Americans in Jordan: The Goal Is Syria

We are used to Jordan sending special military units into conflict-ridden areas in the Arab world to participate in hostilities because they possess a high degree of competency in this area. What this means is that Jordan does not need to import American power to help counter the flow of Syrian refugees. As the New York Times newspaper disclosed in its Wednesday edition, this issue raises many questions.

Jordanian forces played a big role in the storming of Tripoli and the Azizia Barracks, the main headquarters of Colonel Gadhafi — just as they participated, probably unilaterally, in the storming of Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain, dispersing protesters by force. There are also reports that Jordanian forces fought alongside their Saudi counterparts to stop the advance of the Houthi forces within Saudi Arabia and to prevent any further attacks.

Therefore, to say that American forces positioned close to the Syrian border are there to help Jordan counter the flow of Syrian refugees would not trick even the most naive of fools. Jordan possesses deeper experience in confronting refugees than any other country. Its history is abundant with examples of receiving waves of refugees fleeing from wars or immigrants forced out of neighboring countries. At first they were Palestinian refugees. With time came the Iraqis and, finally, the Syrians. So we do not think that an American soldier coming from Chicago or the Nevada desert can lecture Jordanians on a specialty that they have mastered.

The mission of the forces is unclear. Perhaps it is an end in and of itself, or perhaps it is a prelude to a larger number of American soldiers who will flock to Jordan later. This would pave the way for military intervention in the Syrian crisis under various pretexts. Among these pretexts would be controlling Syria’s chemical weapons and preventing them from falling into the hands of terrorist organizations.

Four months ago, Jordan hosted exercises named “The Prepared Assad” close to the southern Syrian border in coordination with 17 countries, the foremost being the United States. The exercises were conducted under the title “Protecting Syrian Chemical Weapons,” in the case of the collapse of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and the development of a security vacuum or other conflicts within the country.

American forces are currently located just 55 kilometers from the Syrian border, and they will provide non-combat assistance to the armed Syrian resistance. Additionally, American special forces are stationed on Turkish land; they include members of the Central Intelligence Agency, their stated mission being the supervision of the spread of weapons to groups fighting against the regime from within Syria. The goal is to prevent these weapons from falling into the hands of extremist Islamist groups like al-Qaida.

America’s intervention in the current military conflict has been gradual; it has been an advocate for the development and expansion of the conflict over the course of days, months and perhaps even years. This does not just concern the collapse of the regime; it also applies to the time period that will follow once American officials and their Arab allies conclude that the regime has indeed been toppled.

In the case of the regime’s collapse, jihadi brigades composed of thousands of fighters will be present in Syria. They came from all over the world to fight against a regime that they consider, according to their words, to be atheist and illegitimate. And once they complete their mission, they will be classified as terrorists who must be eliminated, either by means of murder or the opening of new prison camps, like Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, to hold them.

Perhaps some will accuse us of exaggerating; this would not be the first accusation of its type. But our response is simple, and we can summarize it by saying that British Intelligence arrested two Muslims coming from Syria at Heathrow airport on Wednesday. They were charged with involvement in terrorist activities. It is expected that all of the British Muslims who take to heart the call for jihad in Syria will encounter the same fate as these two Muslims in the airport.

In other words, while they fight in a country that the West believes to be in need of a regime change, they are freedom fighters. But as soon as they accomplish their mission and leave the battlefields peacefully, they are transformed into terrorists who must be expelled, imprisoned or even killed. In this respect, the United States sent 20 drones and opened a new military base in Libya in order to expel jihadi elements that had helped to topple the Gadhafi regime. America also labeled them as the killers of the American ambassador and the three other diplomats who died during the storming of the American consulate in Benghazi. We are not ruling out a repeat of the same scenario in Syria.

Jordan is slowly sinking into a burning pit of Syrian quicksand; it is likely to pay an expensive price for its involvement. This will be especially true if a sectarian war breaks out in the region, which could develop into a third world war. Americans generally pull out of conflict areas if their financial and human losses become too grave; they consequently leave their local allies to pay the price, at the expense of their security and stability. Just ask Hamid Karzai, and before him Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmad Chalabi, Iyad Allawi and Pachachi in Iraq. We must not forget Vietnam, which should also be mentioned in this quickly compiled list.

We realize that a large amount of financial aid is currently flowing into Jordan from America and its allies in the Gulf countries in order to balance the deficits in its budget. This can be considered a reward for hosting troops both now and in the future. But we are speaking here about security and human losses, as well as strategic and regional changes that usually occur in the stages after wars end. These are like unintended symptoms, some of which can be fatal and have no cure.

Our fathers the farmers taught us that the appearance of the white wagtail bird in the fields indicates that the olives have matured and fall has begun. In the same sense, the successive American invasions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have taught us that the arrival of American troops in any area means the beginning of a long, destructive war. We apologize to the beautiful white wagtail bird for including it in this comparison.