In case of a war on Iraq we will have means of defusing the opportunity to use Scud missiles: Jordanian PM

AMMAN, January 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Alarmed by a potential U.S.-led military action against Iraq and aiming at maintaining control of its airspace and protect it against any foreign intervention, Jordan will receive three Patriot anti-missile batteries from the United States soon, a Jordanian official said Tuesday, January 28. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the missiles will be delivered “in a few weeks,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the official as saying.

A diplomat here, who also asked not to be identified, said delivery would be at the “beginning of February,” adding that the missiles would be accompanied by a team to train the Jordanians in their use.

“We have witnessed in 1991 Scud missiles going over Jordan and [this time] we will have other means of defusing the opportunity to use such missiles,” the U.K. Financial Times quoted Jordan’s Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb as speaking to reporters after talks with Germany’s Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer in Amman on Sunday, January 26.

However, the Jordanian move is a cause for concern to Israel, which fears a repetition of what happened in the Second Gulf War, when a number of Patriot missiles missed their target.

“A number of Patriot missiles missed their targets in 1991 and caused significant damage in Israeli urban areas,” the daily quoted as saying Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East analyst in Jordan.

“It would therefore technically make sense to locate them in the relatively unpopulated deserts of eastern Jordan instead,” he added.

On January 23, the Jordanian King Abdullah II asked the U.S. for an air defence system during talks in Amman with the commander of the American forces in the Gulf region Tommy Francs and U.S. Department of States Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs head, Assistant Secretary William Joseph Burns, according the Jordanian news agencies Petra.

At least since two years, Jordan held talks with Russian officials in order to get long- range surface-to-air missile system of type S-300 capable of repelling any Iraqi or Israeli threats.

It followed the king’s earlier call for Europe to supply an air defence system to Jordan, after Russia said it could not do so before the end of the year.

Last year Jordan received a total of U.S.$460 million in aid from the U.S., including U.S.$200 million in military assistance, the Financial Times said.

During his visit to Moscow on August 29, 2001, the Jordanian monarch held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and top Russian military officials to hammer out a deal, with the approval of the U.S., to purchase some missiles and MU-4 and MU-7 helicopters.

Jordan has frequently reiterated that the kingdom will not be used as a launch-pad for any strike by the United States on Iraq.