Article: Gadhafi forces battle rebels as 37 killed in Libya

Date: 3/4/11

Time: 5:15 p.m.

I am not worried about Libya, as Gadhafi is finished. It is just a matter of time. I expect more defections from his military and security forces, and I wish the opposition would approach those people and offer them an amnesty if they abandon Gadhafi and side with the people. I am more interested in the monarchies, particularly in Jordan, and I am thrilled to see people demonstrating in Amman, Jordan, demanding a constitutional monarchy, just like I had advocated on my platform when I ran for Jordanian parliament in District 3, Amman, Jordan, in 1997. The monarchy had been a dictatorship, and examples of such follow.

When I returned in 1959 or ’60 from Saudi Arabia, as I was a teacher, when I arrived at the Airport in Amman, I was arrested by the Intelligence agency, because my name was similar to that of someone else’s. When I protested, he said, “don’t you see the prime minister in Turkey was arrested by the police?” which was a ridiculous reason, and every time I returned from overseas, I would find my name in the airport, to go and be interviewed by an intelligence officer. Thank God I had an American passport to protect me. After I returned from appearing on “Opposing Views” on Al Jazeera, on March 21, 2001, I was asked to go and meet with another intelligence officer. When I ran for the Parliament in the city of Zerka, the second largest city in Jordan, in 1993, I distributed my platform before I registered to run for office. One day, the chief intelligence officer of Zerka called me after I was accepted as a candidate, as they objected to having a person with an American and Jordanian passport. The chief intelligence officer told me he was happy someone such as myself, who is an Educated intellectual from outside, would run for parliament, and advised me on how to get votes. I thanked him, and he revealed to me he was the one who told the Zerka governor to allow me to register for the election, as the governor was objecting very strongly against it. It is shocking that the same chief intelligence officer called me the following day and told me quite frankly that I was not going to make it. When I tried to question why he changed his mind, I figured that an order came from the royal court to stop me, but to be nice to me, he asked me how much money I was going to spend, and said if I just wanted to be recognized and spend a little money it was okay. Unfortunately I tried to prove him wrong, and I spent $50,000 out of my own pocket, and when the election came, I had little votes. The second time, when I ran in 1997, my platform was very popular, in the fact that I asked for a constitutional monarchy and that the prime minister should not be appointed by the king, but by the parliament. For those young people who did not live in the ‘50’s, a checkpoint was between Amman and Zerka, and all taxis, busses, etc, were searched. Whoever reads this letter, please convey to the Jordanians, it is time to be united, for Liberty, Justice, Freedom, and Democracy, and the era of dividing among the Jordanians, such as true Jordanians and Palestinians, should be over. The government encourages such acts, such as divide and conquer, but this should not be. I could write a book about my experiences with the intelligence agency and the government of Jordan, who are totally negative. I hope the time is not far away, when the Jordanian people have a free election, and the king is just a figurehead, such as in Great Britain. The king should know very well about this great democracy in England, as his mother was a British citizen. Why he doesn’t want to be respected and liked, to be a symbol for the country, I do not understand.