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CNN Live At Daybreak
How Iraqi Situation is Viewed in Jordan
Aired November 19, 2002 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Big things like war and peace hang in the balance as U.N. weapons inspectors resume their work in Iraq. And that could cause tensions among Iraq's neighbors.
CNN's Jane Arraf has some insight on how all of this is viewed by Jordan. And she joins us from Amman.
And I'm sure Jordanians are not only worried about Iraq, but Israel and the violence there, too.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're kind of caught in the middle, you're absolutely right, Carol. And they're holding their breath, like others in the region. But apart from Iraq, probably no other country would be as affected by war if it did break out as Jordan.
Now, we've just spoken to Jordan's information minister, Mohammed Adwan, who tells us that he welcomes the return of the weapons inspectors and Jordan calls on Iraq to cooperate fully to, as he puts it, end this problem once and for all.
Now, if it does come to war, he warns that Jordan was be very severely affected, particularly if there still is unrest in the neighboring Palestinian territories.
Now, people here are reading the newspapers this morning and this is the kind of thing they're reading. This is "Adastor (ph)," one of the semi-official papers in Jordan. It's calling the return of the inspectors a small opportunity, essentially, for peace.
Now, the key word there is small. There's still a very deep skepticism among officials and people on the streets, as well, that actually the United States wants this to end in peace. There really is a feeling here in the newspapers, among officials, and on the people -- in the people's views of those we talked to on the streets that really the United States does want to end this problem by getting rid of the Iraqi leader. And war, they say, would be absolutely catastrophic for this very small country -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Do they like Saddam Hussein there?
ARRAF: That's a really interesting question. You know, after the Gulf War, during the Gulf War and after it, in the run up to it, people here were naming their babies after Saddam. There was so much support for him. Now, in the intervening years, they've had a decade to really come to know what's happening in Iraq and Iraqi refugees, in a sense, have flooded over this border. So they're less enamored these days of the Iraqi president, but there's still a very deep affinity with the Iraqi people.
Now, these two countries are really intertwined, economically, for one thing. Jordan gets most of its oil from Iraq. It really couldn't survive without it. So while they may not all love the Iraqi leader, there are still a lot of them who really respect him for the very reason that he is seen as one of the few Arab leaders, maybe the only one in the region, to stand up to the United States. And that's part of the problem of why it would be such a problem here if it did come to war -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Jane Arraf, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 19, 2002 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Big things like war and peace hang in the balance as U.N. weapons inspectors resume their work in Iraq. And that could cause tensions among Iraq's neighbors.
CNN's Jane Arraf has some insight on how all of this is viewed by Jordan. And she joins us from Amman.
And I'm sure Jordanians are not only worried about Iraq, but Israel and the violence there, too.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're kind of caught in the middle, you're absolutely right, Carol. And they're holding their breath, like others in the region. But apart from Iraq, probably no other country would be as affected by war if it did break out as Jordan.
Now, we've just spoken to Jordan's information minister, Mohammed Adwan, who tells us that he welcomes the return of the weapons inspectors and Jordan calls on Iraq to cooperate fully to, as he puts it, end this problem once and for all.
Now, if it does come to war, he warns that Jordan was be very severely affected, particularly if there still is unrest in the neighboring Palestinian territories.
Now, people here are reading the newspapers this morning and this is the kind of thing they're reading. This is "Adastor (ph)," one of the semi-official papers in Jordan. It's calling the return of the inspectors a small opportunity, essentially, for peace.
Now, the key word there is small. There's still a very deep skepticism among officials and people on the streets, as well, that actually the United States wants this to end in peace. There really is a feeling here in the newspapers, among officials, and on the people -- in the people's views of those we talked to on the streets that really the United States does want to end this problem by getting rid of the Iraqi leader. And war, they say, would be absolutely catastrophic for this very small country -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Do they like Saddam Hussein there?
ARRAF: That's a really interesting question. You know, after the Gulf War, during the Gulf War and after it, in the run up to it, people here were naming their babies after Saddam. There was so much support for him. Now, in the intervening years, they've had a decade to really come to know what's happening in Iraq and Iraqi refugees, in a sense, have flooded over this border. So they're less enamored these days of the Iraqi president, but there's still a very deep affinity with the Iraqi people.
Now, these two countries are really intertwined, economically, for one thing. Jordan gets most of its oil from Iraq. It really couldn't survive without it. So while they may not all love the Iraqi leader, there are still a lot of them who really respect him for the very reason that he is seen as one of the few Arab leaders, maybe the only one in the region, to stand up to the United States. And that's part of the problem of why it would be such a problem here if it did come to war -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Jane Arraf, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
