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Larry King to Asharq Al-Awsat: I was Disappointed in Fidel Castro and I Do Not Interrupt My Guests

May 1 marks the 61st anniversary of broadcasting legend Larry King’s first radio broadcast
May 1 marks the 61st anniversary of broadcasting legend Larry King’s first radio broadcast
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Larry King to Asharq Al-Awsat: I was Disappointed in Fidel Castro and I Do Not Interrupt My Guests

May 1 marks the 61st anniversary of broadcasting legend Larry King’s first radio broadcast
May 1 marks the 61st anniversary of broadcasting legend Larry King’s first radio broadcast

May 1 marks the 61st anniversary of broadcasting legend Larry King’s first radio broadcast at WAHR in Miami Beach in Florida. Since then, he’s conducted more than 60,000 interviews on both radio and TV, most famously for 25 years on CNN.

After stepping back from his regular show on CNN in 2010, King returned to the airwaves in 2012, founding the Ora TV production company in conjunction with Mexican businessman Carlos Slim. The following year, Ora signed a deal with controversial Russian media conglomerate Russia TV to carry his “Larry King Now” and “Politicking” shows.

To mark his 61 years of broadcasting, King, now 84, recently sat down with Asharq Al-Awsat to discuss the highs and lows of his illustrious career, the “fake news” phenomenon, his views on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and what keeps him going after so many years in the business.

You have been broadcasting and working in the media for almost more than 60 years, and you will celebrate your 61st year in this field on May 1st. How do you feel about that?

I never thought I would last for so long, I thought I could retire in 2010 when I left CNN but I couldn’t, and then we came up with ora.tv for more than six years now. I think it keeps me going, I love what I do, I love asking questions and I had no idea that I would be on the air for 61 years.

Do you think someone who works in the media can retire one day?

It's hard to retire from the media, I do not call it work. I love what I do and I love meeting people, I do not know what I’d retire to, retire to what.

Let’s go back to the beginnings of your career. Do you remember what was the worst moment for you on radio or on TV?

My first day on radio was scary because I did not know what to say, I just been given a new name, I was nervous. I always wanted to be on radio, but I did not think I could talk well, I could not say anything. The general manager kept talking, he said “this is communication business, communicate”. I turned on the microphone and I told the audience what was happening, that I just had a new name, that I wanted to be on radio all my life, that I was nervous, so I told them the truth. Since then, I’ve never been nervous, I have complete confidence in myself on the air. I love what I do. So I would say that my worst moment was my first moment.

If the time goes back, would you work in the media? Or you would have chosen something else? Why?

I'd still work in the media, I love what I do. But, if I couldn't have done that, I think I'd have been a standup comedian. I do a lot of that - comedy and storytelling - when I go out speaking. And I've done a comedy tour in the past. But my favorite job will still to be in the media. There's nothing like communicating with and interviewing interesting people for a living.

After all these years in the media, who was your favorite guest?

It's very hard to pick one up, you can say Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela. In the entertainment field, Sinatra and Brando would be the top 2.

And in the political field?

I met presidents, prime ministers from around the world, France, Germany, England, Mexico, South American leaders. Long list.

After conducting more than 60,000 interviews, who is the person that you wish to interview, and did not have the chance to?

Fidel Castro, I thought I could arrange a meeting with him when I went to Cuba some years ago, but we could not make it happen. Castro has led his country for more than 60 years, and I do not think any other leader have done that. Forget what you think of him politically, he would have been fascinating to talk to, but I never got to meet him.

If you had the chance to have the last interview in your life who would you like to meet?

I’d like to be old enough to meet "the president not yet born". I would like to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, she is a fascinating woman she has a lot of power, maybe the most powerful person in Europe. I also like to meet the prime minister of England, she is also fascinating to me, Theresa May and new French President Emmanuel Macron.

Do you think you will interview Prince Mohammed bin Salman?

Oh, I would love to interview him, I would like to have an interview with Saudi King Salman, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. I am sure I will make this interview.

Do you remember all the interviews that you conduct?

No, I did a lot of interviews and I do not remember many of them.

Who helps you to prepare the questions?

No one tells me the questions, I make up my own questions, they give me facts about people. I have a great staff that gives me information about the people, this staff I am working with, is the best, we had the biggest staff in CNN, but this staff is the best. They give me preparation and I make my own questions. The most important thing in questioning is listening to the answers, because often answers bring up follow up questions.

What about your experience with the Russians, why did you accept their offer to move to RT (Russia Today)?

I did not do it, RT made an agreement with ora.tv. I own a percentage of the company but not the majority. They licensed my program, in other ways I don’t work for them, and they never ever interfere with it. At my Politicking show, Russia and Putin are often criticized, they have never taken it out. I’ve never been edited.

And before that, with CNN, have they ever forced you to say something, have they ever interfered, did you change some political points of view?

Never, I’ve been very lucky, in all my years I’ve never been told what to ask what to do, who to be against or not to be against.

What do you think of what is happening now in the media, and the "fake news" terminology?

I do not know what that means. I have been in the media for a long time. In all my years in CNN and Ora, I’ve never said a word that is fake. There are opinionated news, MSNBC and FOX are opinionated, but fake news I have never seen.

Do you think the media is in risk because of social media? Or do you think they complete each other?

On social media, everyone has an opinion, everyone gives information, and people use it a lot. I don’t pay much attention to it, but anonymous people sending in their opinions are fine. I look responsibly at the major networks CBS, NBC and ABC. I respect the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, I respect the BBC and a lot of media.

Media is fine, I am sad that the newspapers are going away in America, as well as books and encyclopedias, because everything has become dependent on the Internet. It’s a changed world.

Do you think journalism will disappear or the print will disappear?

I hope print doesn’t disappear, I love print. I've written a column for years for USA TODAY and MIAMI HERALD. I am sorry that our kids don’t read newspapers, that’s sad to me. I have teenage boys, I never see them reading newspapers, they get all their information from their iPhone and television. But you cannot stop time and this technology advance. It is very hard to read in the newspaper news that you don’t know, because you heard it already.

In one of your interviews, your guest Jerry Seinfeld got mad on air. Tell us why?

He got mad because I asked him “was the show cancelled?” and that was my fault. In fact, when I was on the air, Seinfeld was on the air, so I never got to watch Seinfeld until after I left CNN. Now I've been watching Seinfeld for 6 or 7 years, because I tape in the afternoon, and the show is brilliant, and I understand his success. We became friends after that, and I was in his movie The Bee Movie, and we did all the scenes together, and he appeared in my show after that.

People say that Larry King never "crowds his guests" in a corner, you do not interrupt them if not needed, he asks questions and lets them answer. How do you comment on this?

I do not believe in interrupting, but I never was afraid to ask any question. I ask in a different manner than other people ask. I am not confrontational, we make more fun page news than a talk show and I always got to the point. I have heard that said, but I have never heard a good example of it.

Why do people say that?

I don’t know why, I guess jealousy, I ask good questions, I listen to the answers, I follow up. I am a journalist, I am curious. I want to know everything about everything, so I’ve never understood that. I can’t tell people what to like and what not to like. I do my show my way, and I love what I do. You can either like me or not like me, you can be informed or not informed. I will say this, you watch any interview of mine and you will learn a lot more than you knew before it started.

Why is Larry King different? Why Larry King more famous than anyone?

I do not know why I am different; I just do me. I don’t analyze myself, someone told me years ago, "The only secret in your business is that there is no secret. Be yourself”. I’ve always been myself so I can’t write down what I do, I don’t know how I do it, I just know I love to communicate, I love broadcasting, I love radio, I love television I love print, and I love the whole business of communication. If you like what I do, you like it, and if you don’t, I can’t make you like it.

So, What makes you famous? What makes you different?

I've thought about that a lot. I think it's just because I don't pretend to be an intellectual. I don't have an agenda. I'm very curious. I ask short questions. I leave my ego at the door. I’m an everyman - and my guests have responded to that over the years. I can be as interested in a conversation with someone I meet on the street as I am in a conversation with the president. I like talking to people and hearing their stories. I ask questions that the average person wants to know about, maybe doesn't think about, but clearly wants to know about.

Have you watched Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's interview on "60 Minutes" on CBS?

Of course, he was very good. I am really interested in what he does, he is changing the country and I see the big things coming to Saudi Arabia, things we have not seen before.

I see Saudi Arabia changing rapidly, it’s almost a kind of revolution. He is a special young man, I love people who transform, I love people who change the landscape, and I think that this is what Prince Mohammed bin Salman is doing. I wish him the best.

What is your advice for people in the media? For those who want to be great like Larry King?

Always be yourself and never give up. If someone tells you, you can’t be in and you believe them, then you can’t be in, if you want it you’ll get it. There’s always a room in the media for talent you can make it if you’re good at it and you want it. Never give up.

May I ask some personal questions, general ones?

Yes sure, go ahead.

You have experienced critical health conditions in your life starting from the heart, type-2 diabetes in 1987 and prostate cancer in 1999 and recently you underwent surgery for lung cancer. How have these health crises affected your life and your way of thinking especially since you have always spoken of your fear of death?

Well, the way it has affected my life is that everything that’s happened has made me be a healthier person. I gave up smoking cigarettes. I try to eat right. I try to keep my body and mind in shape. It also forces me to get regular checkups, which is how I picked up the lung cancer at a very early stage. I'm very health aware. I'm not a hypochondriac, but I'm very health aware. I've been very lucky.

My work and my family keep me going. It keeps you alert. I think the fact that I keep on working keeps me young. I don't know where my stamina comes from, but I have a lot of stamina.

What’s your daily schedule? Your favorite hobby? Your favorite show? Your favorite food?

I get up early. I have breakfast with friends every day. We eat food and talk about things that are happening in the news, in sports, in politics. I read five newspapers every day. Then I go into the studio and tape my shows, “Larry King Now” and Politicking until the early afternoon.

I watch news and sports on television. I'm always learning. I'm always reading. I love going to the movies. For a laugh, I love watching all the old episodes of Seinfeld. I love going to my kid’s baseball games. For my favorite meal - I believe that would be lamb chops. I've always loved lamb chops since I was a child. With a baked potato and caesar salad, and if I had to choose something for dessert it would be lemon meringue pie.

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Interviews

Obeidat to Asharq Al-Awsat: I Left Saddam Meeting Sensing he Misread Threat

There were exceptional communication channels between Saddam Hussein and King Hussein (AFP)
There were exceptional communication channels between Saddam Hussein and King Hussein (AFP)
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Obeidat to Asharq Al-Awsat: I Left Saddam Meeting Sensing he Misread Threat

There were exceptional communication channels between Saddam Hussein and King Hussein (AFP)
There were exceptional communication channels between Saddam Hussein and King Hussein (AFP)

In the final part of his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, former Jordanian prime minister Ahmad Obeidat, who died earlier this month, recounted in detail his meetings with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, and disclosed an alleged attempt by Rifaat al-Assad to assassinate former Jordanian prime minister Mudar Badran.

Obeidat began with his impression of Saddam following a 2001 meeting in Baghdad. He said he left convinced that the Iraqi leader “did not accurately understand the reality of the international situation, the trap that had been set for Iraq, nor the magnitude of the danger surrounding the country and what was coming.”

He also described how strong ties between the late King Hussein of Jordan and Assad deteriorated as the Iran-Iraq war intensified. “Exceptional channels of communication” opened between King Hussein and Saddam Hussein, he said, and those channels “thwarted Assad’s efforts to build an axis against Iraq.”

Obeidat further revealed that Rifaat al-Assad “sent a group to assassinate Mudar Badran” on the pretext that Jordan was harboring the Muslim Brotherhood and hosting training camps. “All of that was false,” he said, adding that the attempt was foiled and those involved were arrested.

Turning to the file of the Palestinian militant Abu Nidal, who split from Fatah, Obeidat recalled how Abu Iyad once “protected him from arrest,” before “the tables were turned,” in a reference to Abu Iyad later becoming one of Abu Nidal’s victims.

Asked about his history with Abu Nidal, Obeidat described him as “not an easy adversary.” Abu Nidal attacked Jordanian embassies and diplomats, he said, and was responsible for killing two or three ambassadors. He was also behind the assassination of the son of former prime minister Saeed al-Mufti, a diplomat at the Jordanian embassy in Bucharest, and wounded two ambassadors in separate operations.

When Obeidat served as prime minister in 1983-1984, Abu Nidal assassinated Fahd al-Qawasmi, the mayor of Hebron, during a visit to Amman.

Abu Nidal, Obeidat said, worked at different times for Syrian, Iraqi and Libyan intelligence services. “He was ready to work for the benefit of any intelligence service in any country and allowed them to control him,” he said. Syrian, Iraqi and Libyan intelligence used him more than once, and the Iraqis deployed him against Fatah in an effort to create splits and internal problems.

Abu Iyad had shielded Abu Nidal from detention when Fatah sought to arrest him, Obeidat said. “But in the end the tables were turned,” and Abu Iyad became one of his victims. It was said, he added, that Abu Iyad came to believe that Abu Nidal had begun working for “Zionist intelligence.”

As for Jordan’s response when its diplomats were targeted, Obeidat said that at the time he was prime minister and did not follow the security file closely due to the pressures of government. He was aware, however, that contacts were made to reach a deal to halt Abu Nidal’s operations in Jordan. “Their operations did indeed stop,” he said.

On coordination with major powers, Obeidat said Jordan cooperated with “any party that possessed information of interest to us,” except the Zionists. Relations with Syrian intelligence fluctuated between competition and brief periods of cooperation, after earlier periods of no contact.

He then recounted his 1979 meeting with Hafez al-Assad over accusations that Jordan was training members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Acting on instructions from King Hussein, Obeidat, then intelligence chief, and Prime Minister Mudar Badran met Assad to address the issue.

“We made clear to Hafez al-Assad that it was impossible for us to have camps training the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood,” he said. Jordan informed Assad that such camps were in Iraq and that Syrians were traveling via Jordan to Iraq using forged passports. Without lists of those names from Damascus, Jordan could not act.

“This is a Syrian problem, not a Jordanian one,” Obeidat said he told Assad. Jordan would not allow armed activity on its soil but needed Syrian intelligence cooperation and names to intervene effectively.

He acknowledged that tensions were aggravated when Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Abdul Rahman Khalifeh, brought Syrian cleric Saeed Hawwa to meet King Hussein without informing the royal court or intelligence services. The move surprised the palace and embarrassed the intelligence service.

After investigating, Jordan discovered that a group of Syrians had entered the country, most intending to travel onward to Iraq. To prevent escalation with Damascus, Jordan asked them to leave, allowing limited humanitarian cases time to arrange residence elsewhere.

Obeidat described Assad as “a good listener” who did not comment during their meeting but later instructed Syrian intelligence to cooperate with Jordan. His dealings with Syrian intelligence chief Ali Duba were limited but manageable.

He dismissed suggestions that Ahmed Jibril was behind operations against Jordan, saying the more serious problem involved Rifaat al-Assad. Rifaat’s alleged plot to assassinate Badran was uncovered, with suspects arrested at the border and in an apartment in Amman’s Sweileh district. They possessed weapons and explosives and were tried before Jordan’s State Security Court.

In an earlier incident, Obeidat said, members of Rifaat’s force assassinated a Syrian political refugee in Amman.

Asked about challenges upon assuming the premiership, Obeidat cited financial strain. Arab and Gulf aid declined to near zero, while Jordanian workers returned from the Gulf after losing their jobs, placing heavy pressure on living conditions.

Security challenges included Abu Nidal’s activities. At the same time, relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization improved. King Hussein allowed the Palestinian National Council to convene in Amman in 1984, triggering a political crisis with Syria.

Several attempted attacks targeting Jordan and council members were foiled, Obeidat said. Syria exerted pressure to prevent attendance, but Jordan ensured the session’s success. Supporting the PLO after its recognition as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians became, in his words, a Jordanian necessity to prevent a political vacuum.

Obeidat described a later meeting with Yasser Arafat as cordial after earlier strained ties, and said he also met Abu Iyad at the royal court during the council’s session. He met George Habash later in Beirut, outside office.

He then revisited the 1968 Battle of Karameh. Fighters from Fatah “stood firm and fought bravely,” he said, though many were killed. Some trainees were left without weapons or guidance despite warnings that battle was imminent, leading to heavy casualties.

King Hussein, he said, “was very resolute” during the battle.

On his relationship with the monarch, Obeidat said King Hussein “respected those who respected themselves.” Their relationship cooled after the 1994 Wadi Araba peace treaty, which Obeidat opposed.

Jordanian intelligence, he stressed, did not conduct operations in Beirut in response to the assassination of Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tal, though he noted military intelligence operated separately.

Obeidat listed foreign leaders he met as prime minister, including Assad, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saddam Hussein. Meetings with Britain’s queen, Austria’s president and Spain’s king were protocol visits.

He described relations between King Hussein and Assad as once “good, frank and continuous,” with almost weekly contact, before shifting during the Iran-Iraq war as close ties formed between King Hussein and Saddam.

Recalling his 2001 Baghdad visit, Obeidat said Saddam spoke at length about sanctions and support for Palestinians. He reproached Jordan over its peace treaty and alluded to Hussein Kamel’s defection. Obeidat insisted Jordan had no role in that defection or in his return.

When Iraqi officials called for cutting oil supplies to Jordan, Obeidat told Saddam that such a move would effectively besiege the Jordanian people. Saddam responded, “I will never abandon the Jordanian people under any circumstances.”

In Obeidat’s final reflection, the meeting left a lasting impression. From Saddam’s remarks that day, he said, he concluded that the Iraqi leader did not fully comprehend the scale of the international threat facing his country, a judgment he carried with him long after the encounter.

Interviews

Obeidat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Gaddafi Tried to Assassinate King Hussein with Missile Given to Wadie Haddad

King Hussein and Moammar Gaddafi holding talks on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Cairo in 1970 (AFP).
King Hussein and Moammar Gaddafi holding talks on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Cairo in 1970 (AFP).
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Obeidat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Gaddafi Tried to Assassinate King Hussein with Missile Given to Wadie Haddad

King Hussein and Moammar Gaddafi holding talks on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Cairo in 1970 (AFP).
King Hussein and Moammar Gaddafi holding talks on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Cairo in 1970 (AFP).

In the second installment of his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, former Jordanian prime minister and intelligence chief Ahmad Obeidat recounts details of a missile plot to assassinate King Hussein, which he says was backed by Muammar Gaddafi and carried out through operatives linked to Wadie Haddad, head of the external operations arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Obeidat, who also served as head of intelligence and as minister of interior and defense, revisits the confrontation between Israeli forces, the Jordanian army, and Palestinian guerrillas (fedayeen) in the border town of Karameh in March 1968, asserting that the Jordanian army “decided the battle,” but suffered a “moral defeat amid the fedayeen’s claims of victory.”

Obeidat died earlier this month. The interview was recorded before the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” whose aftermath delayed its publication. Below is the text of the second installment.
 

King Hussein inspects an Israeli tank left behind by occupying forces during the Battle of Karameh (Getty)

“Battle of Karameh”

Obeidat calls Karameh “a pivotal point of utmost importance,” especially for an army still reeling from the 1967 defeat and its withdrawal from the West Bank.

“The army lived the bitterness of that defeat,” he says. “It felt a moral, national, and pan-Arab responsibility.”

Karameh, he argues, offered a chance to restore the army’s fighting morale and reclaim some of its lost dignity.

“It was the army that settled the battle,” Obeidat says.

He credits Jordanian forces with thwarting Israeli attempts to build crossing bridges, destroying their vehicles on Jordanian soil and forcing, for the first time in Israel’s history, a request for a ceasefire. “The late King Hussein refused,” he adds.

Israel, he says, did not acknowledge a fifth of its casualties. Helicopters were evacuating the wounded who were “dripping with blood.”

He singles out artillery observation officers who advanced to the closest possible positions, relaying precise coordinates even as they effectively marked their own locations for shelling.

“The Jordanian soldier would identify his position near the Israeli army to be shelled,” he says, describing a willingness to die in order to restore dignity after the 1967 setback.

He says the declaration of “armed struggle” effectively erased the army’s role, presenting Palestinian fedayeen as the victors over Israel. “They monopolized the victory and ignored the army’s role entirely,” Obeidat says. “We emerged with a moral defeat in the face of their claims.”

He alleges that hundreds of millions of dollars in donations collected afterward, much of it going to Fatah, did not reach the Palestinian people but went to organizations and their leaders.

When the army entered Amman in September 1970, Obeidat says, it aimed to end what he describes as chaos: armed displays, roadblocks, arrests of soldiers on leave and interference in courts.

"When the army entered and began expelling the fedayeen from Amman, it swept through everything in its path. Even my own home, which I had recently rented after my abduction incident and which was close to the army’s command headquarters, was entered by the Jordanian army to search for fedayeen, while my family was inside the house at the time of the raid. My wife told them that her husband was an intelligence officer, but the Jordanian soldier replied, “Don’t lie.”

Obeidat says they did not leave the house until she contacted him, at which point he assigned one of his officers, the commander of an intelligence company, to speak with the army.

"Only then did they leave the house. The point is that the army swept areas without distinguishing between Jordanian and Palestinian; it wanted only to restore control over security. All of this forced me to send my family to my parents’ home in Irbid, in the north of the Kingdom."

He later describes what he calls a “state within a state,” extending from the Jordan Valley to Amman, after armed groups asserted authority over courts, roads, and civilian life.

On Syria’s intervention, Obeidat says Syrian forces entered northern Jordan flying Palestine Liberation Organization flags.

He later learned the decision was political, taken by the Baath Party, and that then-Defense Minister Hafez al-Assad complied reluctantly before Syrian tanks withdrew.

Iraq, he says, did not intervene. Obeidat affirms that he was told by Iraqi officials that neither the Iraqi state nor its forces intended to participate in any operation aimed at ending the Hashemite monarchy in Jordan.

According to one account, Iraqi leaders did not want to shoulder the political and diplomatic burden of the Palestinian issue or risk an uncalculated adventure.

He recounts another account, which he says he cannot adopt, according to which the operations command in the army was handled by a Pakistani figure. Under this account, Zia ul-Haq was receiving operational communications and sending messages that caused confusion among Iraqi and other forces, leading them to believe they would confront powerful strike units, prompting them to remain in a state of alert rather than engage.

He also recalls a meeting in which Palestinian figures, including Abu Iyad, reproached Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. Al-Bakr replied: “We are a state with one life. If we make a fundamental mistake, we end. You are like cats with seven lives.”

As director of intelligence, Obeidat says he dealt directly with operations attributed to Haddad.

Between 1975 and 1977, he says, a missile was sent to Jordan with a group led by a Jordanian, Brik al-Hadid, affiliated with the PFLP. The target was King Hussein’s aircraft.

“The intention was to strike the plane, with Gaddafi’s knowledge and approval,” Obeidat says.

Jordanian intelligence monitored the group from the outset and later arrested its members. The king’s aircraft departed Marka military airport as scheduled but flew in the opposite direction to its planned route as a precaution, using jamming devices against any incoming missiles.

When confronted by Mudar Badran, then head of the Royal Court, Gaddafi denied knowledge. “I have no information,” Obeidat quotes him as saying.

Obeidat describes the aircraft hijackings orchestrated by Haddad as “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” contributing to the army’s intervention.

He says Jordanian intelligence had infiltrated Fatah and monitored its leaders, including Abu Iyad and Abu Yusuf al-Najjar.

In mid-1972, intelligence learned that Abu Dawood and a group were planning to enter Jordan from Baghdad to seize the Jordanian cabinet during a session and hold ministers hostage in exchange for the release of detained Fatah members.

The group crossed in three Mercedes cars, dressed in traditional Arab attire, with weapons concealed inside the seats and forged passports in hand. They were arrested at the border after a thorough search.

Obeidat rejects claims by Abu Iyad that Abu Dawood was tortured, insisting that “not a single hair on his head was touched,” and says Abu Dawood confessed only after realizing the operation had been fully uncovered.

Later, King Hussein met Abu Dawood’s parents, who pleaded for clemency. The king read the full confession and then met Abu Dawood himself. He ultimately ordered his release, honoring a promise he had made to Abu Dawood’s parents.

In Obeidat’s view, Abu Dawood was affected by the king’s treatment of his parents and “did not pose any future threat to Jordan.”

Obeidat describes a direct relationship between King Hussein and the General Intelligence Department.

The king met with officers regularly, not only to hear briefings but also to hear their personal views. 

Obeidat says he would submit reports to the prime minister and also meet with the king. When addressing the king, however, it was sometimes necessary to elaborate verbally on certain issues so that such information would not circulate among staff. 

When he was asked to present a security briefing before the king, the late King Hussein would summon Crown Prince Hassan. The king’s advisers would also attend, along with senior army commanders, the public security leadership, the head of the Royal Court, and the prime minister. The briefing of the security report would include an explanation of the security situation and any external or internal challenges.

 

Interviews

Obeidat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Mystery Sniper Killed Wasfi Tal

Ahmad Obeidat during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel in Amman. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Ahmad Obeidat during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel in Amman. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Obeidat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Mystery Sniper Killed Wasfi Tal

Ahmad Obeidat during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel in Amman. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Ahmad Obeidat during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel in Amman. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Former Jordanian Prime Minister Ahmad Obeidat, who died earlier this month, was both a key player and a witness to sensitive chapters in his country’s history.

Obeidat began his career in the 1970s as an assistant director of intelligence, later serving as head of the General Intelligence Department until 1982. At the height of the Palestinian-Jordanian confrontation, he was abducted by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine before the events of September 1970.

He also served for two years as interior minister before King Hussein appointed him prime minister in early 1984, a post he held until April 1985, concurrently serving as defense minister.

For more than 15 years, Obeidat remained at the center of decision-making. He later took on roles drawing on his legal background, from chairing the Royal Commission that drafted the National Charter in the early 1990s to serving in human rights and judicial positions, most recently as head of the board of trustees of the National Center for Human Rights until 2008.

Weeks before Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, Asharq Al-Awsat met Obeidat in Amman. The interview had been scheduled for publication in October 2023, but the major developments that followed led to its postponement, particularly as Obeidat addressed contentious issues, notably Jordanian-Palestinian relations.

In the first part of the interview, Obeidat revisits his formative years, when his political and professional journey began as a law student in Baghdad on the eve of the July 14, 1958 revolution, before returning to Iraq after the fall of the monarchy amid sweeping regional transformations.

The account moves to his early professional life in Jordan, from a brief stint in legal practice to joining the Public Security Directorate, then serving in the Political Investigations Office, which formed the nucleus of organized intelligence work. It concludes with a detailed narrative of the establishment of the General Intelligence Department in 1964, its early structure and founding members, at a time when the Jordanian state was rebuilding its institutions in an intensely turbulent region.

Asked where he was when the 1958 revolution broke out in Iraq, Obeidat said he had completed his first year in law studies and returned to Jordan for the summer break.

“While I was in Irbid, news arrived of the July 14 revolution in Iraq that overthrew the monarchy. After the summer break ended, I went back to Baghdad, where a republican government under Abdul Karim Qassem had taken power,” he recalled.

The return was not easy. “We faced difficulties on the road. The border between Jordan and Iraq was nearly closed, so we had to return via Damascus and then through desert routes to Baghdad. It was an exhausting journey,” he added.

Obeidat left Baghdad in 1961 after completing his final exams. “On the last day of exams in the fourth year, I went home, packed and returned to Jordan the same day. The border between Baghdad and Amman had reopened.”

Among his contemporaries at law school was Saddam Hussein, who studied in the evening section. Obeidat said he saw him only once by chance. “He was with others, one of whom later became a governor,” he revealed.

He returned to Baghdad again in 1983 as Jordan’s interior minister to attend a conference of Arab interior ministers, more than two decades after graduating. There, he met his Iraqi counterpart, Saadoun Shaker. “It was an ordinary relationship,” Obeidat said, describing the ties as largely ceremonial.

From customs to intelligence

After returning to Jordan in 1961, Obeidat initially considered practicing law. But limited opportunities in Irbid and his family’s financial constraints led him to seek public employment.

He was appointed to the Customs Department in Amman, where he worked for several months before joining the Public Security Directorate in April 1962 as a first lieutenant following three months of training at the police academy.

At the time, there was no separate intelligence agency. Public Security included a branch handling general investigations. Soon after, the Political Investigations Office was formed, staffed by legal officers from the army and Public Security, including Mudar Badran and Adeeb Tahaoub from military justice, alongside Obeidat and Tariq Alaaeddin from Public Security.

The office handled cases referred by security and official bodies, including military intelligence and the Royal Court. After reviewing its work, the late King Hussein ordered the establishment of a legally grounded intelligence body. The General Intelligence Law was issued in 1964, formally creating the department, explained Obeidat.

Mohammad Rasoul Al-Kilani became its first director, followed by Mudar Badran, then Nadhir Rashid. Al-Kilani briefly returned before Obeidat assumed the post, succeeded later by Tariq Alaaeddin.

The shock of 1967

Recalling the 1967 war, Obeidat described it as “a defeat, not a setback. A military, political, psychological, and social defeat in every sense.”

He said there was no institutional intelligence view on Jordan’s participation. “The political opinion of a figure of Wasfi Tal’s stature was that entering the 1967 war was a mistake. He was not in office, but he remained close to the king and influential,” said Obeidat.

According to Obeidat, King Hussein believed Israel would occupy the West Bank whether Jordan participated or not.

“Participation was a gamble that might succeed or fail. The catastrophe was discovering that the Egyptian air force had been destroyed within half an hour,” he added.

Despite the bitterness, he said: “We did not fear for the regime, but we sought to contain public anger and absorb the shock.”

September and the assassination of Wasfi Tal

Obeidat first met Yasser Arafat after the events of September 1970. He confirmed that Arafat left Amman with an official Arab delegation to attend the Cairo summit and returned immediately afterward.

He recalled being informed mid-flight of the death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. “King Hussein was deeply affected.”

On the assassination of Prime Minister Wasfi Tal in Cairo, Obeidat said the gunmen who confronted Tal at the hotel entrance were not responsible for the fatal shot. “The fatal bullet came from behind, from a sniper in another unseen location. To this day, the sniper has not been identified,” he added.

He rejected the notion that Tal had been reckless. “Wasfi was not a gambler. He had a distinct political project,” he stressed.

Obeidat said the Black September Organization accused Tal of ordering the expulsion of fedayeen from forested areas in Jerash and Ajloun. He denied that Tal was directly responsible, saying the clashes began after fedayeen attacked a police station and killed officers, prompting a spontaneous army response.

Abduction without interrogation

Before September 1970, Obeidat was abducted by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine while serving as assistant intelligence director.

Armed vehicles stopped his car as he was leaving his home in Jabal Al-Taj with his family. He and his brother-in-law were taken to the Wehdat camp. “We were treated politely. We drank tea. No one asked me a single question,” he recalled.

After several hours, he was driven to another house in Amman and later returned home. The next morning, members of Fatah took him briefly to one of their offices, only to release him on foot without explanation.

“Not a single question was asked,” Obeidat said. “It was bewildering.”

He resumed his duties after ensuring his family’s safety. “At the time, intelligence, like any official institution, was threatened and targeted,” he said, reflecting on one of the most volatile periods in Jordan’s modern history.