User:Jordansons/Mustafa Queisi



Mustafa Abdel-Karim Abdel-Qader Queisi (born on 10 October 1937-1 December 2019) is a significant Jordanian political and security figure who is known for his position as the Director of the Jordanian General Intelligence Department. This is considered to be the most senior security position in Jordan. He also held other political and advisory positions, and is widely renowned as one of the most prominent figures in the era of the late King Al-Hussein Bin Talal. "Rai Al-Youm" newspaper described him after his departure as 'a myth of security and patriotic work, and as one of the most prominent pillars of the reign of King Hussein Bin Talal'.

Queisi was born in the Thiban Brigade in the governorate of Madaba, on 10 October 1937, and departed in Amman on 1 December 2019. He has four sons (Mazen, Munther, Makram, and Muhammad Mumtaz) and two daughters, (Maysa and Maisoon).

Career
After graduating from Al-Hussein College in Amman, Queisi joined the Royal Police College and then worked as an officer in the General Security. He then transitioned to the General Intelligence Department, where he worked as an officer and advanced in leadership positions until he obtained the rank of First Team.

He took over the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate from 1989 to 1996, which is considered the most significant period in the modern political history of Jordan. This is due to the internal political, social, economic and security events that occurred during this period, as well as the political transformations in the region which include the second Gulf War.

As part of appreciation for his pivotal role and his contributions during that period, King Hussein chose him, on 4 February 1996, to be an advisor to His Majesty and a reporter for the State Security Council with the rank of Minister. This position is considered to be one of the most delicate positions in the security and political dimensions at the advisory level.

In 2001, Queisi was appointed as a member of the nineteenth Jordanian Senate, which is the council that plays a legislative advisory role at the national level, and it includes an elite group of politicians and national figures, called the "King's Council."

In the government of Engineer Ali Abu Al-Ragheb, Queisi was chosen to enter the government formation as Minister of State for Prime Minister Affairs between 2002 and 2003, noting that he and the former Director of Intelligence, Nazir Rashid, were the only two intelligence directors who held ministerial positions in Jordanian government in the last years of the late King Hussein bin Talal’s reign and throughout the years of the rule of King Abdullah II.

During his tenure as Minister of State for Prime Minister Affairs, Queisi supervised important files, of which, the most prominent was on the issuing of bank facilities, as well as many other files relating to national security and fighting corruption, which were handed to Queisi because of the distinguished capabilities, professionalism, honesty and courage that the first team held.

Security and Political Positions
Queisi emerged early in his career as an officer in the General Intelligence, and his name appeared in many stations and events that Jordan witnessed at the security and political levels, which made his name known and frequently referred to by the political elites and national figures during important periods that Jordan has lived.

On the security level, Queisi’s name was associated with historical events that established him in the memory of the Jordanians, especially due to his role in the early seventies in which Jordanians lived unfortunate security incidents, and with the emergence of his role during the third government of the martyr Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tal; which was formed in October 1970 until the assassination of Al-Tal in Cairo on 28 of November 1971.

During that exceptional period in the history of the Kingdom, Queisi knew that due to the existential threat it carried, that he was riding a wave of danger, which dominated the country at that time. He himself, crossed the road leading to the house of the late Al-Tal in the Al-Kamaliyah area in Sweileh, to inform him of the security and political developments, in a national mission entrusted to Queisi, when he still held a ‘commander’ office in the Jordanian intelligence service at the time.

The emergence of the celebrated Quesi, as described many of the men of Jordan ‘the brilliant officer’, did not stop at that stage, but rather became more apparent in pivotal events in which he led security crisis’s. Most significant is his success in thwarting plans targeting the Jordanian national security (which reflected the sophistication and security acumen that Queisi became known for).

In this context, Queisi has been attributed thwarting the attempt to bomb the premiership during the government of the late Prime Minister Ahmed Al-Lawzi, as Quesi was at the time, the commander of the security cell that thwarted the terrorist plot, and as a result, "Abu Dawood" and his cohorts were arrested by the General Intelligence Department. To add, Queisi and his colleague at the time; the later General Marwan Kotaishat, led an important security and intelligence role in thwarting the attempt to blow up the late King Hussein's plane in 1977.

On the political level, the period in which Queisi held the position of ‘Director of General Intelligence’ carried major political events in the history of modern Jordan and other countries at the regional level, including the democratic changes in the year 1989 (a popular political subject in that period). Queisi lead this period’s security mission in a balanced manner, and because of this important step, the country moved towards broadening its democratic horizons, as well as broadening Jordan’s democratic image internationally.

The supervisory role, which was closer to the democratic rather than the security sector, represented a platform under which the Jordanian state succeeded in crossing and organizing the first parliamentary elections after the abolition of martial law. This matter received local and international affirmation and was absent from criticism even among the partisan and political opposition, whose representatives reached the Parliament.

This security success in ensuring the integrity and success of the elections drew attention to Queisi, whom demonstrated the ability and potential to ensure compatibility and conformity of the security forces with politicians, far from the image of contradiction or competition that impressionably ruled the relationship between them. Observers and politicians who lived the details of that period confirm that Queisi was amongst the options for nomination for the position of Prime Minister, which the late King Hussein was keen to choose carefully due to the sensitivity and requirements of that period.

However, the late King Hussein, as many say, went for a more important strategic choice from a national security perspective and insisted on Queisi to remain in office for additional year. Remaining in office allowed him to witness the 1993 parliamentary elections while he was at the head of the security establishment.

Observers and politicians talk about that period, by highlighting that Queisi combined the vision of the security forces with the requirements of the politicians, especially since the requirements for entering the stage of democratic transition had to be accompanied by security measures that would not have taken place without the security establishment's understanding of it. This includes decisions that affected the return of the passports of thousands of people which were reserved at the customary stage, or lifting barriers to work and travel, and openness to partisan and political groups in Jordan including licensing them and turning them into a legitimate component.

Facing Regional Challenges
The prominent role that Queisi held, was not limited to stations, stages, and issues related to the local Jordanian affairs, or limited to security issues, but rather on the basis of the national responsibility entrusted to the General Intelligence Department in that period.

From this standpoint, Queisi dealt during that period with the repercussions of the regional challenges that accompanied and followed the first Gulf War (the occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and the Second Gulf War 1991), especially since the political and diplomatic relations witnessed a state of near stalemate with some countries, as a result of misunderstanding about the situation. To add, during that period, the pace of international efforts intensified towards resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially since the United States tried, after the second Gulf War, to support options for peace negotiations and to launch the Madrid Peace Conference; a stage that required Jordan to fully prepare for what will follow these events, in order to reach Oslo and then the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty in 1994.

At the time, the General Intelligence Department played a pivotal role. Although it was not overt, it supported diplomatic and political roles of the Jordanian state in achieving and preserving the supreme interests of patriotism.

In addition to all these important challenges, addressing the threat of terrorism, which represented an external threat to the Kingdom at the time, did not retreat from the ladder of Jordanian intelligence priorities, especially since the period that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the return of those called by the Afghan mujahideen. To add, the emergence of groups with new political ideologies, which formed as a result of the divisions in the Gulf War, and whom sought to gain the Nile from Jordan. The security, stability, and the intelligence apparatus, under the leadership of Queisi, responded efficiently and thwarted all these attempts.

Testimonies and Opinions
It is not easy to give a testimony on a security man, especially in the Arab region. Nonetheless, the presence of Queisi in the Jordanian political scene, and his dealings with it from a comprehensive national security perspective, prompted many political and media elites to write about him, specifically after his departure.

Many testimonies were recorded of Queisi with respect to his security persona and his humility and human compassion. In addition to his personal and professional features that Queisi was known for during his numerous security, political and advisory positions. In an article titled “The Adults Are Not Absent”, in the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad, he was described by the political writer Maher Abu Tei as “a rare type of individual, from a school that respects its political and military position, and does not utter a bad word of the country, and does not spread a secret. His way of analyzing any existing situation and managing different positions was through  dialogue, rationality, calmness and giving and taking with all people. He was always fully present, with his personality, expertise, good morals, kindness and humility with his neighbors, his family, his acquaintances and everyone who knew him. In his most important position he was a policymaker, by what the word meant politically and technically.”

The writer Abd Al-Hadi Raji Al-Majali described him as “a man who came in a time of war, and gunpowder ... His military background was not full of prosperity and comfort, and he lived a period of his life under danger .. and he expected a treacherous shot at any moment, as he was moving in Amman. Riding in his (Fox Vagin) car ... he fights the night and sometimes the night fights him, and he does not know ... on which palm fate will carry, the palm of salvation ... or the palm of assassination."

In Broteraih titled “Al-Qaisi ... Rafiq Wasfi and Failed the Bombing of King Al-Hussein's plane and other things,” Ali Saadeh wrote, “Mustafa Queisi is a fighter and self-made man, who grew up in Jabal Al-Qala in Amman even though he was born in Thiban in Madaba. He depended on himself to reach the presidency of one of the powerful intelligence agencies in the region and the world. Abu Mazen, while working in the intelligence apparatus as an officer, supervised sensitive security operations as a professional officer during a difficult period in Jordan’s history, especially in the seventies of the last century.

Writer Basem Sakijha, described him as “a professional intelligence man whose experience and profession have brought him to the most prestigious sites, but when you were sitting with him or seeing him driving his car himself, or walking on a street, you would never know that this person is the owner of that site, and it is not in the margins of speech to remind that he has led the intelligence apparatus for more than six years, which were among the fiercest in our history, during the first Gulf War, and the repercussions of the April, Madrid, Oslo and Wadi Araba bombings, and others.”

The Departure of the First Team of Queisi
General Queisi departed in his country, Jordan, on 1 December 2019. One of his last activities included receiving His Majesty King Abdullah II, who visited him in his home in Mahes on May 2019, to check on him and his health as a result of his illness. His Majesty King Abdullah II also honored him after his departure by attending alongside his son The Crown Prince Hussein, the house of mourning to express his condolences and sympathies to the Queisi family and clan.

The scene of honoring the first team member, Mustafa Queisi, was majestic, amid an official and popular presence; reflecting the appreciation, respect and appreciation of the late Basha. Where thousands of people mourned the body of the former intelligence chief, General Mustafa Queisi, in a solemn military funeral. The General was carried on the shoulders of comrades from the Jordanian Armed Forces after the afternoon prayers on Monday 2nd December 2019, when the body set off from the Medical City to the Sahab Mosque, where the prayer took place. It was then transferred to its resting place; in the family cemetery in Sahab.

The senior advisor of His Majesty King Abdullah II for Cultural and Religious Affairs, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad’s personal envoy, participated in the funeral ceremony, where he, along with the sons of the deceased, carried the coffin on his shoulder and lowered it to his place in appreciation and loyalty to Queisi, who was always in the service of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Distinctions
·      Jordanian Renaissance Medal of the first class

·      Jordanian Planet Medal of the first class

·      Jordanian Independence Medal of the first class

In addition to several medals from different classes awarded to Al-Qaisi during his long career.