Suicide Bombers Kill 57 at Jordan Hotels

[SlowwHand]

I don't think it's better at all that they bombed a Muslim country.
What I do think is that it's a sign of desperation in targeting our friends, and that makes me angry.
I view world events exactly as I view my personal life.
I don't want to be accosted myself, but I prefer that to my friends being accosted on my account.

[Arrian]

****, I just heard about this. Ugh. Having recently celebrating my own wedding, just reading this part

One of the blasts took place inside a wedding hall where 300 guests were celebrating.

turned my stomach. Not that the rest didn't, I guess, but I had a more visceral reaction to the wedding thing.

****ing animals.

-Arrian

[C0ckney]

[lord of the mark]

sorry for the people of Jordan.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ramo
The targets may have been Iraqi politicians. The Grand Hyatt was known for that, and apparantly Hakim (leader of SCIRI, the most important party in Iraq) had a recent meeting at an Amman hotel.

the hotels are also frequented by American, Israelis, and by Palestinian security officials, two of whom were apparently killed.

Though I note Juan Cole mentions the Iraq connection.

[our_man]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/10/jordan.blasts/index.html

The Jordanians aren't very happy at all with their most famous son.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi must be one major headache for al Qaeda's spin doctors. He's the kid that hangs around with the bullys but is always considered to be the one who goes 'a bit too far'. It's one thing killing infidels, but butchering Allah's own people isn't going down too well with his core demographic in the Middle East. The guy is a case study in psychosis.

This is a tragic event, but I believe it's going to have a greater effect on whittling away sympathy for the 'mujahideen' in the Middle East than any of the bombings in the West have.

[DanS]

To be clear, the majority of the Jordanian people support palestinian terrorism (polls have consistently shown this), so my sympathy only goes so far. One of the ironies here is that 4 palestinians were killed in the blast, including the head of palestinian MI.

[our_man]

Originally posted by DanS
To be clear, the majority of the Jordanian people support palestinian terrorism (polls have consistently shown this), so my sympathy only goes so far. One of the ironies here is that 4 palestinians were killed in the blast, including the head of palestinian MI.

Are you sure they're all Jordanians though? You have to remember that a large porportion of the population is made up of Palestinian refugees who might have skewed the result if they were allowed to vote.

Besides, Jordan itself is one of the few Arab regimes that doesn't want to do... unpleasant things to Israel. That must be worth something, right?

[DanS]

I have had lots of respect for the Jordanian kings, who have been pragmatists of the highest order. They seem to have the well-being of the Jordanian people in their minds.

Unfortunately, the Jordanian people are pretty radical on some things, including support for terrorism against civilian targets. You are correct that there is a large contingent of palestinian refugees, but the numbers are such that they don't dominate the polls.

See, e.g., the numbers regarding Jordanian support for OBL.

http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=248

[KrazyHorse]

30% Palestinian refugee (more properly 30% refugee or descendant of refugees)

That's pretty significant.

[DanS]

Yes, it's significant.

[KrazyHorse]

Not that their origin matters too much, because I'm pretty sure that they're not going anywhere...

[aneeshm]

Hmm . . . . . suggestive .

Does this mean that if the rest of the world makes their security sufficiently tight , the terrorists will focus more on Muslim countries ? If that is so , then the rest of the world should definitely get down to tightening its security .

[SlowwHand]

Assuming that polls and statistics mean anything, the next logical assumption is that the bombing of civilians was acceptable.
Correct?
Do you really want to get started down this road?

[Zkribbler]

Al Qaeda made a major strategic mistake.

IMHO, they've been making signficant headway is getting Muslims to view the War on Terror -- especially our invasion of Iraq -- as a struggle of Christianity vs. Islam or America vs. the Arab nations. This bloody massacre of peaceful Muslims (including a wedding) again unmasks this conflict as one of fanatical barbarians vs. civilization.