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| Middle East |
| Jordan wants to expland security cooperation with Kuwait... |
| 2002-11-20 |
| Jordan seeks to expand security cooperation and launch joint defense projects with Kuwait. Jordanian officials said the two countries have agreed to formalize defense and security ties discussed over the last six months. They said this could include the sale of Jordanian defense systems and expertise to the sheikdom. The two countries will reestablish a joint committee to explore bilateral cooperation. The panel had not met since 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. During most of the 1990s, the sheikdom boycotted Jordan, accusing the kingdom of supporting the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. That's because King Hussein bet on the wrong horse in the Gulf War. Bad move. Took awhile to clean up that mess, even though memories in the Middle East aren't very long... Officials said Kuwait agreed to reconsider its policy in 1999, following the death of King Hussein and the succession by his son, Abdullah. Since then, they said, the two countries have engaged in a security and defense dialogue that culminated in the visit of a Jordanian intelligence delegation to Kuwait in September. The delegation discussed Iraqi military capabilities and the prospect of a Saddam-ordered sabotage campaign in the sheikdom. King Hussein cheesed off the al-Sabahs so bad, the Jordanians had to wait until he died to snuggle back up with Kuwait. That's really rather un-Arab of the al-Sabahs. Normally, yesterday's enemy is perfectly acceptable as today's friend. They're not real big on long-range strategy, except, apparently, in Soddy Arabia... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |