Shmuel Rosner, Ha’aretz’s chief U.S. correspondent, has a piece on Slate which considers Jordan’s stability in the overall status of the Middle East. He notes that dating back to the Nixon era, the United States has kept this country’s security in mind when making foreign policy decisions. He argues that today, this should be the case even more so:
An intelligence assessment provided to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in March 2007 warned of the implications for Jordan of a U.S. exit from Iraq. It was one of the reasons that prompted him to publicly oppose such a withdrawal—despite the predictable anger of American liberals suspicious of Israel’s role in the decision to invade. But American officials didn’t need the Israelis for such warnings—they heard them firsthand from King Abdullah himself and from other senior Jordanian officials. The way U.S. officials responded is reminiscent of Nixon’s reaction in 1970: Whatever we do, they told him, we will keep your stability in mind. (MORE)
