Jordan Oddly Unenthusiastic About Hosting Obama’s Terrorist Training Camps

July 19, 2014 by Daniel Greenfield 2 Comments

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

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Hussein & Hussein

I don’t know what’s wrong. Maybe it’s the fact that Jordan’s king is barely clinging to power. It might be the threats from ISIS to overrun Jordan and kill the king. But King Hussein (the other one) seems unenthusiastic about King Hussein’s plan to train terrorists in his country.

 Jordan, where the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has been covertly training Syrian rebels for more than a year, is reluctant to host an expanded rebel instruction program, U.S. officials said.
Jordan’s reticence, confirmed by four U.S. officials, is a potentially serious setback for President Barack Obama’s proposed $500 million initiative, announced in June, to train and arm moderate rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and al Qaeda-linked groups.

So currently the only ones enthusiastic about the plan are Obama and the terrorists. And the moderate terrorists could take it or leave it.

It could signal a larger challenge in finding suitable nations willing to host the U.S.-led training at a time of heightened tensions across much of the Middle East.

Obama could try training them in Israel. I’m sure that would work out well. Or Iraq. Or Iran. Liberals keep talking about how we need to ally with Iran.

While U.S. officials have not made a formal request to the Jordanian government, the country was widely considered a top choice to host the training due its close security relationship with Washington, proximity to neighboring Syria and pool of more than 600,000 Syrian refugees.

Whom the Jordanians would like to get rid of, not arm with heavy weapons.

“Jordan told the U.S., ‘No boots on the ground’,” said one of the officials, who all requested anonymity because they were discussing sensitive U.S. military arrangements.

That’s okay. The terrorists will just wear sneakers. That’s how Obama did it in Libya and it worked out fine.