Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: AMMAN, JORDAN LENGTH: Medium
Tensions in the region have escalated since last week's defection to Jordan of Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel al-Majid, the head of Iraq's weapons program and a son-in-law of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, along with his wife, another of Saddam's daughters and her husband, and a group of army officers.
Since the defection, there have been unverified reports of a crackdown in Baghdad and of violent friction between Saddam and his in-laws, who have a history of feuds.
In the latest such report, the Iraqi opposition group Patriotic Union of Kurdistan alleged Saddam's son Odai shot and killed Saddam's half-brother, Wathban Ibrahim, his wife and one of their sons on Aug. 8. In Iraq, the Babel newspaper, which is run by Odai, reported last week Wathban had suffered a gunshot wound, but did not name the attacker.
Iraq has not made any threats against Jordan for granting asylum to the defectors, but the unpredictable nature of the Iraqi leader has left Jordan uneasy.
In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry echoed President Clinton's promise to protect Jordan should it face an attack.
The United States has ``a sizable number of Tomahawks (cruise missiles) within range of Iraq,'' Perry said in an interview published Tuesday in the Washington Times.
Perry also said the U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt has been sent toward the Israeli coast, putting its planes with striking distance of Iraq from the West when it arrives in a few days.
In Jordan, a U.S. Embassy official said the two-week military exercises, called ``Infinite Moonlight,'' would begin Friday in the desert region of Wadi Rum.
Nearly 4,000 Jordanian soldiers will take part in the mock warfare exercises with the United States, which involve naval and land combat, Jordanian officials said.
by CNB