U.S. To Hold Joint Maneuvers in Jordan in August
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Jordan’s King Abdullah will meet Bush on August 1 in Washington
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AMMAN,
July 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. and Jordanian
troops are to hold joint exercises in August 1, a Jordanian official
said Thursday, July 18, stressing the war games were “not connected
in any way” to U.S. threats to attack Iraq.
“Routine
Jordanian-U.S. maneuvers will be held in the last week of August in
the Aqaba region (of southern Jordan) involving thousands of
soldiers,” the official told Agence France-Presse (AFP), asking not
to be named.
He
insisted it was part of a program of twice-yearly joint exercises with
the United States and “not connected in any way” with neighboring
Iraq.
“The
American soldiers will come to Jordan for these maneuvers which will
last two weeks after which they will leave the country,” the
Jordanian official added.
Meanwhile,
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters Tuesday, July 16,
that Bush will meet Jordan’s King Abdullah on August 1 in
Washington, news agencies reported.
Amman,
a key U.S. ally in the region but publicly opposed to military action
against Iraq, has repeatedly denied newspaper reports that Jordan
could be used as a launch pad for American strikes on its Arab
neighbor, AFP reported.
Jordanian
officials have also stressed that no exercises with the U.S. army have
been held near the Iraqi border.
On
July 11, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb Thursday called a
press conference to deny a stream of foreign press reports saying
Jordan could be used as a launch-pad for U.S. attacks on Iraq.
“I
would like to stress that all these stories have no basis or truth to
them. We categorically deny them and I hope that this is the last time
that we deny” such press reports, Abu Ragheb said.
“There
are no American troops in Jordan. There aren’t any agreements with
the United States about this,” he said, adding that Jordan's
position has and always will be one of support for Iraq’s
sovereignty, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
The
press reports have appeared in heavyweight newspapers like the New
York Times and the Times of London, which quoted
Western diplomats saying Amman had consented to a limited U.S.
presence.
Some
of the reports have suggested that forward bases for U.S. troops have
been set up in Jordan, in preparation for an invasion of Iraq, AFP
reported.
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