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The Al Karana Post
An Online Report from the Jordan-Iraq Border
This essay was filed for npr.org by NPR correspondent Jackie Northam from the Jordan-Iraq border.
April 6, 2003 --
There is only one point over hundreds of miles of desert that marks where Jordan ends and Iraq begins. The Al Karana post sits on harsh, wind-swept land, and is nothing more than a couple of run-down immigration and customs booths nudged under two huge cement arches.
Al Karana also lacks the high drama of other border posts in the south and north of Iraq, where any movement, by Western troops or of humanitarian aid, is recorded, analyzed and beamed all over the world. It may be quieter at the Al Karana crossing, but it still gets swept up in the dynamics of the war in neighboring Iraq.
In the weeks leading up to the military action, international aid agencies began to prepare for a flood of refugees, expected to cross at Al Karana. High-tech refugee camps, capable of holding more than 20,000 people, were set up, complete with flush toilets and street lights. So far, only about 300 migrant workers from Sudan, Somalia and Egypt have straggled across the border. Not one Iraqi has shown up to register as a refugee.
The United Nations says, normally, there is a lag time from when a conflict starts until the first refugee shows up in a neighboring country. The theory is that most Iraqis, especially in Baghdad, have stockpiled food and water. They've become battle-hardened from years of war and conflict in their country and can simply wait it out longer than most. The dearth of refugees has the aid agencies -- all primed to help -- twiddling their thumbs and scratching their collective heads.
What's even more confounding is that aid workers are witnessing a counter-flow at Al Karana. Jordan's Ministry of Information says more than 7,000 Iraqis have crossed the Jordanian border, going in the opposite direction. Many of the Iraqis say they're going home to fight what they refer to as "invading forces." Others want to be with their families and make sure their homes and property aren't confiscated. Nowadays, the Jordanian officials at Al Karana are stamping more exit documents than entry visas.
The border has also become a magnet for hundreds of foreign journalists who saw Jordan and the Al Karana crossing as a door to Iraq. Once the war started, they hoped to charge across the western Iraqi desert to Baghdad, propelled by visions of Pulitzers and best sellers.
At least that was the plan. But the Jordanian government sealed the area and no journalist without an Iraqi visa is allowed to cross the border, and Baghdad isn't issuing many visas nowadays. The Jordanian government hasn't issued an official explanation for closing the area, but it's clear that Amman is deferring to the U.S. military about when and if to open the border.
More 2,000 American troops are around the border area, to man Patriot anti-missile batteries, and to secure airfields and search for scud launchers on the Iraqi side of the post. Even now, weeks after the Jordanian government finally admitted American troops were here, spotting a member of the Special Ops -- like some rare, crested bird -- can create a ripple of excitement through the press corps.
That's probably because the media doesn't have a lot else to do. The closest they can get to the border is a town called Ruweished, a straight shot 45 miles west of Al Karana. The foreign press corps, complete with flak jackets and beefed-up four-wheel drive vehicles, descended on this dusty backwater the day after the bombing in Iraq started. They rented local houses at extortionate rates, set up their satellite dishes, and waited, all the time looking towards Al Karana.
Slowly, the journalists started drifting back to Amman, where they sit in the hotel lobbies and restaurants, looking more crestfallen as each day passes. They are simply in the wrong country. Given all their skill, equipment and audacity, they still haven't been able to get through the dilapidated border post at Al Karana.
In Depth
 Hear NPR reports by Jackie Northam.
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