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CNN Live Saturday
A Look at Jordan's Position on War With Iraq
Aired March 08, 2003 - 17:15 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oil is only one commodity that will be affected by a war in Iraq. For Iraq's neighbors, there's also the business of tourism. Do you want to take a trip to a war zone? Not many people do. And as CNN's senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar shows us, a devastated tourism industry is only one of the reasons why Jordan doesn't want a war next door in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The ancient Roman ruins of Jarash, one of Jordan's most famous sites.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), there is the north gate.
MACVICAR: And these days, it's a lonely business being a tour guide here.
(on camera): Are there many tourists who come here now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually now, we have a very bad, you know, season because of the situation. We used to receive about 1.5 million tourists yearly. And now we are not getting more than 30,000.
MACVICAR (voice-over): A fraction of the tourists means a fraction of the dollars.
A legacy of fear, they say here, Western fear of the Arab world after September 11, fear of a spillover of violence from Israelis and Palestinians next door, and now fear of war with Iraq. A war that may cut off Jordan's oil supply, all of it from Iraq, and further damage a limping economy.
BASSEM AWADALLAN, JORDANIAN PLANNING MINISTER: The economic growth is a fragile one.
MACVICAR: Jordan's planning minister says war may cost nearly half the government's revenues.
AWADALLAN: There are estimates that range anywhere between $1.5 billion U.S. direct impact on our budget, to even larger figures.
MACVICAR: Something else that worries Jordanian officials, the impact of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees. MARWAN MUASHER, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have no ability to absorb them in. We have no ability to even find enough water for them, let alone all the financial costs that we will not be able to meet.
DR. LABIB KAMHAWI, JORDANIAN POLITICAL ANALYST: Everybody fears that the impact of this war would be more devastating on the region than the continued existence of the Iraqi regime.
MACVICAR: People here say what may be most damaged in this nation with close ties to the U.S. is American credibility. Credibility already badly bruised by what is seen as unblinking support for Israel.
AWADALLAN: How can the same power be able to give democracy to Iraqis and deprive the Palestinians from freedom of occupation? That is the question in people's minds.
MACVICAR: In Jordan, they say they are squeezed between two conflicts. And the conflict which most threatens them is not war with Iraq, but the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Amman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 March 8, 2003 - 17:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oil is only one commodity that will be affected by a war in Iraq. For Iraq's neighbors, there's also the business of tourism. Do you want to take a trip to a war zone? Not many people do. And as CNN's senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar shows us, a devastated tourism industry is only one of the reasons why Jordan doesn't want a war next door in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The ancient Roman ruins of Jarash, one of Jordan's most famous sites.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), there is the north gate.
MACVICAR: And these days, it's a lonely business being a tour guide here.
(on camera): Are there many tourists who come here now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually now, we have a very bad, you know, season because of the situation. We used to receive about 1.5 million tourists yearly. And now we are not getting more than 30,000.
MACVICAR (voice-over): A fraction of the tourists means a fraction of the dollars.
A legacy of fear, they say here, Western fear of the Arab world after September 11, fear of a spillover of violence from Israelis and Palestinians next door, and now fear of war with Iraq. A war that may cut off Jordan's oil supply, all of it from Iraq, and further damage a limping economy.
BASSEM AWADALLAN, JORDANIAN PLANNING MINISTER: The economic growth is a fragile one.
MACVICAR: Jordan's planning minister says war may cost nearly half the government's revenues.
AWADALLAN: There are estimates that range anywhere between $1.5 billion U.S. direct impact on our budget, to even larger figures.
MACVICAR: Something else that worries Jordanian officials, the impact of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees. MARWAN MUASHER, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have no ability to absorb them in. We have no ability to even find enough water for them, let alone all the financial costs that we will not be able to meet.
DR. LABIB KAMHAWI, JORDANIAN POLITICAL ANALYST: Everybody fears that the impact of this war would be more devastating on the region than the continued existence of the Iraqi regime.
MACVICAR: People here say what may be most damaged in this nation with close ties to the U.S. is American credibility. Credibility already badly bruised by what is seen as unblinking support for Israel.
AWADALLAN: How can the same power be able to give democracy to Iraqis and deprive the Palestinians from freedom of occupation? That is the question in people's minds.
MACVICAR: In Jordan, they say they are squeezed between two conflicts. And the conflict which most threatens them is not war with Iraq, but the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Amman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
