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JORDAN News:
20090108
 Dick
Cheney -  Douglas
J Feith
-  "Scooter"
Libby -  Noteworthy
-  Military
-  Politics
-  History
-  Book
-  Petroleum
-  Money
-  US
-  Israel
- Palestine
- 
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"Neoconservatism
dies in Gaza: he recent Israeli offensive has put
the final nail in the coffin of the [Republican President] Bush administration's
Middle East fantasy." ... "The Gaza War of 2009 is a final and eloquent
testimony to the complete failure of the neoconservative movement in United
States foreign policy. For over a decade, the leading figures in this school
of thought saw the violent overthrow of [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein and
the institution of a parliamentary regime in Iraq as the magic solution
to all the problems in the Middle East. They envisioned, in the wake of
the fall of Baghdad [Iraq's capital], the moderation of Hezbollah in Lebanon,
the overthrow of the Baath Party in Syria and the Khomeinist regime in
Iran, the deepening of the alliance with Turkey, the marginalization of
Saudi Arabia, a new era of cheap petroleum, and a final resolution of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict on terms favorable to Israel. After eight
years in which they strode the globe like colossi, they have left behind
a devastated moonscape reminiscent of some post-apocalyptic B movie. As
their chief enabler prepares to exit the White House, the only nation they
have strengthened is Iran; the only alliance they have deepened is that
between Iran and two militant Islamist entities to Israel's north and south,
Hezbollah and Hamas." ... "The neoconservatives first laid out their manifesto
in a 1996 paper, "A Clean Break,"
written for an obscure
think tank in Jerusalem [Israel's capital] and intended for the eyes
of far right-wing Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party,
who had just been elected prime minister. They advised Israel to renounce
the Oslo [Norway's capital] peace process and reject the principle of trading
land for peace, instead dealing with the Palestinians with an iron fist.
They urged Israel to uphold the right of hot pursuit of Palestinian guerrillas
and to find alternatives to Yasser Arafat's Fatah for the Palestinian leadership.
They called forth Israeli airstrikes on targets in Syria and rejection
of negotiations with Damascus [Syria's capital]. They foresaw strengthened
ties between Israel and its two regional friends, Turkey and Jordan." ...
"They advocated "removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq," in part as
a way of "rolling back" Syria. In place of the secular, republican tyrant,
they fantasized about the restoration of the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq,
and thought that a Sunni king might help moderate the Shiite Hezbollah
in south Lebanon. (Yes.)
They barely mentioned Iran, though it appears that their program of expelling
Syria from Lebanon and weakening its regime was in part aimed at depriving
Iran of its main Arab ally. In a 1999 book called "Tyranny's Ally: America's
Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein," David Wurmser argued that it
was false to fear that installing the Iraqi Shiites in power in Baghdad
would strengthen Iran regionally." ... "The signatories to this fantasy
of using brute military power to reshape all of West Asia included some
figures who would go on to fill key positions in the Bush administration.
Richard Perle, a former assistant secretary of defense under Reagan, became
chairman of the influential Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, a
civilian oversight body for the Pentagon. Douglas J. Feith became the undersecretary
of defense for planning. David Wurmser first served in Feith's propaganda
shop, the Office of Special Plans, which manufactured the case for an American
war on Iraq, and then went on to serve with "Scooter" Libby in the office
of [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney." ... "The neoconservatives
used their well-funded think tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute,
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP, an organ of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee), the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs, and the Hudson Institute, among others, to promote this agenda
of the conquest of Iraq as a solution of all ills." ... "The biggest danger
facing the United States is that there will be no true "Clean Break" --
that the neoconservatives will somehow find a way to survive the Bush administration,
and continue to influence American foreign policy." (1, 2)
-By Juan Cole -Salon
20080828
US
- KBR
- Corporation
- Jordan
-  Nepal
-  Workers
-  Human
- Rights
- Iraq
- Military
-  California
"KBR,
Partner in Iraq Contract Sued in Human Trafficking Case."
... "Agnieszka Fryszman, a partner at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll,
said 13 Nepali men, between the ages of 18 and 27, were recruited in Nepal
to work as kitchen staff in hotels and restaurants in Amman, Jordan. But
once the men arrived in Jordan, their passports were seized and they were
told they were being sent to a military facility in Iraq, Fryszman said."
... "As the men were driven in cars to Iraq, they were stopped by insurgents.
Twelve were kidnapped and later executed, Fryszman said. The thirteenth
man survived and worked in a warehouse in Iraq for 15 months before returning
to Nepal." ... "The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California on
behalf of the workers' families and the survivor, claims that the trafficking
scheme was engineered by KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud &
Partners, according to Fryszman." -By Dana Hedgpeth
-WashingtonPost
20080630
 John
McCain -  Barack
Obama -US
- Military
- 2008
Election -  World
- Iraq
-  Afghanistan
- Israel
- Jordan
-  Germany
-  France
-  Britain
-  Ireland
"Former
Nato commander questions value of McCain's military experience."
... "A top supporter of [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate]
Barack Obama has questioned the value of Republican [2008 Election Presidential
Candidate] John McCain's military experience, suggesting it did not qualify
him to be president." ... "Former Nato [NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization]
commander Wesley Clark described Mr McCain as "untested and untried", lacking
the executive experience needed to lead the country." ... ""He [McCain]
has been a voice on the Senate armed services committee. And he has travelled
all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large
squadron in the navy that he commanded - that wasn't a wartime squadron,"
Mr Clark said. "I don't think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot
down is a qualification to become president."" ... "Mr Obama hopes to beef
up his foreign-policy credentials with a visit to Iraq and Afghanistan
later this year. His campaign announced at the weekend that the Democratic
candidate would go to the Middle East and Europe next month. Mr Obama will
visit Israel, Jordan, Germany, France and Britain, but does not apparently
plan to stop in Ireland, where he has ancestral roots in Co Offaly [Ireland,
Irish county in the Province of Leinster]." ... ""This trip will be an
important opportunity for me to assess the situation in countries that
are critical to American national security and to consult with some of
our closest friends and allies about the common challenges we face," Mr
Obama said." -By Denis Staunton
-IrishTimes.com
20080523
-
John
McCain - US_Debt
- Money
- Politics
-
 Legislator
- Military
-  Families
-  Housing
-  Construction
- Iraq
- Israel
-  Egypt
- Jordan
-  Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election - Noteworthy
- "McCain's
Fantasy War on Earmarks." ... "[2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate] John McCain boasts that he can save $100 billion
a year "immediately" by eliminating the so-called earmarks that legislators
attach to spending bills to finance pet projects, usually in their home
state. But he has refused to say exactly which projects he would cut, and
his estimates of the amount of money that is being spent on earmarks have
been challenged by independent experts." ... "The Facts:" ... "The
Arizona senator is promising to balance the budget by the end of his first
term, while simultaneously extending the [Republican] George W. Bush tax
cuts, introducing billions of dollars of new tax cuts of his own, and remaining
in Iraq as long as is necessary to stabilize that country. Asked how this
miracle will be accomplished, McCain told George Stephanopoulos of ABC
News This Week on April 20 that he could come up with $100 billion
"tomorrow" by vetoing pork-barrel spending bills." ... "There are a number
of problems with this magical budgetary balancing act. First of all, the
suspiciously round $100 billion figure is largely a figment of the McCain
campaign's imagination. I have not been able to find a single independent
budget expert to vouch for it. McCain's economics adviser, Doug Holtz-Eakin,
will not say how the campaign arrived at the figure, other than that it
is an extrapolation from various studies, including a 2006 study by the
Congressional Research Service available
here [PDF]." ... "However, much of this money is tied to items such
as foreign aid to countries like Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, that McCain
says he will not touch." ... "By most definitions of the term, the amount
of money spent on earmarks is much lower than the CRS study. The Office
for Management and the Budget came up with a figure for $16.9 billion
in the 2008 appropriation bills. Taxpayers
for Commonsense, an independent watchdog group that focuses on wasteful
spending, identified $18.3 billion worth of earmarks in the 2008 bills,
a 23 per cent cut from a record $23.6 billion set in 2005 [when Republicans
controlled Congress]." ... "The figure includes such items as $4 billion
for the [United States] U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which could not be
eliminated without halting hundreds of construction projects around the
country. Another big chunk goes to military construction, including housing
for servicemen and their families, which McCain has also promised not to
touch." ... "McCain's talk about eliminating $100 billion a year in earmarks
is largely fantasy." ... "To use a phrase coined by [Republican] George
H.W. Bush, this is "voodoo economics," based more on wishful thinking than
on hard data or carefully considered policy proposals." [The Washington
Post gives McCain's accounting numbers four Pinochio's out of a possible
four, calling the statements by Candidate McCain "Whoppers."]
-WashingtonPost
20080320
-
Barack
Obama
- John
McCain
-
 Hillary
Clinton
-  Intelligence
- Military
-  Terrorism
- History
- US
- Iraq
- Jordan
-  New
York
- 2008
Election - "Obama,
McCain in crossfire over Iraq." ... "[2008 Election]
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama criticized [2008 Election]
Republican John McCain on Wednesday for misidentifying Iraqi extremists,
saying he fails to understand the war has emboldened U.S. [United States]
enemies." ... "On the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq,
the war took center stage on the U.S. campaign trail." ... "Obama attacked
both McCain and his Democratic opponent, New York Sen. [Senator] Hillary
Clinton, as representing conventional thinking in Washington that needs
to be changed in the November election. McCain and Clinton backed a 2002
resolution supporting U.S. military action against Iraq." ... "On a Middle
East and Europe swing intended to bolster his national security credentials,
McCain got tangled up in stating which Islamic extremist group in Iraq
that neighboring Iran is accused of supporting." ... "At a news conference
in Amman [Jordan's capital], McCain said Iran supported the Sunni group
al Qaeda in Iraq, until he was corrected by a colleague." (1, 2,
3)
-By Caren Bohan -Reuters
20080318
-
John
McCain
- Intelligence
- Military
- Terrorism
- Politics
- 2008
Election - US
- Iraq
- Iran
- Jordan
- Arizona
- "A
McCain Gaffe in Jordan." ... "[2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Sen. John McCain, traveling in the
Middle East to promote his foreign policy expertise, misidentified in remarks
Tuesday which broad category of Iraqi extremists are allegedly receiving
support from Iran." ... "He said several times that Iran, a predominately
Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda.
In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists
in Iraq." ... "Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain
said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned
about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and
sending them back."" ... "Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common
knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back
into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran,
that's well known. And it's unfortunate." ... "The mistake threatened to
undermine McCain's argument that his decades of foreign policy experience
make him the natural choice to lead a country at war with terrorists."
-By Cameron W. Barr and Michael D. Shear
-WashingtonPost
20070829
-
Iraqi
- US
- Immigration
- Politics
-
 Government
- Military
- Employees
- Foreign
- Companies
- Travel
- Jordan
- Syria
-  United
Nations - "Obstacles
Keep Iraqi Refugees From U.S.." ... "Despite a stepped-up
commitment from the United States to take in Iraqis who are in danger because
they worked for the American government and military, very few are signing
up to go, resettlement officials say." ... "The reason, Iraqis say, is
that they are not allowed to apply in Iraq, requiring them to make a costly
and uncertain journey to countries like Syria or Jordan, where they may
be turned away by border officials already overwhelmed by fleeing Iraqis."
... "The United Nations, which defines a refugee as someone who has fled
his or her home country, has submitted more than 9,000 Iraqis to the United
States for consideration since the State Department announced a new resettlement
program in February." ... "But only about 5 percent of the applicants are
former employees of the American war effort, according to figures provided
by the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration,
the agencies processing the cases." ... "But thousands more Iraqis work
for the United States through contractors like Titan, a subsidiary of L-3
Communications; DynCorp International; Parsons Corporation; and Triple
Canopy, and their subcontractors." ... "In all, 69,000 Iraqis work on contracts
with the Department of Defense through Iraqi and foreign companies, according
to the American military." ... "More than 40,000 Iraqis have registered
with the United Nations in Jordan and 90,000 more in Syria, out of an estimated
2 million who have fled Iraq, but not all qualify for refugee status."
(1, 2)
-By Sabrina Tavernise and David Rohde with contributions
by Mudhafar al-Husaini and Yusra al-Hakeem -NYTimes
20061023
-
US
- World
- Jordan
-
 Detainee
- Torture
- Terrorism
- Government
- Human
Rights - "Many
nations follow American example on detainee treatment, envoy says."
... "Several governments around the world have tried to rebut criticism
of how they handle detainees by claiming that they are only following the
U.S. example in the war on terror, the U.N. anti-torture chief said Monday."
... "Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, said that
when he criticizes governments for their questionable treatment of detainees,
they respond by telling him that that if the United States does something,
it must be all right. He would not name any countries except for Jordan."
... ""The United States has been the pioneer, if you wish, of human rights
and is a country that has a high reputation in the world," Nowak told reporters.
"Today, many other governments are kind of saying, 'But why are you criticizing
us, we are not doing something different than what the United States is
doing.'"" -AP
via -IHT.com
20060608
-
US
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Terrorism
- Religion
- "Zarqawi
killed in Iraq air raid: Militant leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi has been killed, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has announced."
... ""Today we have eliminated Zarqawi," Mr Maliki said, sparking sustained
applause. The US said he was killed in an air raid near Baquba." ... "The
Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was considered the figurehead
of the Sunni insurgency." ... "Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been blamed for scores
of bombings that have killed hundreds of Shias and US forces." ... "His
death does not mean either the Islamist al-Qaeda elements or nationalist
fighters will give up, says the BBC News website's world affairs correspondent,
Paul Reynolds." ... "Indeed his removal might well bring about an explosion
of revenge by his followers, he adds." -BBC
/News
20051111
-
Jordan
- Iraq
- "Jordan
official: Suicide bombers belong to al-Qaeda." ...
"Three "non-Jordanian" suicide bombers belonging to al-Qaeda in Iraq carried
out Amman's triple hotel attacks that killed at least 57 people, Jordan's
deputy premier said Saturday." ... "Marwan Muasher said the three were
males and that no females were among them, replying to claims by Jordanian-born
militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror group that four Iraqis — including
a husband and wife — carried out the bombings." ... ""The conclusion has
arrived. al-Qaeda is behind the attacks and specifically Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's
people," Muasher told a packed press conference in Amman [Jordan]."
-AP via -USATODAY
20051110
-
Jordan
- US
- Intelligence
-
 Police
- "Attacks
at U.S.-Based Hotels in Amman Were Minutes Apart."
... "Terrorist bombs ripped nearly simultaneously through three popular
hotels here [in Amman, Jordan] on Wednesday night, killing dozens and wounding
more than 100." ... "The Jordanian cabinet said in a statement that the
attacks, which killed 57 people and wounded 110, appeared to have been
carried out by suicide bombers. Amman, the capital, was placed under a
severe security lockdown late Wednesday with streets closed and the police
donning heavy armor. Members of Jordan's secret intelligence police force
were also out in full force. " -By Hassan M. Fattah
and Michael Slackman with contributions by Douglas Jehl and Suha Maayeh
-NYTimes
-
Jordan
- US
- Intelligence
- "Suicide
Attacks Kill at Least 57 at 3 Hotels in Jordan's Capital:
The tightly coordinated blasts bear the hallmark of Al Qaeda, intelligence
officials say, and shred the nation's reputation as a relatively safe zone."
... "The blasts struck the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn in the
Jordanian capital just before 9 p.m., sending clouds of black smoke billowing
into the sky and leaving some of the bloodied victims lying on plush-carpeted
floors." ... "At the Radisson, an assailant detonated an explosives belt
in the midst of a wedding party in a crowded banquet hall, resulting in
extensive casualties, officials said. At the Days Inn, a car bomber was
unable to breach the security perimeter outside the hotel before detonating
his explosives, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher told reporters." -By
Ashraf Khalil, Ranya Kadri and Josh Meyer
-LAtimes
20050820
-
-
-
-
- "Jordanian
arrests tied to rocket attacks." ... "Jordanian authorities
have arrested several people they think might lead to the attackers who
fired rockets at U.S. warships at the port of Aqaba, a Jordanian official
said Saturday." ... "The arrests were part of an investigation led by Jordanian
authorities, with help from U.S. and Israeli officials."
-CNN
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- "Rocket
Fired at 2 U.S. Navy Ships at Port in Jordan." ...
"A rocket was fired early today at two American naval ships docked in southern
Jordan, killing a Jordanian soldier and marking the first attack on American
military ships in the region in five years, American and Jordanian officials
said." ... "A rocket was fired at the same time from apparently the same
area at an airport in a neighboring Israeli port, hitting a stretch of
road and wounding a taxi driver, news agencies reported, citing Israeli
officials and witnesses. A third projectile was fired at a Jordanian hospital
around the southern port of Aqaba but did no damage." -By
Edward Wong -NYTimes
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