Jordanians feel for Iraqis' plight

Jordanians feel for Iraqis' plight

By Martin Asser BBC News Online, Amman

The first salvo of America's war against Saddam Hussein has come as a bit of an anticlimax for the population of Iraq's nearest neighbour, Jordan.

That is probably just how the US military planners wanted it, because Amman - like many other Arab governments - has been dreading the effect of popular discontent as the first bombs fell on Baghdad.

Cards and waterpipes help citizens pass the time as they wait for war

"We are angry about what America is doing," says 75-year-old Um Majd, as she brings coffee for her sons playing cards in her Amman home.

"We feel for the Iraqi people, and we don't want them to be killed because of Saddam Hussein," she says.

The chain-smoking card players' backs are turned to a large TV set where al-Jazeera is broadcasting live coverage of the final hours before US President George W Bush's deadline for the Iraqi leader to leave his country.

Cause of war

"Do you think they will attack tonight?" asks Um Majd, handing out the cups of sweet, black coffee.

No-one offers an opinion - the game of "hand" has the undivided attention of the male members of the family.

So Um Majd persists in her questioning of me, as I try to juggle 14 playing cards in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other.

Al-Jazeera provides the news few Jordanians want to hear

"Why do you think they're doing it, the Americans? It's about Iraq's oil, isn't it?" she asks - or rather affirms. "Let it incinerate them, the dogs and sons of dogs."

Finding it hard to concentrate on intricacies of the game, as well as on Um Majd and the TV reports, I put up little resistance to my opponents, who are "hand" experts.

So the men around me start offering advice about what to play - clearly having seen my cards as I struggle to answer their mother's questions.

American 'agents'

Attention turns from the game only when al-Jazeera broadcasts on-the-hour news bulletins, telling viewers how Arab leaders have been manoeuvring in the last hours before a possible US attack.

xs "Look at them," says Abu Akram, the player to my left, sucking on a pipe. "They (al-Jazeera) are counting down to the bloodshed just like the Americans".

"You set the agenda when you have all the power," opines his brother to my right.

Amman is tense as war clouds gather over Iraq

Particular contempt is voiced for the Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, Syria - whose Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa is shown addressing the UN Security Council - and Kuwait.

"The Kuwaitis are the root of the whole problem," says Abu Akram. "(Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi got it right when he told them and the Saudis at that summit: 'It's your fault that the Americans are here in the first place. You brought them here in 1991 and they've never left'."

President Mubarak is dismissed as an "American agent" for his statement that Saddam Hussein has only himself to blame for the imminent attack, while Syria - for all its anti-war rhetoric - is suspected of having secretly given America the green light to attack.

Resignation

And Jordan? I hardly dare ask this family, who are from Jordan's long-suffering majority of Palestinian origin.

Amman is alive with rumours that the government has given permission to the US to use its territory and airspace to attack Iraq, while officials categorically deny it to to a sceptical public.

"King Abdullah is probably watching the television like us to find out what's happening," says Abu Akram with an ironic smile.

The game winds up an hour or so before America's deadline expires and news of the first attack comes. By that time everyone in this family has gone resignedly to their beds.

If you are in Jordan and want to comment on the situation there now war in Iraq has started, use the postform below to send us your comments.