Hussein Bin Talal: The king who steered his people in a turbulent area
Jordan, People, 2/8/1999

Throughout his 46-year reign, the late King Hussein Bin Talal, who passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer, steered his people in a turbulent area, a struggle that made of him a symbol of endurance and statesmanship.

Ascending to the Hashemite throne at the age of 17, he built his desert nation almost from scratch, setting up constitutional institutions that guaranteed the continuity of the Hashemite kingdom in the turbulent Middle East.

He escaped several coup and assassination attempts, and twice battled cancer to become one of the world's longest-ruling leaders.

Hussein was born on November 14, 1935, a descendent of Hashem, great-grandfather of Prophet Mohammed. He studied in Amman and Cairo, and at Britain's Harrow prep school and Sandhurst Military Academy.

His rule began after his father, King Talal, abdicated because of illness. He was crowned on May 2, 1953, inheriting a land of Bedouin nomads and Palestinian refugees, and he eventually built a nation that exported doctors, engineers and managers to its oil-rich neighbors.

Hussein was groomed by his grandfather, King Abdullah.

"He let me accompany him everywhere," he wrote in his autobiography. "It was he who taught me to understand the minds of my people and the intricacies of the Arab world.... He taught me that above all else, a leader's greatest duty is to serve."

At 16, Hussein saw Abdullah assassinated outside the Al Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds (Jerusalem) by a Palestinian over the annexation of the West Bank, historically part of Palestine, by the new Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The assassin fired a shot at Hussein, but it was deflected by a medal the young prince wore on his chest.

It was the future king's first brush with death, but not his last. Enemies ambushed his cars, sent jet fighters after his plane, put acid in his nose drops, tried to poison his food and shelled his palace.

In 1967, he joined Egypt in the war against the Jewish entity. Following the war, Jordan lost the West Bank, captured by Israel.

The instability stirred by the 1967 war led to the "Black September" civil war in 1970-71, in which Jordan's army crushed Palestinian guerrillas who sought to overthrow King Hussein.

King Hussein was one of the few Arab leaders who opposed the US led coalition against Iraq after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, citing the need for an Arab solution.

King Hussein's battle with cancer dates to 1992, when he underwent surgery to remove cancer from his ureter and left kidney at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic. In mid-1998, he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer.

During this second illness, he made a major change in his kingdom's future, appointing his eldest son, Abdullah, named after the king's beloved grandfather, as crown prince in place of Hussein's brother, Hassan, who had been groomed as successor for 34 years.

King Hussein had 11 children as well as an adopted daughter.

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