Jordan's King Abdullah warns Cheney over Iraq

Cheney meets with Jordanian King Abdullah.

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney was greeted in Jordan Tuesday with a fresh statement from King Abdullah that a U.S.-led military campaign against Iraq would be disastrous for the region and would undermine the broader coalition in the war on terrorism.

During a weekend meeting with an Iraqi official, King Abdullah said a U.S. military confrontation with Iraq would be a "catastrophe" for the region.

Abdullah reiterated his views in a Tuesday interview with a Saudi newspaper distributed by the official Jordanian news agency. And in an interview with CNN, Jordan's top diplomat in the United States said Amman "totally rejects" the use of military force.

Cheney, welcomed at the airport in Amman by Jordan's prime minister, served notice he would seek "frank and candid" discussions about the U.S. goal of confronting Iraq over its weapons programs and defiance of U.N. resolutions dating to the end of the Persian Gulf war.

"We will confer as well over challenges to regional security and the threat that weapons of mass destruction pose to all of us," Cheney said.

VIDEO U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in Jordan on the start of an 11-nation tour in the Mideast. CNN's John King reports (March 12) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Despite the apparent disagreement, U.S. officials described two hours of talks between the two as productive and said the leaders agreed on another priority -- exerting maximum diplomatic pressure on both Israel and the Palestinians to halt the bloodshed.

Jordan is one of several stops on the trip where senior U.S. officials hope private conversations are more positive than the public positions of government leaders.

More than a decade of sanctions against Iraq have embittered many rank-and-file Arabs, who believe the sanctions have significantly punished the Iraqi people while allowing Saddam Hussein to hold onto power.

A senior U.S. official traveling with Cheney declined to say whether the vice president expected a more positive conversation about Iraq in his evening meeting and later working dinner with the Jordanian monarch.

"The private discussions are private," the official said.

On his arrival, Cheney immediately addressed the escalating violence between the Israelis and Palestinians -- the top concern here.

"The United States will do all it can to help end the tragic violence between the Palestinians and Israelis and return the parties to a productive negotiating process," Cheney said.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a major issue in Jordan and throughout Cheney's stops in the region over the next eight days.

A senior official traveling with the vice president said Cheney would be briefed in Israel later in the week by White House special envoy Anthony Zinni, who by the time Cheney arrives should have had discussions both with senior Israeli and with Palestinian officials.

Back in Washington, U.S. officials voiced hope Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to leave the Palestinian territories and travel to Beirut for the Arab League summit later this month.

"We have to discuss that with the Israelis," the official traveling with Cheney said.

On Iraq, Cheney has said he is traveling for consultations, not to announce any decisions about plans to confront that nation.

He received words of support Monday in London from British Prime Minister Tony Blair but faces much tougher sledding now he is in the Middle East.

Asked if Arab opposition or concerns had set back Bush administration planning, the senior official traveling with Cheney said, "That implies there was a timetable in the first place. ... This is a decision the administration will approach carefully."

U.S. officials are skeptical about Iraq's recent indications at the United Nations that it might be open to new arms inspections, and one goal of the Cheney trip is to make clear in the region that the United States would view any new inspections regime as meaningless unless it allowed "anytime, anywhere" inspections absent any preconditions from Baghdad.

Despite U.S. skepticism about the U.N. debate, from a political and diplomatic standpoint those discussions are viewed as a barrier to any immediate U.S. action.

"It is hard enough to build support for dealing with Iraq," said a U.S. official back in Washington. "Some of this is going to have to play its course and in the end could help strengthen our hand if Iraq is stalling or as we expect will not allow real inspections."

The official traveling with Cheney saluted Jordan's role as a member of the antiterror coalition, noting it has a mobile hospital in Afghanistan and has troops conducting de-mining operations there.

"They have been a big help in Afghanistan," the official said. "It is very positive to have an Arab member of the coalition with troops on the ground in Afghanistan."

U.S.-Jordanian relations are considered solid. Exports of Jordanian products to the United States have quadrupled as a result of a free trade agreement, and the United States is now Jordan's largest export market, the official said.

Washington views deeper economic ties as part of a long-term prescription for better relations in the Arab world, and Cheney's talks will include discussions with Egypt about advancing negotiations for a free trade agreement and with Saudi Arabia about its desire to join the World Trade Organization.

Egypt has been pushing to conclude the trade deal and has complained privately that President Bush has not made finishing those negotiations a priority because of his focus on a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.