Posted on 07/29/2002 10:09:15 PM PDT by HAL9000
AMMAN, July 29 (AFP) - Jordan's state news agency Monday highlighted King Abdullah II's public rebuke to his uncle, Prince Hassan bin Talal, during an interview with the Times of London, in what amounted to the king's first open criticism of a member of the royal family.Petra reproduced Abdullah's remarks to the Times Monday concerning Hassan's attendence at a London meeting of Iraqi opposition two weeks ago.
"Prince Hassan blundered into something he did not realise he was getting into and were all picking up the pieces," Abdullah told the Times.
Abdullah and his uncle have enjoyed strained relations in the past. The two competed for power in February 1999 when the late King Hussein, on his deathbed, tapped his son Abdullah as his successor over brother Hassan, who had served as crown prince for decades.
Besides making harsh comments about his uncle, Abdullah told the Times he was strongly opposed to any potential US invasion of Iraq.
"In the light of the failure to move the Israeli-Palestinian process forward, military action against Iraq would really open a Pandora's Box," Abdullah said, two days before he travels to see US President George W. Bush at the White House.
Prince Hassan attended a July 12 Iraqi opposition meeting, which Jordan immediately said did not reflect the state's official position towards Iraq.
Hassan's "participation is a personal choice," Information Minister Mohammed Adwan was quoted as saying by Petra on July 13.
For his part, Hassan said he attended the three-day conference on a personal invitation.
Abdullah and Hassan's Hashemite clan ruled in both Jordan and Iraq until a military coup toppled Iraq's royalist regime in 1958.
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