HALTING THE FLOW OF FOREIGN INSURGENTS AND

S E C R E T AMMAN 005992 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2015 TAGS: PREL PTER JO SUBJECT: HALTING THE FLOW OF FOREIGN INSURGENTS AND TERRORISTS TO IRAQ REF: STATE 136754 Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (S) Acting DCM drew from reftel points July 27 in a meeting with Walid Obeidat, director of the Foreign Minister's private office. Obeidat noted that Jordan agreed that foreigners in Iraq contributed to the violence there out of proportion to their numbers. Jordan sees the "foreign fighter" phenomenon as a danger not only to Iraq, but in the longer term, potentially to Jordan itself. Jordanian security services make it a priority to monitor Jordanians who might be tempted to go to Iraq to join the insurgency, he said, and to head them off when possible. They also try to intercept young male travelers to Iraq or Syria who do not appear to have legitimate business there. ¶2. (S) Obediat pointed to some of the GOJ's efforts to delegitimize the supposed religious credentials of terrorism, including the Amman message of November, 2004, the Amman Islamic conference of July 4-5, 2005, and follow-up statements by the clerics attending that conference denouncing terrorism. He said Jordan would continue this and other informational efforts to undermine the appeal of both the Iraq insurgency and terrorism more broadly. He also undertook to relay to FM Qasrawi and the Jordanian security services our request that the GOJ review its efforts to deter and intercept young men who might be headed for the Iraq insurgency. HALE