WASHINGTON, May 16: Iraq is closer to civil war today than it was a year ago, Jordan's King Abdullah said on Sunday. "It's more likely today than it was a year ago," Abdullah told American television network ABC's "This Week with George Stephan opoulos."
An Iraq interim government should move quickly to give the Iraqi people a sense they have a future to prevent a descent into chaos that would destabilize the entire Middle East, the Jordanian king said.
"If we see a disintegration of Iraq, if we see, God forsake, the worst scenario, civil war, then the whole region will be dragged into Iraq," he said. He said instability would likely escalate in the run-up to a planned June 30 hand-over to the interim government.
"We had a slight glimpse of the civil war in Lebanon several decades ago (but) this would be completely different," he said. "This would pull in countries from all over the region."
It is also important for Iraqi stability to identify members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party who should be barred from public office, he said. "What we're saying is identify once and for all who are the people who are persona non grata," he said.
Many Iraqis joined the Baath Party to secure jobs and feed their families, but US officials have said about 15,000 to 30,000 Baath Party die-hards should be banned from public service jobs in the new Iraq through stringent screening.
Abdullah said the most crucial job in the new Iraqi administration will be that of the prime minister. The president's role would be more symbolic, he added. Candidates for the prime minister's job should have been in Iraq during Saddam's rule, he said.
"I would imagine it would be someone from the inside, as opposed to somebody that came into Iraq once the Saddam regime fell," he said, "and somebody who's, you know, is a pretty tough individual, because you're going to need a powerhouse ... to be able to bring stability and calm to the Iraqi streets."
A long-time friend of the United States, Jordan would not contribute troops to a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq, the Jordanian king said. "No, it's not that we don't want to play a part in sharing responsibility, but my own personal belief that we in Jordan, as a country that has a border with Iraq, as do other countries - four or five other countries that do - I think we all have personal agendas," he said. -Reuters
