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Jordan Crisis and Realignment
The United States replaced Britain as Jordan's principal source
of foreign aid, but it did so without a bilateral treaty or other
formal alliance mechanisms. In April 1957, the White House
officially noted that President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles regarded "the independence and
integrity of Jordan as vital." Although Hussein did not
specifically request aid under the Eisenhower Doctrine--by which
the United States pledged military and economic aid to any country
asking for help in resisting communist influence--he did state
publicly that Jordan's security was threatened by communism. Within
twenty-four hours of Hussein's request for economic assistance,
Jordan received an emergency financial aid grant of US$10 million
from the United States--the first of a long series of United States
grants. Washington expanded existing development aid programs and
initiated military aid.
In seeking a viable, long-term arrangement for political
stability in the face of the hostile, Nasser-style revolutionary
nationalism then prevalent in the Middle East, Jordan turned to
neighboring Iraq. Iraq, far larger and more populous than Jordan,
was also far wealthier because of its oil and other resources. Iraq
had usually supported Jordan in Arab councils, although without
deep involvement, since the 1948 war. Its conservative government
had taken Iraq into the Baghdad Pact in 1955 to ensure continued
Western support against the Soviet Union or, more particularly,
against radical Arab movements.
On February 1, 1958, Egypt and Syria announced the integration
of their two countries to form the United Arab Republic (UAR). This
development was greeted with great enthusiasm by the new
nationalist advocates of Arab unity, but it made the position of
conservative or moderate regimes more perilous. The initial phase
of Jordanian-Iraqi negotiation was quickly concluded, and on
February 14, 1958, Hussein and his cousin, King Faisal II, issued
a proclamation joining the Hashimite kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan in
a federation called the Arab Union. Faisal was to be head of state
and Hussein deputy head of state.
The Arab Union, however, was short-lived. The Hashimite
monarchy in Iraq was overthrown on July 14, 1958, in a swift,
predawn coup executed by officers of the Nineteenth Brigade under
the leadership of Brigadier Abd al Karim Qasim and Colonel Abd as
Salaam Arif. The coup was triggered when King Hussein, fearing that
an anti-Western revolt in Lebanon might spread to Jordan, requested
Iraqi assistance. Instead of moving toward Jordan, Colonel Arif led
a battalion into Baghdad and immediately proclaimed a new republic
and the end of the old regime. An Iraqi motorized brigade under the
command of Brigadier Qasim seized control of Baghdad. King Faisal
and other members of the Iraqi royal family were murdered. Hussein,
enraged and overcome by shock and grief, threatened to send the
Jordanian army into Iraq to avenge Faisal's murder and restore the
Arab Union. His civilian ministers, however, advised against taking
this course. In Iraq the army and police supported the coup, and
Qasim became president-dictator, taking Iraq out of the Arab Union
and the Baghdad Pact.
Jordan was isolated as never before. Hussein appealed both to
the United States and to Britain for help. The United States
instituted an airlift of petroleum, and Britain flew troops into
Amman to stabilize the regime. Ironically, these aircraft overflew
Israel, because clearances for alternate routes over Arab countries
could not be obtained in time. These events in Iraq and Jordan
coincided with the landing of United States troops in Lebanon to
bolster the regime there.
For some weeks, the political atmosphere in Jordan was
explosive, but the government kept order through limited martial
law. The army continued its unquestioning loyalty to the king, and
the Israeli frontier remained quiet.
The ensuing two-year period of relative tranquility was broken
in August 1960 when the pro-Western prime minister, Hazza al Majali
who had been reappointed in May 1959, was killed by the explosion
of a time bomb concealed in his desk. Analysts speculated that the
conspirators expected the killing to generate a public uprising. It
had precisely the opposite effect; beduin troops who moved into
Amman maintained order, and Hussein appointed a new conservative
prime minister, Bahjat at Talhuni. The plot was traced to Syria and
further identified with Cairo. Four suspects were caught,
convicted, and hanged, and the army made a show of force. In June
1961, Talhuni was replaced by Wasfi at Tal to improve relations
with Egypt, after Cairo implicated Amman for influencing Damascus's
decision to secede from the United Arab Republic.
Data as of December 1989
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