For some reason, powerful and famous politicians are much more accessible in Jordan than compared to the United States.  For in the past week, I have been able to interview a former Foreign Minister and a former speaker of the parliament.

My interview with Dr. Jawad Anani, the country’s former Foreign Minister came first.  This was certainly a very cool experience.  All around his house were pictures of him standing with various world leaders such as Khomeni, Yasser Arafat, President Clinton, King Hussein, and King Abdullah.  Lasting about three hours, our conversation ranged from politics and history to cinema. During the interview, I was able to understand the thought process possessed by the King and his closest advisors.  More or less, they are realist minded politicians who base their decisions on preserving their power rather than on emotion or ideology.

I also had the chance to discuss to Israeli-Palestinian conflict with him, something that he has good perspective on since he was the Minister of the Peace Negotiations between Jordan and Israel.  Interestingly, he believes that Israel does not want peace because he believes it is not in their interest as he predicts that a two-state solution would only lead to the Arabs demanding even more land. In addition, I also threw some conspiracy theories at him to get his opinion.  For example, he agrees with the assertion that the Bush I administration wanted Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait, so that they could have a war with him.

Overall, the interview was more like a relaxed conversation, a conversation that I will not forget until quite some time.

A few days later I was able to interview Dr. Abdul Latif Arabiyatt, the former speaker of the Jordanian parliament.  Because of Dr. Arabiyatt’s personality, this interview was more formal and structured.  Also, unlike Dr. Anani, Dr. Arabiyatt was a member of the opposition as he was the former secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front.  His interview gave me a good insight into what the Islamists view of the Hashemite monarchy in Jordan.

Currently, the IAF views itself as being punished for following the rules of the game.  Dr. Arabiyatt continuously voiced his support for democracy and believed that his group was being unfairly suppressed by the monarchy simply because it is the greatest political threat the regime faces; however, Dr. Arabiyatt still believed that the strategy of the group should be to follow the democratic [process].

Getting the perspectives of these two leaders was quite enlightening.