Iraq–Jordan relations

Iraqi-Jordanian relations

Iraq	Jordan

Relations between neighbours Iraq and Jordan have historically been close. Iraq and Jordan were created after the First World War from former Ottoman dominions by way of a secret bilateral agreement between Britain and France. Perpetual efforts to unify the two states have been pursued over the last century. Jordan has an embassy in Baghdad and Iraq has an embassy in Amman.

Attempts to unify Iraq and Jordan

Main articles: Arab Federation, Damascus Protocol, Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and Fertile Crescent Plan

Iraq's Hashemite era

Jordan's relations with Iraq shifted dramatically many times over the years. This becomes especially clear if we note how close the two countries relations had been for more than a decade preceding the ill-fated Iraqi military invasion of Kuwait. As the two original Hashemite monarchies established in Western Asia by [Britain, following World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Jordan and Iraq had initially maintained close relations based on family ties. This ended when the Hashemite royal family in Iraq was overthrown and killed by dissident military officers in the 1958 Iraqi coup d'état. Not surprisingly, in the years that followed the two regimes became unalterably hostile to one another. But by the late 1970s, Jordan and Iraq had drifted together once again, building a bilateral alliance that would last through the 1991 Gulf War.

Saddam Hussein's presidency

In 1979 Iraq initiated contacts aimed at closer alignment at a time when the newly established President Saddam Hussein was seeking Arab allies, perhaps to provide for at least some level of transnational support and inter-Arab legitimacy for his regime. More important for the Jordanians, however, were the economic pay-offs of such an alliance, as Iraq could provide economic support and oil supplies that the kingdom desperately needed.

But as the new alliance began to solidify in 1980, Saddam Hussein's military forces invaded Iran and King Hussein immediately backed Iraq against the revolutionary Islamist regime in Iran. The Hashemite government viewed Iran as a potential threat not from military expansion, but as a supporter and living example of Islamist revolutionary militancy against conservative pro-Western monarchies. For King Hussein, Iran was a threat not just to his regime's security directly, but also indirectly in so far as it threatened the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies oil which Jordan was partially reliant for aid. Throughout the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Jordan supported Iraq politically and especially economically. Indeed, Jordan's port of Aqaba and its overland trucking routes became Iraq's main supply line throughout the eight years of that war. In return, Jordan received oil from Iraq at prices far below market value.

To expand on these political-economic linkages, Jordan helped create the Arab Cooperation Council (ACC) in 1989, in the immediate aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war. The ACC alliance of Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Yemen was meant to facilitate capital and labor flows between members while also allowing them to act as a fairly formidable lobbying bloc within inter-Arab politics in their mutual efforts to renegotiate their debt terms with the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies. Despite strenuous Jordanian efforts to prevent it, that alliance evaporated in the heat of the Gulf War.

The significant shift in Iraq–Jordan relations became apparent in August 1995, when Jordan granted political asylum to two Iraqi defectors. King Hussein of Jordan also openly criticized Iraqi policies on national television on 23 August 1995. However, majority of Jordanians supported former President Saddam Hussein. Western countries, on the other hand, consider the change in Jordan's policy on Iran as a means to further isolate Hussein and eventually weaken his leadership.

Jordan gained worldwide headlines in 1990 for its refusal to join the allied coalition against Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

Despite periodic crises of confidence and lingering Iraqi resentment over Jordan's close ties with Saddam Hussein, the two countries have managed to forge deep ties, in fact, Jordan has taken the lead among Arab states to do so. In the face of repeated attacks and threats, Jordan has maintained a strong diplomatic presence in Baghdad. The economic impact of the Iraq crisis in Jordan has been mixed. Jordan has benefited greatly from serving as a "gateway" to Iraq for governments, aid workers, contractors, and businesspeople, the real estate and banking sectors are booming, and it stands to reap more benefits from increased trade and transport should the situation in Iraq improve. However, with the fall of Saddam, Jordan lost the sizable oil subsidies and customary shipments it received from Iraq. One of Jordan's principal economic interests in the new Iraq is securing future energy assistance.

Current affairs

Unlike many of Iraq's other neighbors, Jordan can claim only modest influence over developments in Iraq. The kingdom does have notable intelligence capabilities vis-à-vis Iraq, and it reportedly helped the United States track down and kill Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Although some Jordanians highlight cross-border tribal and family connections with Iraqi Sunni Arabs, they pale in comparison to those of Iran, Turkey, and Syria. Jordan's most significant means of influence is its hosting of a large and ever-changing Iraqi expatriate community, mostly of Sunni Arab origin.

Jordanian leaders worry that Iraq is becoming a haven for terrorist groups, a fear dramatically heightened by the November 2005 suicide bombings in Amman. Jordan also has an interest in the development of Iraq and is anxious about the growing Iranian involvement in Iraqi politics, and more broadly increasing Iranian and Shiite influence in the region.

In 2005, the case of Raed Mansour al-Banna, a Jordanian suicide bomber who blew himself up in Hillah, Iraq strained relations between the two countries. After Ranna's family gave him a heroic funeral in Jordan, thousands of Iraqi Shia protested, and the two countries recalled their respective ambassadors.

See also

• Iraqis in Jordan
• House of Hashim
• Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan
• 2003 Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad
• Foreign relations of Iraq
• Foreign relations of Jordan

Further reading

• David Kenneth Schenker, Dancing with Saddam: The Strategic Tango of Jordanian-Iraqi Relations, published by Lexington Books, 2003 ISBN 073910649X.

External links

• JORDAN'S CHANGING RELATIONS WITH IRAQ