The authorities have kicked out American aid groups, such as Counterpart International, which was delivering medical supplies and improving water, as well as Internews, which trains journalists in impartial reporting, and Freedom House, which teaches civic rights.
In the past 18 months, King Hussein forced Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, to release the spiritual leader of Hamas in exchange for captured Israeli spies, faced down Syria's iron-willed President Hafez Assad in a vitriolic propaganda war, persuaded both Bill Clinton and his Iraqi counterpart, Saddam Hussein, to give Jordan financial aid, and intervened personally to secure the agreement at Wye between Yasser Arafat and sceptical Israeli negotiators.