Making Friends with the Octopus: Jordan Bows to Iran

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
15 December '10
Posted before Shabbat

Here’s an old joke that applies to the contemporary Middle East. The Lone Ranger was a Western lawman who chased bad guys with his friend, a Native American named Tonto. One day, they were surrounded by dozens of Native American warriors.

The Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and said, “Don’t worry! We can fight them off.”

Tonto replied, “What do you mean `we,’ Paleface?”

Or, in other words, if your friend decides he can’t rely on you to get him out of a jam he can always change sides.

Which brings us to Jordan. Let me begin by telling a story I’ve never recounted before. The year is 1990, after Iraq has invaded and seized Kuwait. I’m sitting in a meeting with some high-ranking Jordanian military officers and officials (don’t ask, it’s a long story).

Someone asks what they would do if Iraq’s army appeared on Jordan’s border and Saddam Hussein asked safe passage to attack Israel. Before responding, the highest-ranking Jordanian there leaned over to the man sitting next to him and whispered in Arabic, “Of course, we’d fight them!”

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