...while we are on the topic of Jordan. People I saw in Jordan stressed to me the overwhelming role of the mukhabarat (the intelligence apparatus). I am told that the mukhabarat is as strong as ever, and that its dominance is more pervasive today than during the days of King Husayn. Jordan is a police state that the US (and Thomas Friedman) presents to the world as a case study of success. Talk to the political prisoners.