Heavy Hand of the Secret Police Impeding Reform in Arab World - New York Times

Heavy Hand of the Secret Police Impeding Reform in Arab World - New York Times:

"In Jordan and across the region, those seeking democratic reform say the central role of each country's secret police force, with its stealthy, octopuslike reach, is one of the biggest impediments. In the decades since World War II, as military leaders and monarchs smothered democratic life, the security agencies have become a law unto themselves.

Last week's terror attacks in Amman accentuate one reason that even some Jordanians who consider themselves reformers justify the secret police's blanket presence - the fear that violence can spill across the border. But others argue that the mukhabarat would be more effective if it narrowed its scope to its original mandate of ensuring security.

'The department has become so big that its ability to concentrate is diluted,' said Labib Kamhawi, a businessman active in human rights. 'The fact that the intelligence is involved in almost everything on the political and economic level, as well as security, might have loosened its grip on security.'

In Jordan, one of the region's most liberal countries, the intelligence agencies vet the appointment of every university professor, ambassador and important editor. The mukhabarat eavesdrops with the help of evidently thousands of Jordanians on its payroll, similar to the informant networks in the Soviet bloc.

The secret police chiefs live above the law. The last head of the Jordanian mukhabarat routinely overruled the smoking ban on Royal Jordanian Airways, lighting up as he pleased. No one dared challenge him.

The State Department's annual human rights report, unusually critical of a staunch ally, particularly one that offers widespread cooperation on terrorism issues, said the lack of accountability within the mukhabarat and the police resulted 'in a climate of impunity' and underscored 'significant restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly and association.' It said the agents 'sometimes abuse detainees physically and verbally' and 'allegedly also use torture.'

Although the Bush administration has cited the need for democratic change in the Middle East as a reason for going to war in Iraq, the threat of instability on Jordan's border may actually be restricting democratic freedoms there."