U.S., Jordan Intensify War of Words

President Bush today sharpened his criticism of Jordan, suggesting the country had “moved over, way over, into Saddam Hussein’s camp.” The Administration threatened to withhold up to $55 million in aid.

Bush said a speech Wednesday by King Hussein, in which the king appeared to shed his neutrality and back Iraq, is a matter of “quite some concern” to the United States.

“It appears to be a shift in the Jordanian position. We are concerned about it and don’t understand some of the rhetoric coming out of there,” Bush said.

In Amman, Jordanians reacted angrily. One member of Parliament said the aid cutoff threat brought relations toward the “freezing point.”

King Hussein, a longtime ally of the United States, was said to be so angry that he was considering cutting ties with Washington, a high-ranking palace official said today. But a chief aide denied the report.

“I think we’ve been subjected to strangulation,” said Parliament member Abdul-Karim Kabariti, a former Cabinet minister. “If relations are said to be chilling, then it’s fair to say they are heading toward the freezing point.”

Finance Minister Basil Jardaneh said it was unclear whether Washington was considering suspending, cutting or canceling aid outright but called the threat unjustified.

“The statement that was said by his majesty indicates that Jordan is not a part of the conflict, which is what we’ve said all along,” he said.

The king, an Arab moderate, has tried to keep his vulnerable kingdom neutral in the Gulf War by condemning both the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the deployment of foreign troops on Saudi soil.

In his speech, the king accused the U.S.-led alliance of killing Iraqi women and children and trying to destroy Jordan’s Arab neighbor.

The speech brought the king more in line with popular sentiment in Jordan. Allied bombing of Iraq, which has killed Jordanian truck drivers and almost severed Jordan’s oil supply, has inflamed anti-Western sentiment.

“The king’s remarks were intended for Jordan but unfortunately they were received by the United States,” one official said.