July 17th Lectures

After a brief discussion of colloquial Arabic, we had lectures from several experts in the areas of Human Rights in Jordan, Iraq, and environmental issues. We began with a presentation by H.E. Shaher Bak on Human Rights. He served 46 years in the Jordanian government including ambassador to Spain. He is now director of the National Centre of Human Rights http://www.nchr.org.jo/ They serve as sort of an ombudsman and auditor of human rights for Jordan. They receive complaints, investigate, and lobby for change. They have taken positions to raise civil rights, political rights, economic, social, and cultural rights. A person can be arrested on the suspicion that they might commit a crime. They are trying to outlaw the use of torture. When I asked if press reports about the use of Jordan for rendition of suspected terrorists from the United States were accurate, he said that they had heard the reports, but they have been unable to verify or deny them.

Dr. Nawal El Tell made a most interesting presentation about the Impact of Iraq War on Jordan. Iraq and Jordan developed a state of interdependency which had helped the economy of both countries. Jordan received Iraqi oil since it does not have any. Iraq was Jordan's most reliable ally in the region since both had Suni leadership and Iraq was a counter to Iran. It is important to Jordan that a united sovereign Iraq comes out of the current situation. It needs to be moderate and tolerant of both shiia and sunni factions. There are estimated to be about 1 million Iraqis in Jordan. They are mostly those with money. They have impacted real estate prices in Jordan by doubling them in the last three years. There are security concerns for Jordan, and they are not allowing Iraqis between the ages of 18-35.
The Arab system collapsed after Kuwait invasion and is very weak. Syria is weak militarily. This has allowed Iran to interfere. The elections in Iraq actually split people rather than unified them. To stabilize Iraq ten times the number of troops are needed. After the decision to invade, the biggest mistake was to disband the Iraqi army. The army was integrated with both Shiia and Sunis. The structure of the army had them working together and unifying the country.
Surveys of Jordan people indicate that most people believe that cause of the war was first Israel and second oil. http://www.css-jordan.org/

Yehya Khalid gave us an overview of environmental issues in Jordan. Jordan is kind of a melting pot of species from three continents. The Rift Valley is a major bird migratory route. The overwhelming environmental issue for Jordan is water. It is in the top ten poorest countries in terms of water. There is a plan to create a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea which environmentalist seem to be very skeptical of its wisdom. There are many conflicts on the use of the Jordan River between Israel and Jordan. It sounds similar to the U.S.-Mexico disputes over the Rio Grande.
In December, they will create an environmental police force which is something that has been contemplated in Texas.