I think we learned something about the impact of our Iraq misadventure while we visited Jordan. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s modern history couldn’t be more complicated, having contained Iraq, Syria, the West Bank, and parts of Saudi Arabia at one time or another in the last fifty years. When we invaded Iraq, many upper class Iraqis fled to Jordan [holding Jordanian Passports from their previous Jordanian citizenship]. This massive infusion of moneyed Iraqis caused a surge in real estate prices, a housing bubble, that caused an economic crisis in the country [good for business, bad for people]. As the war continued, the savings of the Iraqis began to run out and they entered the job market – further exacerbating the economic downturn and resulting in high unemployment in Jordan. I didn’t understand all I heard, but I got the point that this infusion of Iraqis who are becoming permanent residents has displaced a lot of Jordanians. Unemployment reported is at 12+% but is apparently actually near 25% among native Jordanians [who were already competing with guest-workers mostly from Egypt]. Meanwhile, Iraq is losing a large segment of its business class as the war drags on and they settle into Jordan. Just another piece of the mess created by our invasion of Iraq.
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