King Abdullah threatened as Jordanian anger over the war intensifies (Justin Huggler, The Independent, 3/26/03):
King Abdullah is walking a tightrope. For years his small kingdom, trapped between Iraq and Israel, Syria and Saudi Arabia, mostly desert with few natural resources, has thrived on its status as an American ally. But now he is under intense pressure from the United States to assist its invasion of Iraq. And equally intense pressure from his people to oppose it.
The fury all around the Arab world at the war in Iraq is seething here too. Jordanians at yesterday's protest were calling for the American and British embassies to be closed, and for the Jordanian government to open the border with Iraq so they could go and fight alongside the Iraqis against the invading Americans.