His Majesty King Abdullah II Wednesday affirmed that we are in harmony with ourselves and with our people who reject the invasion of Iraq. Jordan has not been and will not be a base to strike at brotherly Iraq, neither will its airspace be used in the war on Iraq, King Abdullah said in an interview with Jordan News Agency - Petra.

"I am a Muslim, an Arab and a Hashemite and nobody can outbid my keenness towards my people and nation," the King said.

"We are keen that our historical relations with the brotherly Iraqi people remain strong now and in the future," His Majesty said.

He also stressed that no country has sided with Iraq as we have and we still reject this war.

His Majesty said that Jordan has used all its good offices with the influential countries in the world in order to avert this day where we see brotherly Iraq exposed to invasion.

"We have faced a lot of problems due to our stand in rejecting the war and advocating a peaceful settlement to the crisis within the UN," he added.

His Majesty affirmed that the Iraqi people is the party who has the right to choose their leadership. "As we believe in democracy and in the people's right of choosing their leaderships, we can not imagine that any people could accept a leadership that is imposed on them from outside," His Majesty said.

Violence can only beget violence and extremism, the King affirmed.

We have urged and still urge for eliminating mass destruction weapons from all countries, not from one particular country, in order to make the Middle East region free of such weapons, His Majesty affirmed.

The King described as groundless the reports that Jordanian airspace is used to strike at Iraq. We are not a party to this war, he said.

Our position is clear and candid, Jordan has not been and will not be a launch pad to strike Iraq, he stressed. Had our airspace been used to strike Iraq, we would not have allowed civilian planes to fly freely in our airspace, His Majesty clarified.

“Frankly speaking, we have been asked to open our airspace for military airplanes, but we firmly rejected that,” he said.

His Majesty said that he heard from the media about plans to move U.S. troops, supposed to attack Iraq, from Turkey to Jordan to carry out the same mission. “Such an issue was never suggested and we will never allow it to happen,” the King said.

"We are in harmony with ourselves and with our people who reject and condemned the invasion,” His Majesty said. “How would we allow ourselves to participate in this war,” he wondered.

About the existence of Israeli troops in Jordan, His Majesty said it is shameful and dangerous to hear such talk from some Arab mass media. There are no Israeli troops in Jordan, and we will not accept, in any way, the existence of such troops on our territories, he affirmed.

His Majesty expressed confidence in the Jordanian people that distinguish facts from allegations, which only aim at maiming our stand as well as our people's position towards our brethren in Iraq.

Concerning Jordan's expelling of Iraqi diplomats, His Majesty said that the government has clarified the causes behind such measure and I do not want to comment on this issue. His Majesty pointed out that the diplomats misused their diplomatic mission, but he urged to overcome this issue. His Majesty said that he instructed the government to offer facilities to brotherly Iraqis coming to or leaving Jordan in order to help them overcome this ordeal.