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Jordan's 9/11: A Look at the Motives and the Message

As terror and tragedy hit the headlines again, James Howarth looks at the motives, and the message, behind the bombs in Jordan. He also delves into the complex nature of the global jihadist movement.


James Howarth is an analyst for Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan and translator of Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden (Verso, 2005). He lives in Amman.

Jordan’s 9/11
James Howarth
10 - 11 - 2005

The Amman hotel bombs have ripped through peaceful Jordan. They represent a dangerous and potent fusion of domestic dissent, revulsion at American influence, Iraqi-influenced insurgent violence and global jihadism, writes James Howarth in Amman.

" You probably haven’t heard of Ahmed al-Khalayleh before. He used to work in a video store in Zarqa, a run-down urban sprawl outside of Amman, Jordan. But in the coming days you are about to hear a lot more about his vicious alter-ego, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the street gangster who found Islam and became the poster boy for the latest era of jihadi violence...

.....If Iraq has become global jihadism’s latest training-ground, assessing the after-effects of the invasion and occupation of that country may be the work of years. For the present, it seems that the people of Jordan are also paying the price. Although uttered in an entirely different context, the words of Martin Luther King seem eerily prescient as the regional consequences of the Iraq misadventure continue to unfold: “If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.” " Read this article from Open Democracy....

This article originally appeared on openDemocracy.net under a Creative Commons licence. To view the original article, please click here.

posted by Annamarie at 11:05 PM