News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMinewar-on-terrormideast-misc — Viewing Item


Jordanian spy agency replaces mossad as key ally

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/644451.html

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/644451.html

Last update - 13:26 12/11/2005
Report: Jordanian spy agency replaces Mossad as key CIA ally
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Jordan's General Intelligence Directorate has become the CIA's most important and effective counter-terrorism ally in the Middle East, a standing once held by the Mossad, the Los Angeles Times reported in its Friday editions.

The newspaper reported that Jordan and the U.S. have cooperated in the interrogation of suspected terrorists, the methods of which have been subject to widespread media criticism due to the alleged use of torture.

The report added that the GID's ties with the CIA have grown intimately closer since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.


"Jordan is at the top of our list of foreign partners," said Michael Scheuer, who resigned from the CIA and who recently led a unit responsible for tracking Osama bin Laden.

"We have similar agendas, and they are willing to help any way they can," he told the Times.

Scheuer and others interviewed in the story said that the GID is as qualified and professional as the Mossad despite the latter's reputation as the CIA's closest ally in the region. The GID even enjoys an advantage over the Mossad, seeing as Jordan, an Arab nation, is more effective in operating against predominantly Arab militant organizations.

"The GID ... has a wider reach [in the Middle East] than the Mossad," Scheuer said.

The Times also reported that in addition to the CIA's funding of a significant portion of the Hashemite Kingdom's intelligence budget, the agency runs technologically-trained intelligence officers in GID headquarters in Amman.

Jordan is also a partner to the controversial American policy of "extraordinary renditions," the extradition of terror suspects from U.S. custody to foreign intelligence agencies.

The CIA transfers the suspects to Jordan, where they are covertly interrogated by local intelligence to the point where they are "softened up" before being returned to American custody.

The policy has elicited fierce criticism from international media and human rights organizations who accuse the U.S. of employing the method in order to carry out secret interrogations and conceal the use of torture against suspected terrorists, a practice which American courts have outlawed.

Attorneys representing two terror suspects from Yemen claimed that their clients, who were arrested in Pakistan and Afghanistan, were subsequently flown to Jordan, where GID agents took them into custody, interrogated them, and used torture before turning them over to American intelligence officials.

Jordan receives annual military and economic aid from the U.S. totalling $450 million. Analysts believe the sum does not include the U.S. financing of Jordanian intelligence.


egypt
history
jordan-blast-nov-2005
lebanon
libya
sudan-98
sudan-genocide
Americans shot near kuwait { January 21 2003 }
Arabs calls for weapons ban { April 16 2003 }
Assad arabs unite
Book details americans role in fundamental islam
Central asian countries drop troop withdrawal deadline { July 26 2005 }
Diplomats leave israel jordan
Explosives ship seized by greece
Gulf japan { May 6 2002 }
Jordanian spy agency replaces mossad as key ally
London theater to stage gaddafi opera { May 4 2006 }
Mideast armageddon { August 16 2002 }
Move air operations to qatar { April 28 2003 }
No democracy kuwait { February 27 2003 }
Only jewish state wmd { May 3 2003 }
Open hell gates
Peace comes to war torn south sudan { January 10 2005 }
Protesters siege Kyrgyzstan capital
Qatar relationship strained { December 22 2002 }
Sex trafficking plagues turkey from former soviet states { February 1 2006 }
Sharon bush identical { February 9 2003 }
Sudanese stage rally to execute brit teacher { October 2007 }
Syria relations { June 20 2002 }
Troops arriving in jordan for excercises { August 13 2002 }
Turkey US rift after speaker armenian bill { September 2007 }
Us staff leave israel { February 11 2003 }
Uzbekistan arrests blast suspects
Uzbekistan fighting continues
Uzkenistan attacks organized by international terrorists { April 2 2004 }
Uzkenistan tortures ignored with new ally { May 26 2003 }
Yemen attempts to rein in outlaw tribes { January 24 2006 }
Yemen tribesmen { December 28 1998 }
Yemeni gunman kills 3 at oil rig { March 19 2003 }

Files Listed: 32



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple