Jordanian military coordination continues with US, Britain, new base in the Jordanian desert

The Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas said in its Wednesday's issue that Jordan's military coordination with the US and Britain was never suspended, rather developed after the accession of the Jordanian King Abdullah II to power, three years ago. The paper added that the new thing is that there is a British and American desire to have an advanced base for the British and American "special" forces in a Jordanian desert area.

Al-Qabas added that the new base which will be completely under the American leadership will serve several objectives. The first is to form an advanced base to protect the American and British military observers at the prison of Areiha, which is 6 kilometers from the Jordanian borders. This base, the paper added will be developed later to be a starting point for reconnaissance operation that might be carried out by US and British special forces in the Iraqi depth immediately after taking a political decision to start the operation of topple the government of the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Among the other objectives of this advanced " base" is also to provide a sort of support and protection against any kidnapping operations of American or British citizens in Jordan or any nearby area.

The Kuwaiti paper indicated that the arrangements agreed upon to monitor the Palestinian prisoners (who are accused of killing the Israeli minister of tourism in Areiha) at the supervision of former military men from the US and Britain were discussed with the Jordanian King Abdullah II during his recent visit to London and will be completed during his forthcoming visit to Washington in the first half of this month, May.