Jordan: Jordan's Prime Minister, Mr Ali Abu Ragheb, said yesterday that the kingdom was working with Arab and other countries to bring the war in Iraq to a quick conclusion, writes Michael Jansen in Amman
"Jordan made all efforts to try to avoid this war. Now that we have hostilities, we believe there must be a political effort to find a solution and minimise the damage," he said.
Speaking at the government's first briefing since the launch of hostilities by the US and UK, Mr Abu Ragheb denied US troops based in the kingdom were taking part in operations inside Iraq. "There are no US troops going into Iraq from Jordan."
He said the only US troops in Jordan were those manning and protecting Patriot anti-missile batteries. He refused to say how many US soldiers were stationed in Jordan as the number was "classified".
He confirmed three Iraqi diplomats had been "asked to leave Jordan because they had been engaging in activities inconsistent with the security agreement between Jordan and Iraq". He insisted this measure had "nothing to do with" US calls for countries to close Iraqi embassies. The expulsions are "strictly a Jordanian-Iraqi issue". He stated firmly that Jordan had no intention of shutting down the Iraqi embassy here.
Mr Abu Ragheb's assertion that there are no cross-border operations from Jordan into Iraq was meant to quell speculation that US and British special forces who captured two airbases in western Iraq on Friday and Saturday had been based in the kingdom. The airbases, known as H2 and H3, apparently fell without serious Iraqi resistance.