Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 16 - 22 November 2000 Issue No.508
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Jordanian general dropped

By Sameeh Battikhi

Jordanians were taken by surprise by the announcement last week that Jordan's King Abdullah had accepted the retirement of the influential head of the General Intelligence Department (GID), General Sameeh Battikhi, who had been in his post since 1996 and was one of the closest men to late King Hussein. He is believed to have played a crucial role in backing the late King's last-minute decision to appoint his son, Abdullah, as crown prince instead of his brother Hassan, who had held the post for more than 30 years.

In a letter thanking him for many years of service, King Abdullah asked the former GID director-general to focus henceforth on his duties in his capacity as adviser on military affairs, reportedly an honourary post which has no influence on real decision-making.

The deteriorating relations between the current Prime Minister Ali Abul-Ragheb, appointed only a few months ago, and Battikhi was behind the sudden removal of the general. Battikhi had no role in picking new ministers, or reshaping the cabinet, which he used to do under the two former prime ministers Abdel-Raouf Rawabdeh and Fayez Al-Tarawneh.

Moreover, Abul-Ragheb expressed several times his belief that the role of the GID, or Mukhabarat, should be confined to security issues.

The recent clashes between police and opposition parties demonstrating in support of Palestinians, which took place while the King and Abul-Ragheb were in Washington, and the use of tear gas and violence by the riot police, was attributed to the Mukhabarat.

Moreover, informed sources said that Abul-Ragheb had earlier complained to the king himself when Battikhi tried to cancel the reappointment of Mustafa Hamaraneh as director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Jordan University a month ago.

The centre was the first to touch upon politically correct surveys on such subjects as relations between Palestinians and Jordanians, Jordanian perspectives on the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty, and several unpopular security measures.

Battikhi contacted the president of Jordan's university to protest the polls carried out by the centre, an act which was reported to the king verbatim and led the king to support Abul-Ragheb in his power struggle with Battikhi.

"Abul-Ragheb learnt early enough that if he wants to survive he should have total monopoly of the king's ear the way former premier Rawabdeh did with the dismissal of Abdel-Karim Kabariti as chief of the Royal Court," commented a political observer.

It was very indicative that Abul-Ragheb got a green light from the king to have Battikhi out, just a few minutes before the end of working hours, on Thursday.

The prime minister summoned the cabinet for an extraordinary session last week and asked them to sign the decision announcing Battikhi's retirement. He later went directly to the king and had him sign it too. King Abdullah appointed Sa'ad Kheir, a intelligence officer, as the new director.

Since he ascended the throne 20 months ago, King Abdullah introduced changes in the security authorities and the military. He appointed a new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and a new head of the public security department, and retired several senior officers.

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