CAIRO, November 15, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – An octopus-like arm of Arab regimes, secret security emerges as a major hindrance for reform in the Middle East, a leading US newspaper reported on Tuesday, November 15.

In the Middle East people live "under the fist of the mukhabarat," Jordanian Sameer Al-Qudah, 35, who works as a supervisor of construction projects, told The New York Times, using the Arabic word for intelligence services.

"We are hungry for freedoms like the right to express ourselves," said Qudah.

Qudah, who recited poems depicting Arab rulers as pirates and highwaymen, wondered "why does this part of the world lack any kind of democratic practices?"

In Jordan and across the region, the paper says, intelligence agencies interfere with everything in public life there, even appointment of every university professor, ambassador and important editor.

Those seeking democratic reform in the Middle East say the central role of each country's secret police force is one of the biggest impediments.

"In the decades since World War II, as military leaders and monarchs smothered democratic life, the security agencies have become a law unto themselves," the paper said.

Omnipresent secret police exist in every Arab country and Mukhabarat is among the first Arabic words expatriates learn, particularly reporters, the Times said.

A New York Times reporter has a hands-on experience in the murky world.

"Once in late 2001, I was loitering outside the Cairo headquarters of the secret police, an unfamiliar building, and was detained. My Egyptian assistant and I were ushered into the office of a polite major, whose walls were hung with roughly 10 diplomas from the FBI, including one for interrogation," he said.

"After a brief, friendly conversation about my impressions of Egypt, we were released. But in the years since, whenever I was involved in any reporting in Egypt that state security considered dubious, the major would call to inquire."

Maj. Gen. Rouhi Hikmet Rasheed, a 33-year army veteran and former top military dentist, ran for Parliament in 2003 on a platform calling for a constitutional monarchy in Jordan.

According to the paper, his campaign drew the attention of the intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Saad Kheir, who warned him to withdraw from the race.

"He told me that if I meant we should have a monarch like Britain's, this is not in the best interests of the country."

Rasheed, 62 and now an MP, said he was shocked when he was warned that his children might be affected by his decisions.

"'You are a son of the regime, we trust you, but if your sons want to work in Jordan in the future, it might affect them,' "he recalled the warning.

Many activists deem progress impossible unless the influence of the mukhabarat is curbed.

In a recent poll by the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, more than 80 percent of the respondents said they feared criticizing the government publicly.

More than three quarters said they feared taking part in any political activity.

"The issue of security has become a nightmare," Labib Kamhawi, a businessman active in human rights, said, contending that Jordan had failed to find the balance between democracy and security.

"If you give a speech against the policy of the government, this is a threat to security. If you demonstrate against this or that, it is a threat to security. It hits on all aspects of life and it is a severe hindrance to any change."

One man wrote a line from the Constitution stating that that personal freedom is protected.

Another wrote, "Love is immeasurable." A third scrawled, "Life comes first." A fourth wrote an Arab proverb about the absence of choice.