Jordan and America: An Enduring Friendship

by Bruce Riedel

A telling history of one of the most important relationships in the Middle East

This is the first book to tell the remarkable story of the relationship between Jordan and the United States and how their leaders have navigated the dangerous waters of the most volatile region in the world.

Jordan has been an important ally of the United States for more than seventy years, thanks largely to two members of the Hashemite family: King Hussein, who came to power at the age of 17 in 1952 and governed for nearly a half-century, and his son, King Abdallah, who inherited the throne in 1999. Both survived numerous assassination attempts, wars, and plots by their many enemies in the region. Both ruled with a firm hand but without engaging in the dictatorial extremes so common to the region.

American presidents from Eisenhower to Biden have worked closely with the two Hashemite kings to maintain peace and stability in the region—when possible. The relationship often has been rocky, punctuated by numerous crises, but in the end, it has endured and thrived.

Genres: Middle East

234 pages, Hardcover

First published September 21, 2021

About the author

Bruce Riedel is a senior fellow and director of the Brookings Intelligence Project, part of the Brookings Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. In addition, Riedel serves as a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy. He retired in 2006 after 30 years of service at the Central Intelligence Agency, including postings overseas. He was a senior advisor on South Asia and the Middle East to the last four presidents of the United States in the staff of the National Security Council at the White House. He was also deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Near East and South Asia at the Pentagon and a senior advisor at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels.

Riedel was a member of President Bill Clinton’s peace process team and negotiated at Camp David and other Arab-Israeli summits and he organized Clinton’s trip to India in 2000. In January 2009, President Barack Obama asked him to chair a review of American policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan, the results of which the president announced in a speech on March 27, 2009.

In 2011, Riedel served as an expert advisor to the prosecution of al Qaeda terrorist Omar Farooq Abdulmutallab in Detroit. In December 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron asked him to brief the United Kingdom’s National Security Council in London on Pakistan.

Riedel is a graduate of Brown (B.A.), Harvard (M.A.), and the Royal College of Defense Studies in London. He has taught at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies, and he has been a guest lecturer at Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, and other universities. Riedel is a recipient of the Intelligence Medal of Merit and the Distinguished Intelligence Career Medal.

Reviews

[Nick Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Riedel does it again. This is the 6th book of his that I have read and once again, I cannot comprehend how he can pack so much information and analysis in so few pages. Every sentence, every paragraph, I learn something new and interesting, yet his books never feel dense. Mr Riedel has a gift for explaining extremely complex historical events in an accessible way and most importantly, for demonstrating why these events matter. Every one of his books is a fantastic lesson on the Middle East and South Asia. I cannot recommend them enough.

"Jordan and America" provides an outstanding overview of Jordan's history since the beginning of the 20th century, with a focus on its relationship with the United States. I've been interested in reading about Jordan for a while, since it is a country that constantly pops up whenever the Middle East is discussed, yet I knew very little about it (and I think most other people living outside the region are in the same boat). After having read the book, I already feel like this gap in my knowledge has been filled. One of the most interesting things I learned was that up until the late 1950s/early 1960s, the UK, not the US, was Jordan's major ally, which was actually typical of the Middle East in general. It seems hard to believe but until 1957, the US was very reluctant to get involved in the Middle East and preferred to pass the buck to the British (similar to the way it passed the buck to France in much of Africa throughout the Cold War). The book also gives an excellent account of Jordan's incredibly complicated relationship with Palestine. From the outset, Jordan has committed itself to championing the Palestinian cause, but this commitment has often clashed with its own interests. Reading "Jordan and America", I couldn't help feeling sympathy for this small country that seems destined to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

A few minor quibbles: for such a short book, there were a lot of typos and grammatical errors. Brookings should do better. Also, given how central Iraq is to Jordan's history, I would have liked to have had more information on Saddam Hussein's own perception of Jordan and the Hashemites. Riedel mentions that Saddam and the Baathists had a more favourable view of them than their predecessors, but the reasons for that weren't explained in great detail.

Overall, however, if you need a Jordan 101 lesson, this is the book.

[Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimately, this is a good resource on US/Jordanian relations over the past 70-ish years. It is quite concise, easy to read. It touches all the bases but doesn’t go extremely in depth.
Unfortunately, I found numerous typos and factual errors that are well-documented in many other unclassified sources. This does take away a little bit from the overall message. I don’t know if they were outright lies (you never know with think tanks or the intelligence community) or simple mistakes, some were obvious typos that anybody could catch. Some were maybe just because I have a connection to the subject and know more than the average citizen.
Advice to the author or Brookings: consider another run through of editing and possibly a second edition. The errors are the only reason for lowering my star rating on this review. And if you read this, I’d love to speak to you if you’d be willing.

[Alan Eyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid but somewhat uncritical