Jordan may be willing to be the first Arab country to send troops to Iraq if asked by the interim government, King Abdullah told the BBC in an interview broadcast Thursday evening.
"If the Iraqis ask us for help directly, it will be very difficult for us to say no," he said.
The king qualified his remarks by saying he did not think Jordan was right for the role. Asked whether this meant sending troops, he said: "I presume so. I would feel that we are not the right people. But at the end of the day, if there is something that we can provide, a service to the future of the Iraqis, then we will definitely study that proposal."
Abdullah backed the new government, referring to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as a "tough, good warhorse, exactly what Iraq needs" in an interview with Friday's Times.
"I'm pretty impressed with the Iraqi interim government," he said.
But he also warned that violence in Iraq would continue and that the Middle East faces a tough year fighting terrorism.
Abdullah said Jordan was already helping to train the Iraqi police and army by providing assistance to the customs department and helping the ministries responsible for infrastructure.
On terrorism in the Middle East, the king repeated his view that terrorists could not be beaten by killing them, but rather by tackling terrorism's root cause.
"The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is the greatest way of shutting down the recruiters" for terrorism, he said.
Abdullah backed political reform throughout the region, saying violence in Iraq should not be an excuse for Arab governments to delay reform.
"There is tremendous frustration in the Middle East that makes political reform a bit more difficult in some countries than others," he added.
Referring to regional democratization, he told the Times: "What was almost taboo six months ago is now openly spoken about and discussed throughout the Middle East."
Abdullah told the Times he had tried to persuade other Arab leaders of the need for reform.
"My advice to any colleagues who wanted to listen was: If you don't come up with your own principles of reform, then you may find that one is forced on you which would be tremendously negative," he said.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS