REPORTING TRIP TO SOUTHERN JORDANIAN TOWN DRAWS

S E C R E T AMMAN 000896

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2019
TAGS: PREL ASEC KISL JO
SUBJECT: REPORTING TRIP TO SOUTHERN JORDANIAN TOWN DRAWS
CRITICISM IN ONLINE PRESS

REF: AMMAN 858

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (
d).


1. (S/NF) Summary: A routine Embassy meeting with the mayor
of a remote town in southern Jordan has attracted negative
media attention. One Islamist commentator characterized the
visit as a violation of Jordanian sovereignty and has called
for the Ambassador to be convoked. The reaction, while
limited so far to online media, contains echoes of a security
incident from 2007 which resulted in the departure of the
Deputy Political Counselor. End Summary.

Visit to Ma'an
--------------


2. (S) On April 2, Poloff and Political Specialist visited
the rural, tribal city of Ma'an and met with Mayor Khaled
Al-Khattab (reftel). Throughout the meeting, city council
members, a member of parliament, tribal sheikhs, and the head
of the local chamber of commerce entered the room to chat,
drink coffee, and smoke. The visitors also freely joined in
the conversation. Near the end of the meeting, the
discussion turned to standard questions about U.S. policy,
including the Israel-Palestinian peace process, Jordan, and
Iraq.


3. (S/NF) Also present throughout the discussion was a
representative from the General Intelligence Directorate
(GID),introduced at the top of the meeting as the mayor's
"brother." He took copious notes without trying to disguise
what he was doing. After the meeting, Poloff and Polspec had
a brief, chance encounter with a local journalist in the hall
of the municipality building. The journalist introduced
himself as the editor of a small circulation weekly paper in
Ma'an and solicited basic information about the purpose of
the visit.

Media Reaction
--------------


4. (SBU) Later the same day, a two-paragraph item about the
visit appeared on a popular internet news site, Rum Online.
The article, attributed to "Rum's correspondent in Ma'an,"
was mostly factual, but ended with speculation that "the
visit was to inquire about political developments in Ma'an
and Islamic movements."


5. (SBU) A second, more detailed article appeared April 13
on the online news site Zad Al-Urdun. The article featured
extensive commentary by prominent Islamist lawyer and former
Bar Association head Saleh Armouti, who called the visit
"suspicious" and "a violation of Jordanian sovereignty."
Armouti said that "diplomatic norms" required prior
permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "ensure
that such visits only serve the national good, along with
economic and investment purposes." According to the story,
Armouti asked Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh to summon the
Ambassador for an explanation of the trip. The end of the
article cited Ma'an's mayor as downplaying "the importance of
the visit" and stressing that it "did not violate diplomatic
norms." Emphasizing the positive, Khattab is quoted as
saying that "during the conversation, the issue of the
attractive (sic) investment in Ma'an was discussed and that
the visiting delegation took notes."

Comment
--------------


6. (S/NF) While it is not clear what drew the Zad Al-Urdun
commentary more than ten days after the actual trip, its
shrill tone makes clear that the visit raised the hackles of
some here in Jordan. The reaction contains echoes of a
September 2007 incident in which the Deputy PolChief met with
Muslim imams in Zarqa, Jordan's second largest city, to talk
about Islamist influence there. Following those meetings,
GID officials alerted the Embassy to a specific,
non-counterable threat which quickly resulted in his
evacuation from the country, but was later suspected to be a
planned GID response to dampen Embassy reporting on sensitive
domestic issues. In light of this recent parallel incident,
the Ambassador will raise concerns about the article with
senior Jordanian officials.
Brown