If the crisis in the gulf becomes a shooting war, Jordan could be the first Arab country to perish. Precariously situated between the borders of Iraq, Israel and Saudi Arabia, the kingdom of 3.5 million, Jordanians fear, would be obliterated in the cross fire. King Hussein knows that if Israeli forces were drawn into the fighting, there would be little to stop them from marching into Jordan and declaring the entire country a Palestinian homeland. Such an invasion could cause so much devastation and economic chaos that the half- Palestinian, half-Bedouin country might disintegrate into warring factions.
Bad as war would...