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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
After ISIS execution, angry King Abdullah quotes Clint Eastwood to U.S. lawmakers
2015-02-04
Members of the House Armed Services Committee met with Jordan's King Abdullah Tuesday not long after news broke that ISIS had burned to death a Jordanian pilot captured in the fight against the terrorist group. In a private session with lawmakers, the king showed an extraordinary measure of anger — anger which he expressed by citing American movie icon Clint Eastwood.

"He said there is going to be retribution like ISIS hasn't seen," said Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., a Marine Corps veteran of two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, who was in the meeting with the king. "He mentioned 'Unforgiven' and he mentioned Clint Eastwood, and he actually quoted a part of the movie."

Hunter would not say which part of "Unforgiven" the king quoted, but noted it was where Eastwood's character describes how he is going to deliver his retribution.

"And he said, 'The only problem we're going to have is running out of fuel and bullets.'"
An we have a leader with an unusual, yet deadly, knack of being unable unwilling to identify a threat.
Posted by:Hupineger Glomomp0034

#15  Mitch, I have been over there in the recent past, and I think your statements are a little overblown. Check into what hte US Military Liaison mission has been up to for the past 4 years.
Posted by: OldSpook   2015-02-04 23:56  

#14  The King has a good brass pair...
Posted by: BigEdLB   2015-02-04 20:30  

#13  Is an 84 year old man too old to be Secretary of Defense?
Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664   2015-02-04 17:21  

#12  "So I've got Mr. Obama sitting here..."
Posted by: swksvolFF   2015-02-04 16:13  

#11  Nothing wrong with showing what a King should act like.

Refreshing.

Now lay off the Temple Mount.
Posted by: newc   2015-02-04 15:34  

#10  I thought this pilot was a part of Obama's "American led" Arab coalition. If so, where was the search and rescue effort?
Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664   2015-02-04 15:21  

#9  Thanks for the clarification JFM - very helpful.

Crikey @Shipman - I'm very flattered by that :)

Very sad to hear that TW, I learnt a huge amount from his posts.
Posted by: Tony   2015-02-04 14:46  

#8  The last time Jordanians and Syrians got into a tussle, the fight was basically a draw - in the course of the Black September in 1970. The Jordanians managed to push them back out of the country and kept the Syrians from reinforcing the Palestinian rebels, but the Hashemite ground troops got knocked around pretty badly in the course of the fighting. They won primarily because the Jordanian air force smothered the Syrians and the usual half-assed Arab attitude ("we can pretend we're not actually invading if we just send in the army and keep the air force out of it!") kept the Syrian air force from being committed. Jordan's reputation for military prowess by Arab standards is largely the fading memory of the old British-commanded Arab Legion, which hasn't been an institution for almost sixty years now.

In short, don't expect them to be any more effective than the modern Egyptian military.
Posted by: Mitch H.   2015-02-04 11:33  

#7  Nothing wrong with killin', so long as the right people get shot.
Posted by: Raj   2015-02-04 08:58  

#6   I don't think .com posts here any more

PD.com died some years ago, Tony, which no doubt to his frustration has greatly reduced his posting.
Posted by: trailing wife   2015-02-04 08:49  

#5  I remember you now, used to be TonyUK a long time ago.
Posted by: Shipman   2015-02-04 07:52  

#4  Tony. You are right. The Hashemites as supposedly direct descendents of Muhammd don't ned to play the "Muslimer than thou" the Saudis are forced to play.

In the whole "Seven Pillars of wisom" Lawrence of Arabia wrote single sentence about the Seoud/Wahabis "That (name forgotten) region was home to the fanatical and dangerous Wahabis". By the standards of the Hashemites, Lawrence was used to wahabites were nuts.
Posted by: JFM   2015-02-04 07:43  

#3  No stranger to Fort Bragg, Jordan's King Abdullah is an accomplished parachutist, marksman, and ardent admirer of U.S. Army Special Forces. It will be interesting to see how these events sort out.
Posted by: Besoeker   2015-02-04 05:55  

#2  I am right in thinking that it was the Hashemites that the Al-Sauds' defeated in the early 20C for stewardship of Mecca and Medina? And that they're known for a more 'moderate' Islam (oxymoron I know)?

Didn't .com have a plan around having the Hashemites take control of Mecca and Medina and a new country of 'Eastern Arabia' (going from memory here, it was a long time ago and I don't think .com posts here any more) looking after the oil?

Ah well, we can dream can't we?

I agree with you mystic, it's going to be quite a ride...
Posted by: Tony   2015-02-04 05:42  

#1  So ISIS pissed off the Jordanians?

Stand back folks and buckle your seat belts.

I wonder if whatshisname is bothering to take calls from King Abdullah while he is hiding under his desk in the oval office?
Posted by: mystic   2015-02-04 00:04  

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