ABSTRACT
Generally, one can say that for the period under discussion the attitude of the officers and NCOs was clearly of two kinds. On the one hand, the tribesman-beduin in the Legion (overwhelmingly in Infantry and Armour) understood loyalty in personal terms, not on any higher institutional level. The attitude of hadari officers and NCOs, on the other hand, is both more complex and difficult to deal with, as well as more crucial to any political involvement of the military. This chapter illustrates the political involvement of army officers in conspiracies against the regime by a brief account of the Abdullah al-Tel incident in 1948, before looking at the role of the Legion in supporting the regime against civil disturbances. So far the Jordan army and government have managed to maintain the stability of the country as well as the precarious truce on the border with Israel—two issues that are inexorably related to one another.
