Apr 30, 2006 10:20 pm US/Central
Daley Looks To Middle East For Security Insights
by Jay Levine
AMMAN, Jordan (CBS) ―
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Mayor Daley spent the day touring Amman, Jordan.
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"The Treasury" of Indiana Jones fame.
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Mayor Daley and his wife, Maggie, tour Amman, Jordan.
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Mayor Richard Daley is in the Middle East on a mission aimed at making Chicago safer.
The mayor hopes his counterparts in cities in Jordan and Israel can provide some insights into security.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine is with the mayor on his visit to Chicago's sister city, Amman, Jordan.
The timing for the visit may not be the best, but in this part of the world it rarely is.
Right now Jordan is in the midst of sensitive negotiations aimed at restarting the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.
King Abdullah met with Egypt's President Mubarak about it yesterday, yet still found time for dinner with the Daleys last night.
It was a royal arrival aboard an army helicopter ordered by the king.
There was special security from the U.S. Embassy and the Jordanians.
And a special tour of a world-famous archeological wonder Petra, where more than 2,000 years ago, a civilization created great works with little more than bare hands.
Like thousands of other tourists, the mayor, his wife and daughter posed for pictures and marveled at the ancient works.
It's hard not to be impressed by the intricate carvings on walls of the narrow Gorge or Siq, but nothing prepares you for the majesty of the huge temple sculpted into the face of a sheer cliff.
"You know the adjective breathtaking, that's what this is, it does take your breath away, don't you agree?" said the mayor's wife, Maggie Daley.
The mayor himself said what he saw here could be viewed as a lesson to all of us.
"We're still learning from that civilization and we think we have all the answers but we don't," Daley said.
In addition to sightseeing at Petra, a dip in the Dead Sea yesterday, and dinner with the king last night, there will be high level briefings on security in a very dangerous part of the world, and sister city events in Amman.
While Amman became a sister to Chicago just two years ago, there is another sister city established here decades ago -- long before there was an official designation. It's called Fuheis.
It's where we found a tiny church with a school welcoming Christians and Muslims. And a roomful of computers from Chicago.
"We had some computers, five computers, but it's very old, it's not very good, it's garbage," said Father Paul Haddad, a Jordanian priest.
The computers were donated by a dean at Robert Morris College in Chicago -- a man who went to this very school.
Mayor Daley's goal here is to expand the ties between Jordan and Chicago, and there's no shortage of issues he's ready to discuss with Jordan's new mayor.
"Affordable housing, economic development, airports, security, all the issues," Daley said.
Security is a main focus of the mayor's trip to Jordan and Israel. And with Jordan still reeling from bombings at three western hotel last year, it has been tightened considerably. The mayor will learn more about that on Monday.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
WEB EXTRA: Daley Visits Chicago's Sister City In Middle East
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