Jordanians Suspicious as US Expands Military Presence in Kingdom

Source : http://www.almanar.com.lb

Jordanians are suspicious as the United States is deploying troops and weapons in the Kingdom.

A US defense official has told Agence France Presse (AFP) that Washington has expanded its military presence in the country to 1,000 troops.

"Jordanians do not feel comfortable about the presence of US troops, weapons and equipment in the kingdom," analyst Oraib Rintawi, who runs the Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies, told AFP.

"For Jordanians, the US military presence is linked to plots and conspiracies against their neighbors, which would impact the country itself."

Washington claims it is worried about the security of Jordan, which is already struggling to cope with around 550,000 refugees from its war-torn northern neighbor, Syria. It has kept F-16 warplanes and Patriot missiles in the country since a joint military exercise ended on June 20.

"For the Americans, protecting that stability is key and at the core of their strategy in the Middle East,” Rintawi added. "But public opinion here does not welcome the Americans, even if they say they want to protect the country."

Earlier this week, Wall Street Journal quoted diplomats and US officials as saying that the Central Intelligence Agency has begun moving weapons to Jordan from a network of secret warehouses and plans to start arming foreign-backed militants fighting the Syrian government.

The diplomats and the US officials said that Washington plans to provide training, small arms, ammunition, and possibly certain types of antitank missiles.

Last week, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur denied a Los Angeles Times report that the Central Intelligence Agency and US special forces have been training Syria armed groups at a new American desert base in southwest Jordan.

"There is no training in our country whatsoever of Syrian opposition forces... the only Syrians we are dealing with in our country are refugees," he told journalists.

White House says the US may use military force against Syria

Via : Strategic-Culture.org

The White House says President Barack Obama may approve using military force against the Syrian government.

On Friday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the administration has a number of options with regards to handling reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons, and those include using military force among other possibilities.

Fielding a question from the media during the afternoon presser, Carney said he could not speculate on what action if any Pres. Obama would pursue against Assad, but said “as a general principal the United States retains the ability to act unilaterally.”

Just one day earlier, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the US intelligence community determined “with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons.” The White House sent a letter to members of the US Senate that morning informing lawmakers that Pres. Assad is believed to have used the odorless liquid sarin on at least two occasions.

"Thus far, we believe that the Assad regime maintains custody of these weapons, and has demonstrated a willingness to escalate its horrific use of violence against the Syrian people," the letter read in part.

Following up on Friday, Carney said, “We still believe based on the information that we have that the stockpiles of chemical weapons in Syria are under control of the Syrian regime.”

“Because of that, Assad is responsible for the disposition of those chemical weapons and it is his responsibility first and foremost not to use them or to transport them to terrorist groups, but to secure them and make sure they aren’t used by anyone else.”

“That’s all I can really say about it. That’s our assessment at this time,” said Carney, adding that the Obama administration is working with allies and partners, including the United Nations and the Syrian opposition, to gather credible facts to corroborate earlier reports.