MIDDLE EAST: Jordan has said it was willing to send troops to Iraq, becoming the first Arab state to do so, if Baghdad's new interim government requested it.
King Abdullah, whose country would also be the first of Iraq's neighbours to send troops, was speaking in a television interview with the BBC Newsnight programme on Thursday night. He said he had not yet discussed the issue with the Iraqis.
King Abdullah's comments reflect a major shift in his country's views on the international military presence in Iraq now that Washington has handed power to Prime Minister Mr Iyad Allawi's interim government. "My position has been beforehand not to send troops ... because of Jordanian history with Iraq," he said.
"I felt that all countries that surround Iraq have their own agendas, so maybe we're not the right people to go in for the job."
King Abdullah added: "However, now there's an interim government and, we hope, a fully independent process very soon in Iraq."