war against Iraq, adding that it would be a 'tremendous mistake' to ignore warnings from its allies.
'Everybody is saying this is a bad idea,' Abdullah said. 'If it seems America says we want to hit Baghdad, that's not what Jordanians think, or the British, the French, the Russians, the Chinese, and everybody else.'
He added that some US allies might have been reluctant to speak out because they believed the prospect of war was far in the distance: 'All of the sudden this thing is moving to the horizon much closer than we believed.'
In what is regarded as a slap at Abdullah, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith offered a diametrically opposed analysis, arguing that the toppling Saddam will create the opportunity for a diplomatic breakthrough.
He told the London-based Financial Times that 'Iraq is purposefully and systematically aggravating Palestinian-Israeli relations' and said that the intensity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should not deter the US from seeking regime change in Iraq.
'[Saddam] may think that the more he can encourage terrorist bombings against the Israelis, the more the world is diverted from the issue of his tyranny, his weapons of mass destruction programs, his terrorist activities, and on to another agenda,' Feith said.
A senior INC leader, Dr. Ahmad Chalabi, said Abdullah was acting as 'Saddam's lawyer in America... He defends Saddam and uses every opportunity to warn off any American attempt to help the Iraqi people liberate themselves.'
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