US to Deploy Weapons to Jordan

[longknife]

Published June 05, 2013, Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan – Jordanian officials said Wednesday that the U.S. will deploy anti-missile batteries and F-16 jet fighters in the kingdom to bolster its defense capabilities in the face of a Syrian attack.

Two security officials involved in the deployment, expected in the coming days, said that Washington is deploying one or two Patriot missile launchers on the northern border with Syria and a squadron of 12 to 24 F-16 warplanes as part of the international military maneuver "Eager Lion."

So, it comes from Fix News – one of about a dozen sources I found this on. I'm amazed that Obama's State/Defense departments actually realize the importance of this kingdom in the Middle East. Ignoring the anti-Israel crowd, King Abdullah II has always been the ruler of an Islamic nation that does not seek sovereignty over others. It's also a question as to how long Jordan can support the tens of thousands of refuges from the Syrian swamp.

 

[waltky]

Obama sendin' in the Marines...

Large US Marine force lands in Aqaba to deploy on Jordanian-Syrian border
June 5, 2013, A large American military force disembarked Tuesday, June 4, at the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba - ready for deployment on the kingdom’s Syrian border, debkafile’s exclusive military sources report. The force made its way north along the Aqaba-Jerash-Ajilon mountain road bisecting Jordan from south to north, under heavy Jordanian military escort.

Our sources disclose that this American force numbers 1,000 troops, the largest to land in Jordan since the Syrian civil war erupted in March 2012. They are members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Force carried aboard the USS Kearsage amphibious assault ship, which has been anchored off neighboring Israeli Eilat since mid-May. Upon landing, the marines took to the road in a convoy of armored vehicles including Hummers.

Washington and Amman have imposed a blackout on their arrival. The Pentagon has only let it be known that the annual joint US-Jordanian “Eager Lion 2013” military exercise is due to begin later in June and last two months, with the participation of US F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missile defense systems. According to our US sources, the arrival of the US force in Jordan was not directly related to the regular exercise but decided on at an emergency meeting at the Pentagon on May 31, which was attended by top military and civilian Defense Department officials. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who is away from Washington, took part by video conference.

The meeting decided that the military situation evolving in Syria and threats it posed to Jordan – including widening evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria - were urgent enough to warrant the dispatch of extra American military strength to Jordan, over and above the contingents participating in the joint exercise. The Israeli Air Force will provide air cover for the force until the F-16 jets are in place for the drill.

The US Central Command spokesman Lt. Col. T.G. Taylor in a statement to the US media said only: “In order to enhance the defensive posture and capacity of Jordan, some of these assets may remain beyond the exercise at the request of the government of Jordan.” That request, according to our sources, was for the US to leave behind when the exercise ended and the troops departed - not just some of the weapons systems but all of the equipment which arrived with the marines Wednesday, as well as the F-16 fighters and Patriot missiles. There is no official word about Washington’s response to this request. However, the Obama administration is not expected to turn it down.

Source

 

[dilloduck]

Nobel Peace Prize

 

[tjvh]

It's funny... Obama has no problem arming Jordanians with F-16's, yet law abiding American citizens cannot be trusted to own guns.

 

[waltky]

Jordan wants Patriot battery to stay beyond joint exercises...

Jordan wants U.S. Patriot battery to stay past exercises
June 5th, 2013 > Jordan has asked the United States to keep a Patriot missile battery there after an upcoming military exercise as part of a U.S.-backed effort to bolster Jordanian military defenses.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Jordan made the request but that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had "not fully reviewed it." Warren said Hagel would look at it when he returns to Washington from a NATO summit on Wednesday night. The United States also has decided to deploy F-16s to Jordan, but it's not clear if a similar request will be made to keep those fighter jets in place. The decision to deploy a Patriot battery and F-16s was made Friday at a meeting of military and civilian Defense Department officials as a means of bolstering U.S. military support for a key Middle East ally with violence from the Syrian civil war spreading, according to a senior U.S. official. The official declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Hagel has been traveling outside the United States and it could not be learned if he attended via teleconference, although several officials tell CNN that he was aware of the discussions and approved the deployment. The goal is to demonstrate American military support for an increasingly fragile Jordan, which is bearing the burden of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and a growing potential threat from extremist elements, including an al Qaeda affiliate, operating in Syria. The weapons systems will be sent as part of a planned multinational military training exercise, Eager Lion, this month, but with an understanding they may stay in the country to bolster security.

A Patriot missile launcher system is pictured at a Turkish military base in Gaziantep

But there is clearly a broader message being sent, according to U.S. military officials. "In order to enhance the defensive posture and capacity of Jordan, some of these assets may remain beyond the exercise at the request of the government of Jordan," Lt. Col. T.G. Taylor, a spokesman at the U.S. Central Command, told CNN. The Patriot missiles were originally expected to be sent from their base at Fort Bliss, Texas, but the senior official said they may simply be re-deployed from Patriots already in the Middle East. Jordan does not face a SCUD missile threat from Syria, but it comes at a time when concern is growing that some Syrian missiles are being shipped to Hezbollah and could be used to attack targets across the region.

In recent days, violence has spread to Lebanon and Israel has increased security along its northern border. The F-16s and air crews will train with Jordanian combat air forces at a time when there is growing pressure from some in Congress for the White House to support a Syrian "no fly" zone. Separately from the exercise, the United States is sending 200 military planners from the headquarters of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss to Jordan to assist in long term planning with Jordanian forces if a chemical weapons crisis erupts, or if a wide scale humanitarian relief mission is ordered.

Jordan wants U.S. Patriot battery to stay past exercises ? CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

 

[irosie91]

I don't know whether to rejoice or be horrified over
any level of armaments to Jordan. I feel sorry for
boyish little abdullah----nice kid but BESET with all
sorts of elements----even in his own family.
Before he died----Papa hussein-----wrote a letter to
his BROTHER-----which I believe was suggestive that
his own brother would be a definite threat to little
abdullah and even to the WIDOW HUSSEIN----probably
based on some islamicist takeover plan. The problem
with arming Jordan is not Abdullah---it is into whose hands
those armaments might fall-------reminiscent of arming
that taliban-----remember them? innocent "FREEDOM
FIGHTERS "-------fighing off the USSR RED PERIL

 

[irosie91]

I am confused about the riots in Turkey----they seem
to be POINTLESS-----I cannot believe it is all about
trees------in fact it does not seem to be about
anything-----more like DOING THAT WHICH IS
FASHIONABLE-------something like come of the
CAMPUS actions of the 60s and 70s -----"lets boycott
classes so they will have to cancel FINALS"

 

[waltky]

Ask an' ye shall receive...

US to keep some F-16s, Patriot missiles in Jordan post exercise
June 16, 2013 > At the request of Jordan, concerned about possible threats from the the civil war in neighboring Syria, the U.S. will leave behind a detachment of F-16s and U.S. Patriot missiles after an international exercise there ends this week.

About 5,000 U.S. personnel were among about 8,000 from 19 countries participating in the annual exercise, Eager Lion, which ends Thursday. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel approved Jordan’s request to keep the Patriots and F-16s in country after the exercise, Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement issued Saturday. It was not immediately clear what kind of threats Jordan faces because it is unlikely that Syria’s embattled armed forces would or could mount a cross-border attack.

In an address to military graduates in Amman on Sunday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said his country was capable of protecting its interests “should the world not act and help us adequately address this issue, and should this issue become a threat to our country.” He did not elaborate on the type of threat Jordan faces, but the country’s resources are already strained by more than 470,000 Syrian refugees in the country, and Jordan is concerned about the threat of extremists crossing the border.

Marines assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit search for targets during a live fire exercise in Al Quweira, Jordan on June 13th. About 5,000 U.S. personnel are participating in a 12-day annual military exercise called Eager Lion.

The U.S. announced Thursday that it would begin providing military support to opposition groups in Syria, after intelligence had determined with “high certainty” that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons — killing 100 to 150 people. While the administration has ruled out deploying troops to Syria, a no-fly zone is an option, but no decision has been taken yet and officials have cautioned that it would be far more complex than the NATO-led operation in Libya in 2011.

While officials emphasized before and during the Eager Lion exercise that it was aimed largely at strengthening ties between the U.S. and Jordan, the proximity of the civil war next door in Syria spurred rumors and speculation about whether some troops might be asked to stay behind after the exercise ends. That was true even among the 2,400 Marines assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, who were largely cut off from news while working with Jordanian troops on joint reconnaissance patrol and live fire exercises in rugged and rocky desert terrain.

MORE

See also:

Jordan Ready to Fight any Threat from Syrian Conflict, King Says
June 16, 2013 — Jordan's King Abdullah said on Sunday the kingdom was ready to fight to protect itself against any threat to its security from the escalating civil war in neighboring Syria.

He was speaking as Jordanian and U.S. forces proceeded with joint military exercises with the participation of 17 other countries. Diplomats say the exercises, which entered their second week, aim to send a strong message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"If the world does not help as it should, and if the matter becomes a danger to our country, we are able at any moment to take the measures to protect the country and the interest of our people,” King Abdullah told military cadets at a graduation ceremony in southern Jordan.

He also saluted members of his country's armed forces who helped over the last year undertake a massive humanitarian relief operation to bring across the border hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing bombardment in their villages and towns and seeking a safe haven.

A Pentagon spokesman said on Saturday Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved a Jordanian request for American F-16s and Patriot missiles to remain in the Western-backed kingdom after the end of the military man oeuvres. The decision to put Patriot batteries - an air and missile defense system - in Jordan has particularly angered Russia, Assad's main international ally, which accuses the West of fanning the conflict in Syria.

Jordan Ready to Fight any Threat from Syrian Conflict, King Says

 

[georgephillip]

Noam Chomsky (NC in the following Q & A) thinks the borders of the Middle East are being redrawn nearly 100 years after the Sykes-Picot agreement:

"MZ: Do you think the Middle East is going through a rewrite of Sykes-Picot agreement?

NC: I think the Sykes-Picot agreement is falling apart, which is an interesting phenomenon. That is a century. But, the Sykes-Picot agreement was just an imperial imposition that has no legitimacy; there is no reason for any of these borders – except the interests of the imperial powers.

"It is the same all over the world. it is hard to find a single border that has any justification, including the US-Mexico border and the US-Canada border. You look around the world, just about every conflict that is going on results from the imposition of imperial borders that have nothing to do with the population.

"I think as far as Sykes-Picot is concerned, it is beginning to erode. Whatever happens in Syria – it’s hard to imagine – but if anything survives, parts of Syria will be separated.

"The Kurdish areas are almost autonomous now and they are beginning to link up with the almost-autonomous parts of Northern Iraq Kurdish areas, and may spill over to some extent to southeastern Turkey.

"What will happen in the rest of the country is hard to say.

"MZ: Do you think the new borders will be made by the local population? Or new imperialisms?

"NC: I wish that were true, but that is not how the world works. Maybe someday, but not yet, not today.

MZ: What do you think of the Hezbollah intervention in Syria?

NC: They are in a very difficult position. If the rebels win in Syria, they become very exposed. That may mean their demise. There is reason behind it, I am not sure this is the right one, you could argue about it, but it is understandable."

Noam Chomsky Interview: Sykes-Picot Is Failing | Al Akhbar English