Speech of His Majesty King Abdullah II On the Occasion of Army Day

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate

Dear Brothers,

May God Almighty give you strength and good health and many happy returns of Army Day, which is due after two days.

This is a blessed day, dear to every citizen, man and woman, in this country. It is dear to us because it is both the Army Day and the Great Arab Revolt's Day. On this day, we remember with pride the sacrifices of our forefathers, who communicated the Arab Revolt's message, contributed towards building this homeland and protecting it from all dangers and the adverse conditions it witnessed all through the past decades. And primary among those who contributed and protected are you, chevaliers, men and women, in our Armed Forces and Security Institutions, who vowed their lives to defend this homeland, and protect its march and achievements.

I wished I had the chance on this day to meet every soldier and every officer, to congratulate them and tell them many happy returns of the day, but work commitments do not allow that, so I ask every one of you to convey to his brothers and colleagues, in all their posts, my greetings and how proud I am of them, and how proud is every citizen of this country of every individual among these chevaliers, men and women, in the Armed Forces, the Arab Army and the Security Institutions.

We appreciate, brothers, the great responsibilities shouldered by the Arab Army and the security institutions, especially at this stage and under the conditions prevailing in the region around us. So, I want from every one of our chevaliers to be assured that we are keen on supplying our Armed Forces with all means of strength and all means of knowledge, training and arming, so that it will stay, as it has been always, a source of pride and a role model in its competency, professionalism and its capability to achieve set goals.

On the other hand, I want our chevaliers to be assured that I am personally keen on providing the decent life and standard of living that match their sacrifices and their honest devotion in the service of our homeland.

I am fully aware that the benefits and fruits of development should be available to benefit every citizen, man and woman, primary among them the sons of the Arab Army, General Security, General Intelligence and Civil Defence. And the positive effects march of reform, modernisation and development, in which we made great advances over the past years, should be reflected on the citizen's standard of living and his life style. Eventually, I directed the government to assign a percentage of the shares of companies that are to be privatised to the sons of the Armed Forces, Security Institutions and military retirees, and sell it to them at preferential rates while allowing them to settle their prices in an easy comfortable manner, so that will be a means for better income to soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces and the Security Institutions in the medium range and the long range.

I would like you to know, brothers, and I would like your brothers and colleagues who are not with us now to know that we achieved, over the past six years, several economic, social and political accomplishments. But there are still great challenges we have to face. We should work in the spirit of one team to stand up to these challenges and to seek suitable solutions to all our problems through quiet dialogue and constructive objective criticism that would serve the homeland's interests before anything else, not personal interests or private agendas.

Exchanging accusations, libelling, character assassination and belittling national achievements will only harm the bright image of our homeland and create obstacles to our march. So these practices should all be halted.

Reform, brothers, is a national programme which will never go backward; it is not connected with any individuals or any certain stage. Rather, it is a programme to build the model homeland where all citizens will be equal in rights and obligations, with no differentiation between one citizen and the other except by what every one of them gives to the homeland. This homeland should be a homeland of justice and equality, a homeland of freedom, pluralism and respect of the other opinion. And as you have always been the defenders of the homeland and the protectors of our march and achievements, you are today the safe hands that are capable of protecting the march of reform, modernisation and development, which constitute our path to achieving comprehensive development and realising the ambitions and aspirations of our people and dear country.

Again, brothers, I extend my greetings, feelings of pride and appreciation to all the chevaliers, men and women, in all their posts. Many happy returns of the day for you and for dear Jordan.

May God bless you and give you strength and good health.