US embassy cable - 04AMMAN6436

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006436 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2014 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, JO, IQ 
SUBJECT: FOUR MORE JORDANIANS REPORTED KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ 
 
REF: AMMAN 6370 
 
Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  (C)  The Jordan-Iraq hostage saga continues, as Jordanian 
officials scrambled to confirm press reports that militants 
kidnapped another four Jordanians in Iraq.  The two men 
abducted on July 26 are not yet free despite their employer's 
acquiescence (at least on the surface) to the kidnappers 
demands.  In an ironic twist, it seems that personal threats 
from family members against the company chief may have played 
a role in the company's decision.  Meanwhile, the Islamic 
Action Front appealed for the hostages' release, although it 
expressed sympathy for the goals of the Iraqi "resistance." 
The GOJ is receptive to our message that giving in to the 
hostage-takers only breeds more kidnappings, but it is under 
significant popular pressure to do whatever it takes to save 
the lives of their citizens.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
GOJ LOOKING INTO REPORTS OF FOUR MORE HOSTAGES 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
2.  (U)  GOJ officials are investigating press reports that 
four more Jordanian citizens were kidnapped in Iraq on July 
28.  MFA official Ali al-Ayed said that the Jordanian Embassy 
in Iraq had been instructed to follow-up on the kidnapping 
claim, and Jordan's charge to Iraq -- in Amman this week -- 
was ordered back to Baghdad to handle the matter.  As yet, 
the identities of the four men -- who were shown on 
al-Arabiya holding up ID cards (although the wording was 
unreadable) -- have not been determined.  Jordanian citizen 
Walid Ahmad Khleifat told a reporter that he believes his 
brother, an independent trucker who left Jordan for Iraq 
earlier in the week to deliver shoes and sewing machines to 
an Iraqi trader, is among those kidnapped.  He said he tried 
to call his brother Mohammad several times on July 28 on his 
cell phone in Iraq, but that an unidentified man with an 
Iraqi accent claimed his brother had been abducted. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
STILL WAITING FOR RELEASE OF TWO TAKEN ON JULY 26 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
3.  (U)  Meanwhile, two Jordanians kidnapped on July 26 have 
not yet been released, despite their employer's announcement 
on July 27 that the company would freeze operations in Iraq 
(ref).  GOJ officials confirmed to Charge on July 29 that the 
company, Daoud and Partners, still intends to continue 
operations in Iraq despite its public announcement, but under 
a different guise (perhaps by changing its name) -- this 
subterfuge, of course, in no way affects the perception that 
kidnappings work, and perception is all that matters in this 
case.  The Islamic Action Front, which has been sympathetic 
to the activities of the militants in Iraq, issued a 
statement that it "appreciates the motives of the Iraqi 
resistance in pressuring the occupation forces, and the firms 
which provide services to these forces, to swiftly leave 
Iraq."  At the same time, it urged the kidnappers to release 
the Jordanians, saying they would be "compensated by God." 
 
4.  (C)  The GOJ tried to distance itself from the company's 
decision (indeed, per ref, it went against the advice of GOJ 
officials).  Minister of Planning Bassam Awadallah, who is 
traveling with King Abdullah, told reporters in Hong Kong 
that, "It's a company decision.  The government has 
absolutely nothing to do with it," adding that the company's 
move would not affect U.S.-Jordanian relations.  "The 
government of Jordan is interested in protecting Jordanian 
lives and the government of Jordan is also interested in 
reconstruction and the stability of Iraq."  However, 
Jordanian officials could have prevented the company's move 
-- but at the political price of seeming indifferent in a 
humanitarian crisis. 
 
---------------------- 
THREATS FROM ALL SIDES 
---------------------- 
 
5.  (U)  Threats against the hostages' employer from the 
families may have played into the company's decision to 
announce a withdrawal from Iraq.  According to press reports, 
male family members who staged a sit-in outside the company's 
Amman office on July 27 threatened to kill Chief Executive 
Rami al-'Uweis if he did not give into the kidnappers 
demands.  Ahmad Salama, father of one of the hostages, told 
reporters: "We will chop off the head of the firm's director 
if he doesn't heed our demands to completely cease his 
operation in Iraq."  Meanwhile, Umar al-Adwan, brother of 
other hostage, said: "We told the firm's executive director, 
Rami al-'Uweis that if he does not comply with the 
kidnappers' demands today, his company and the lives of his 
employees will not be spared."  Al-'Uweis later that day held 
a press conference announcing his company would freeze 
activities in Jordan.  The family members immediately 
expressed their gratitude, and Umar al-Adwan retracted his 
threat with an apology, saying he had spoken "in a moment of 
rage," according to press reports. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
6.  (C)  The GOJ is receptive to our repeated message that 
giving into the hostage-takers' demands will only breed more 
abductions -- both Charge and ORCA reinforced this message 
with GID Chief Sa'ad Kheir and FonMin Muasher on August 29 -- 
and insists it has counseled the company and family members 
with the same message.  However, as exemplified by the 
emotional (and ironic) violent threats against the employer, 
the pressure from the families is great.  Many ordinary 
Jordanians do not believe that a strong stand against 
terrorism is worth dying for, particularly for what they 
perceive is a U.S.-instigated crisis in Iraq. 
 
7.  (U)  Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET 
home page. 
HALE