AMMAN, March 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived Tuesday in Jordan at the start of a Middle East tour to urge Jordanian and Arab leaders to drop their reluctance and back a U.S. strike on Iraq.

Calling Jordan "a force for peace and against violence in this region," Cheney was welcomed to the capital Monday and promised that the United States will do all it can to help quell Israeli-Palestinian violence, news agencies reported. 

While in Amman he will discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict with King Abdullah II immediately after his arrival, early Tuesday evening. 

Cheney will leave early Wednesday for Egypt on the second leg of a nine-nation Arab tour to explain U.S. policy on Iraq, which Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction. 

In a surprise comment in London, while meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Cheney said that there had to be concern about a "potential marriage" between states possessing weapons of mass destruction, such as Iraq, and groups such as al-Qaeda, but denied any linkage between the Israeli-Palestinian issue and Iraq, reported CNN and news agencies. 

Supported by Britain, the United States has been sharpening its rhetoric against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and laying a groundwork for possible military action against him. 

But Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher said that "Cheney's talks will focus not only on Iraq but also the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because of the latest negative security and political developments in the Palestinian territories." 

Jordan also will warn Cheney of the "dangers involved in any strike on Iraq", he told Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

The official Iraqi al-Qadissisya newspaper said Tuesday that Cheney’s tour was "futile and wicked and aimed at achieving one goal which is attacking Iraq and the Palestinian resistance."  

The paper urged Arab countries visited by Cheney to stand up against his "vicious activity," reported CNN. 

In the same paper, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said, "The United States knows well that if wages an aggression on Iraq, then its interests in the Arab world will be threatened by the Arab people, not the regimes." 

On Sunday, Abdullah warned that a U.S. strike on Iraq as part of the global war on terrorism would be "catastrophic" for regional stability. 

In talks with the vice president of Iraq's ruling Revolutionary Command Council, Izzat Ibrahim, Abdullah stressed "Jordan's rejection of any attack on the unity of Iraq and its territorial integrity." 

Jaffa Hassan, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Jordanian Embassy to the U.S. told CNN: "We totally object to a military solution to that problem.  

"We don't think it is the best way to deal with things. On the contrary it is a nightmare for most of the countries in the region." 

Though a key Arab ally of the United States, Jordan defied the international community and refused to join the U.S.-led military campaign to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991. 

Amman's economic lifeline depends on its powerful eastern neighbor: Iraq was Jordan's main trading partner in 2001, providing all its oil needs, half for free and half at preferential rates. 

Jordan is also bound by a peace treaty to Israel since 1994 but relations have cooled over the intensity of the Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territories and the mounting death toll. 

Cheney’s arrival in the region precedes that of U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni who has been tasked by U.S. President George W. Bush to secure a Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire. 

Jordan's independent Al Arab Al Yawm daily wrote Tuesday that Washington was sending one envoy, Zinni "to put out a fire and the other one to ignite one". 

Other commentators warned that Arab leaders, enraged by Israeli policies, would never bless any strike on Iraq. 

"The American president does not leave us and the entire world any choice but to stand with America or with terrorism," veteran analyst Fahed Fanek wrote in the pro-government Al Rai newspaper on Tuesday. 

"Of course we prefer to back America ... but the problem is that America itself backs terrorism, so what are we to do?" he said of U.S. support for hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. 

"If America wants to wage war against terrorism then it must begin at home and put a limit to Israeli atrocities that are committed each day against the Palestinian people," Fanek said. 

Al Rai's sister English-language daily, Jordan Times, said: "Starting another war in the region will not help the U.S. in the campaign against terrorism. No one in the region believes Iraq poses any significant threat to its neighbors. No one sees the reason for war." ]

Apart from Jordan and Egypt, Cheney's Arab tour takes in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Yemen. He will also visit Israel and Turkey.