November 15, 2005
VERY INTERESTING
Envoy to Israel made Jordan's security czar in wake of attack (AP, 11/15/05)
Eleven top Jordanian officials, including the kingdom's national security adviser, resigned Tuesday in the wake of last week's triple hotel bombings, state-run TV announced.What I find interesting here isn't so much that Jordan is shaking up its security services after the bombings, but that its Ambassador to Israel had expertise with the security services (al-Bakhit is a former Army Major-General). Before he took up his post in Jerusalem, al-Bakhit was Jordan's Ambassador to Turkey, another low-profile Israeli partner. Posted by David Cohen at November 15, 2005 5:26 PMKing Abdullah II appointed Marouf al-Bakhit, Jordan's ambassador to Israel, to replace outgoing security chief Saad Kheir, a former chief of Jordan's intelligence department.
When your population is mostly made up of Palestinians whose thugocrats have openly waged civil war on your gov't in the past, you learn to make special accomodations with your Israeli neighbors...
Posted by: b at November 15, 2005 5:51 PMYou also probably make sure your ambassador has good relations with the IDF and can share in the knowledge they have and in the tactics they've used to limit the suicide bombings inside Israel.
Posted by: John at November 15, 2005 8:22 PMAbdullah learned his lesson from bush who should have fired the CIA and FBI cheifs in September of 2001.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 16, 2005 2:41 AMRobert, you're right. Not holding those chiefs accountable was a massive mistake.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at November 16, 2005 10:33 AM