Anger Over Iraq Leads Some (in Jordan) To Take Pleasure in Hotel Blasts

Abu Ali, a solidly built man with a beard and permanent grease stains under his nails from his job as a truck mechanic, was pleased when he heard about the hotel bombings in his country.

Speaking solemnly, looking around to see who might be listening to him, Abu Ali said he had been waiting for something like this to happen ever since his country allowed U.S. troops to assemble on Jordanian soil during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Nov. 9 suicide blasts in Amman that killed 60 people, most of them Jordanians, were justifiable payback, said Abu Ali, who lives in a small suburb of this ancient city near the Syrian border. He can muster little sympathy for the victims.

But men such as Abu Ali and Moussa say they see no distinction. To each other, they declare support for Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian whose al Qaeda in Iraq organization asserted responsibility for the attacks in Amman on the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn, all Western hotel chains.

"This was a message from Zarqawi and his guys: The Americans should leave Iraq. As long as they stay, it's legitimate to hit them anywhere. The innocent people who died, they are the casualties of war."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112001015.html

Disclaimer: Jordan hotel bombing - Zarkawi killed again - Wash Post (home of Woodward) - these all mean this story is likely propoganda.

Regardless of the veracity of the implication that a significant number of Jordanians sympathize with the insurgency, this particular scenario was as predictable as any of the rest of this ill-fated war of agression.

The Iraq war must have opened up huge divisions in the society. Many of the hotel bombing accounts imply at least some level of cooperation of the security services there. The barrage of propaganda about Zaqari makes me think it is papering over a very deep division. Bush may have another civil war going soon.

On edit: This is interesting:
"Abu Ali said he has shared his feelings only with his friend Moussa, a human resources manager who lives with his new bride in Irbid. "He knew he could talk to me," Moussa recounted as the two men stood outside the auto shop where Abu Ali works. "We have the same opinions." Fearful of retaliation from the Jordanian intelligence service, the men agreed to talk to a reporter only if their full names were not used and the village where they grew up was not named."

I would say that official news from Jordan is likely to be unreliable, as far as reflecting how the population feels.

But good information is hard to come by, it's all slanted.

of the Bush Administration serve to unite not divide.

:sarcasm:

The effects are being felt in Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and such far-flung places as Bali, Algeria and Indonesia.

Would these bombings have happened if Iraq had not been invaded? I say, probably not. The anger of Muslims over this illegal invasion and occupation is a very powerful incentive to organize and strike back at any westerner who in any way supported this war.