Jordan Prince Said To Seek Iraqi Throne

PARIS — Former crown prince Hassan of Jordan is not on the guest list of a high-level meeting between the main Iraqi opposition groups and American officials scheduled for Friday in Washington. Nevertheless, he is bound to loom large as participants grapple with the all-important question of who runs post-Saddam Baghdad. Rumors are rife that the 55-year-old Hassan is angling to become king of Iraq.

Hassan, whose Hashemite family ruled Iraq until his great-uncle Feisal II was overthrown in 1958, caused a stir last month when he unexpectedly appeared at a meeting of Saddam Hussein foes in London. Hassan himself was crown prince of Jordan for 34 years, but was pushed aside when his brother King Hussein named a son, Abdullah, to succeed him.

Although he claimed he had come to London merely to express solidarity, Hassan's name has been bandied around for a series of United Nations postings since he was pushed aside from the Jordanian throne, fueling speculation that he was looking for a "job," if not a crown.

Several observers said some Bush administration officials are indeed rooting for Hassan at a time when Washington is struggling to find a consensus leader to succeed Saddam. After the London meeting, the London-based Guardian newspaper reported that Hassan had the backing of Pentagon hawks and that he met in April in Washington with one of their most prominent figures, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

"There is more to his presence in London than meets the eye," an American expert on Iraq said. "Some people might be thinking that a Hashemite ruler might be a good compromise between the Shi'ite and the Sunni" Muslim factions because the Hashemite family is believed to be descended from both prophet Muhammad and his son-in-law Ali, the latter a seminal figure in the Shi'ite faith.

A well-placed intelligence source told the Forward that "some Defense Department people are pushing for it, but it is totally unrealistic."

A Pentagon spokesman, Lieu-tenant Colonel David Lapan, said the department did not want to comment on the speculation surrounding Hassan, adding that he was not invited to Washington for this week's consultations on the future of Iraq.

Other observers dismissed the Hashemite scenario and said Hassan's intention was to embarrass Abdullah by lending Jordanian support to the American regime-change policy in Iraq. They noted that Hassan's move came just as American press reports said Jordanian bases might be used in an American military operation against Iraq, prompting strong denials from Amman.

After the London meeting, Abdullah blasted his uncle, claiming "he had blundered into something he did not realize he was getting into and we're all picking up the pieces," according to the official Jordanian Petra press agency.

"I believe the king does not want this," the intelligence source said. "He is already preoccupied enough with his own survival."

But others disagreed, arguing that Abdullah's denial of the reports of Jordan's cooperation in military preparations and his criticism of Hassan's presence in London could well be a way for him to stave off the inevitable criticism he would face at home. There, public opinion is already enraged by America's unwavering support of Israel since the outbreak of the intifada. The majority of Jordanian citizens are of Palestinian descent.

Some point to the close relationship between Hassan and Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi as an explanation for his presence in London. After Chalabi was indicted in Jordan for a bank fraud in the 1980s, Hassan helped him get out of jail. Chalabi invited Hassan to London, several sources said.

But Hassan's presence did not go down well with some key Iraqi opposition leaders.

"Jordan said it was a mistake and we have to stick to this explanation," said Hamid al-Bayati, the London representative of the Iran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Shi'ite opposition group. "Iraq has enough candidates to succeed Hussein. We don't need a foreigner and our new constitution will ensure it."

Al-Bayati will attend the August 9 meeting in Washington with Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. Also invited are the two main Kurdish groups, the Iraqi National Accord and the constitutional monarchy movement.

Although they said they want to offer a united stance to the administration, disagreements among the opposition groups are obvious. The Iraqi National Congress, created in 1992 as the main umbrella group and funded by Washington for a decade, has not been able to knit them together.

Interestingly, he's got a contender to the throne, from, I think, his younger cousin who would seem to have a better line of succession. This story is from August 7, Agence France Presse:

Grandson of overthrown Iraqi king appeals Moroccan passport conviction

Prince Adil Mohamed Ibn Faisal, grandson of ex-king Faisal II of Iraq, appeared in a Moroccan court to appeal against his conviction for using false documents, his lawyer said.
The 41-year-old crown prince of Iraq's overthrown Hashemite dynasty was convicted on July 13 for the falsification of a diplomatic passport and two travel visas, and sentenced to four months in prison.
An appeal verdict was expected later on Tuesday.
Prince Adil was arrested on June 26 after entering Morocco five months earlier following a stay in Saudi Arabia.
His lawyer, Abderrahim Jamai, told AFP the prince had been "incarcerated and tortured" in Syria, and persecuted for refusing to cooperate with Iraqi opposition groups in Lebanon, his last country of residence.
Jamai said documents submitted to the court proved that the prince qualified for refugee status and held a valid Guinean diplomatic passport and Lebanese visa.
Prince Adil is arguing that his imprisonment would contravene the international convention on refugees signed by Morocco in 1951, and that his conviction was based on a 1941 law passed while Morocco was still a French protectorate -- and therefore no longer in force.
His lawyer is demanding his acquittal, the return of his papers and his extradition to Guinea if Morocco decides not to grant him political asylum.
The prince's mother, Charifa Fatima, travelled to Morocco from the US where she now lives and was attending the court hearing, Jamai said.
The Iraqi branch of the Hashemite monarchy, established in 1921 with the blessing of Great Britain, was overthrown in July 1958 in a military coup led by General Abdelkarim Kassem. Prince Adil's grandfather King Faisal II was killed.

Moroccans helping to keep him out of the picture???

And from July 11 AFP story:

Prince Adil Mohamed ibn Faisal, grandson of ex-king Faisal II of Iraq and crown prince in the overthrown Hashemite dynasty, has been arrested in Morocco for using false documents, his lawyer said here late Wednesday.
The 41-year-old Iraqi prince, who was arrested on June 26, appeared Wednesday before a court which refused to free him on bail, Abderrahim Jamai told AFP. According to the lawyer Prince Adil, who asked for political asylum in Morocco, had been given refugee status by the UN refugees office (UNHCR). He had an honorary Guinean passport and a valid visa issued in Lebanon, his last place of fixed residence.
The crown prince, who holds a British doctorate in nuclear physics according to Jamai, had been "persecuted" after refusing to cooperate with Iraqi opposition groups while in Lebanon. He came to Morocco on January 11 after a stay in Saudi Arabia.
The Iraqi branch of the Hashemite monarchy, established in 1921 with the blessing of Great Britain, was overthrown in July 1958 by a military coup led by General Abdelkarim Kassem. Prince Adil's grandfather King Faisal II was killed.

Thanks for the bump. There is so much intermarriage, that Feisal II may have been Hassan's great uncle (those Hashemite geneology charts can fry the brain). However, paternally Feisal II was Hassan's second cousin (their grandfathers were brothers).

Furthermore, there is an 'official' heir to the Iraqi throne, Prince Raad bin Zeid, who is the son of Feisal II's heir. That was Zeid bin Hussein, the youngest brother of Feisal I and thus Feisal II's great uncle.

That said, I suspect that there is a royal pecking order for the spoils of Iraq, which starts and stops with Abdullah II. Maybe what will be done post Saddam, is the elimination of the little border between Jordan and Iraq. We shall just have to watch and see.

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Jordan Prince Said To Seek Iraqi Throne

Meets With Wolfowitz