US embassy cable - 03AMMAN1356

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 001356 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2013 
TAGS: PREL, ASEC, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: IAF URGES CITIZENS NOT TO COOPERATE WITH US TROOPS 
 
 
Classified By: Acting DCM Doug Silliman for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
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IAF SUPPORTS BOYCOTT AGAINST US TROOPS 
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1. (U) The Islamic Action Front (IAF) issued a 
statement--published in the Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece 
Al-Sabil on March 4--urging Jordanians to boycott US 
soldiers.    The statement called on Jordanians to refuse 
leasing land, housing, or cars, and not to provide US 
soldiers with food or services.  "Following the government's 
explicit announcement on the presence of hundreds of US 
soldiers in the country...it has become necessary not to 
offer any services to those soldiers since they are part of 
the US-British buildup, which announces day and night its 
intention to invade Iraq." 
 
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LOW LEVEL GOVERNMENT RESPONSE 
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2. (U) An unnamed source from the government responded 
quickly in several newspapers that the GOJ disapproved of the 
IAF statement and emphasized that the US troops in Jordan 
were there only to train Jordanian forces on operating the 
Patriot missile batteries, not to participate in any Iraqi 
conflict.  Hamza Mansour, Secretary General of the IAF, 
responded to the government's statements by telling the 
press, "we are concerned with keeping the country's soil and 
airspace free from any foreign military presence targeting 
Arab countries."  So far, there has been no apparent response 
from Jordan's business community to the IAF's call and we 
have heard of no vendors adhering to it. 
 
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COMMENT 
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3. (C) We continue to expect the IAF to try to take advantage 
of popular strong anti-war sentiments.  This particular 
action is unlikely to generate a wide-spread response.  On 
the heels of the largely unsuccessful boycott calls last 
spring in response to the Israeli incursion in Jenin, 
however, we might expect similar calls for boycotts of 
American goods and services in the event of a conflict in 
Iraq. 
GNEHM