Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Jordan faces uncertainty as King Hussein turns 57 Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 16:56:27 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Jordan faces uncertainty as King Hussein turns 57 \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT AMMAN, Jordan AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - King Hussein's recovery from cancer surgery has sent his popularity soaring among his people. But it has also been an unsettling reminder of the mortality of the Arab world's longest-serving ruler at a critical time of change. The monarch, who inherited the throne in 1952 at age 17 when his father, Talal, abdicated because of mental illness, turned 57 yesterday at a time when he is striving to steer the Hashemite kingdom into the new world order. In the past 40 years he has survived several assassination attempts and abortive coups and other turbulence that threatened to overwhelm his kingdom. He has held his nation together through wars and political upheaval. Amid the turmoil in the Arab world after the Persian Gulf war, the king is pushing through a program of democratic reforms that he hopes will ensure the Jordan's future. Living without King Hussein at the helm is something that many of Jordan's 3.5 million people would rather not contemplate. "We'd be like a family without a head, and it's terrifying just to think of it," civil engineer Mohammed Karaki said while he and friends sat in an Amman coffeehouse. "He's the thread that holds the Jordanian family together. Truly, there's no one like him." The king's doctors say they excised the cancer in his left ureter, a urinary duct from the kidney to the bladder. A kidney was removed in surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The king, in his first speech since returning from the clinic Sept. 24, said Nov. 5 that starting next month he will need to return to the United States for regular checkups to "confirm that I have, God willing, been cured." Although visitors to the king's hilltop palace in Amman say he seems fit and relaxed, his speech seemed to hint at some doubt about his health. "The life of an enlightened people cannot be measured by the life of an individual," he said. "One recognizes that every living soul will meet its destined end." Many Arabs who heard his emotional speech said it sounded like a farewell message, a notion that Jordanian officials reject. But there are questions about the monarch's health in a country whose fortunes, more than any other Arab state outside the Arabian peninsula, have revolved around a single family, and King Hussein in particular. Modern Jordan has largely been the creation of King Hussein, grandson of the country's first king, Abdullah, who was installed by the British in 1921 to rule over a backward, resource-poor state carved out for him after World War I. The king's health is the prime topic of conversation here. But few are prepared to discuss the subject with reporters. Rami Khouri, a leading columnist for the English-language Jordan Times daily, ran afoul of the royal family when he wrote Sept. 8 while King Hussein was hospitalized: "The medical reality of the last several years . . . cannot and should not be ignored. . . . Is this the moment when King Hussein and Jordan should start contemplating the manner and nature of a transition to a post-Hussein era?" Princess Alia, the king's eldest daughter, took Mr. Khouri to task four days later in a letter published in the Jordan Times. She accused him of suggesting that the king should abdicate. "Would it really be better for Jordan . . . to do without His Majesty before God decrees that this should be the case?" she wrote. Crown Prince Hassan, the king's 45-year-old brother, has been his designated successor since 1965. But many believe the affable scholar lacks the political instincts and skills to rule. And he does not command the loyalty among the armed forces that the king does. King Hussein indicated last year that he had contemplated abdication, but the uncertainty that action would unleash while formidable political and economic challenges face Jordan has apparently prevented him from surrendering the throne. Jordan is only now emerging from the isolation it suffered because of King Hussein's refusal to join the coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1990, perceived by the United States and its allies as support for the Iraqi dictator. The king now feels confident enough to distance himself from Saddam, opening the way for Jordan's return to the international mainstream. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM