Jordan's King
Rebukes Uncle, Urges Restraint over Iraq
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Abdullah criticized his uncle for attending Iraqi oppostion meeting.jpg |
AMMAN,
July 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Jordan's state news agency
Monday, July 29, highlighted King Abdullah II's public rebuke to
his uncle, Prince Hassan bin Talal, during an interview with the Times
of London, in what amounted to the king's first open criticism of a
member of the royal family.
Petra
reproduced Abdullah's remarks to the paper Monday concerning Hassan's
attendance at a London meeting of Iraqi opposition two weeks ago,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
"Prince
Hassan blundered into something he did not realize he was getting into
and were all picking up the pieces," Abdullah told the Times.
Abdullah
and his uncle have enjoyed strained relations in the past. The two
competed for power in February 1999 when the late King Hussein, on his
deathbed, tapped his son Abdullah as his successor over brother
Hassan, who had served as crown prince for decades.
Besides
making harsh comments about his uncle, Abdullah told the Times he was
strongly opposed to any potential U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"In
the light of the failure to move the Israeli-Palestinian process
forward, military action against Iraq would really open a Pandora's
Box," Abdullah said, two days before he travels to see U.S.
President George W. Bush at the White House.
Prince
Hassan attended a July 12 Iraqi opposition meeting, which Jordan
immediately said did not reflect the state's official position towards
Iraq.
Hassan's
"participation is a personal choice," Information Minister
Mohammed Adwan was quoted as saying by Petra on July 13.
For
his part, Hassan said he attended the three-day conference on a
personal invitation.
Abdullah
and Hassan's Hashemite clan ruled in both Jordan and Iraq until a
military coup toppled Iraq's royalist regime in 1958, AFP said.
Meanwhile
in Washington, King Abdullah told CNN television that dialogue
is the best course to take with Iraq.
"In
Jordan that we have always believed that dialogue with Iraq is the
only option," the monarch said amid widespread speculation about
a U.S. plan to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"And
when I say 'Jordan,' I also can speak probably on behalf of anybody
else in the international community, from China to Russia to all our
colleagues in the European Union."
"We
have always felt that dialogue is the best way of dealing with Iraq,
trying to bring Iraq back into the international community, that we've
always been concerned that the use of force might create tremendous
instability in the Middle East, especially in the light that the
movement on the Israeli-Palestinian front is not moving the way that
we want," he added.
The
monarch added that there had been no discussion with the United States
of the possibility of deploying U.S. troops in Jordan in the event of
an attack on Iraq, AFP reported.
"That
has not happened and, I don't think, will ever happen," he said.
"We
got an apology from some ... American official that -- the way he
described it to me is, 'Some young officer in the American Pentagon
probably tried to impress a girlfriend, wanted to come up with a story
that there was something that he knew about and referenced Jordan.'
But we have no American troops in Jordan, at this stage," the
king added.
The
United States has invited six Iraqi opposition leaders to Washington
for talks on the country's future in a meeting either on August 9 or
16.
Washington
has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iraq and
unseat Saddam Hussein.
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