Amman Bombs Churned Local Emotions

The New York Times

November 17, 2005
Amman Bombs Churned Local Emotions
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and MONA EL-NAGGAR

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 16 - By every measure, it would seem that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, should be roundly vilified in Jordan after having taken responsibility for sending suicide bombers into three hotels here last week, killing 58 people and injuring many others.

But it is not that way - not nearly, according to interviews over the past week with dozens of people throughout this city. While the death and destruction are indisputable, perceptions of what actually happened often shift based on individual religious, social and political orientation.

And that, many officials say, is why it is so difficult to end widespread public sympathy for radical Islamic terror groups.

"No one sympathizes or supports these people in killing innocents, no one," said Faten Ahmed, 42, dressed in a long coat and head scarf as she stepped from her home. "But there is a doubt whether it is really them to begin with or not."

While no one in Jordan has publicly applauded the bombings - indeed, many have condemned them - reaction has highlighted divisions in this society.

Those in upscale neighborhoods, like Abdoun, for example, have waved flags and festooned their cars with pro-Jordanian banners, while residents of more depressed neighborhoods, like the Palestinian refugee camp at Al Wehdat, have joked that there is finally some benefit to being poor: the attacks occurred in hotels they could never afford to set foot in.

"There are those who support and those who do not support what happened," said Jihad Jasser, 32, as he watched his workers sew up a blanket he was making in a small workshop in Al Wehdat. Mr. Jasser said he was against what happened because it had hurt his business. "This is the beginning of winter, when there should be a large demand for blankets, but things slowed down instead since the bombings."

In this environment, questions that seem to have straightforward answers, like "Who is an innocent victim and who is to blame?" are instead argued. They have become tangled in the complex debates that have pulled at the fabric of Jordanian society for many years: What does it mean to be a Jordanian? Who is a good Muslim?

"People with American-style living, American-style dreams, who are against revolutionary thinking, they are against this," said Marwan Shahadeh, a writer who in the early 1980's was a co-founder of the militant group Islamic Jihad in Jordan before he came to reject violence as a means to promote change. "If they are for Al Qaeda, and they believe that the real target is the Mossad or C.I.A., and innocent people are killed, they don't really care. If they are innocent people, they will go to God and he will judge them."

There is no doubt that Mr. Zarqawi, and the Qaeda network in general, have lost support among Jordanians. A recent poll in the newspaper Al Ghad reported that 86 percent of respondents condemned Al Qaeda.

But the change in opinion is not necessarily resolute.

"I personally used to support them before, like any other Arab citizen, at least emotionally," Fady al-Moumani, 27, a computer engineer, said as he played chess in a downtown cafe. "But after the Amman bombings, I am starting to question."

Across the city, there were people who seemed to be reaching for rationales to keep an open mind about Mr. Zarqawi - at least the Mr. Zarqawi who has fought against the American occupation of Iraq.

Over and over people said they simply did not believe Mr. Zarqawi was behind the Amman bombings. Or if he was, they condemned him for that, while still holding out support for his anti-American activities. Although Jordan remains one of America's closest allies in the region, the anti-American sentiment fueled by the occupation of Iraq and by Washington's support for Israel is pervasive.

Some people said they doubted the authenticity of a videotaped confession broadcast on Jordanian television that showed a woman identified as the fourth bomber confessing to taking part in the crime.

The woman, Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, 35, was recorded saying that she tried to detonate her belt in the Radisson SAS Hotel, but that it failed and so she ran off. Authorities said she was arrested Sunday.

"The whole thing was an act because there were no details," said Muhammad Hady al-Baba, 43, owner of a small grocery store. "None of this will have its toll on the way Zarqawi is perceived because people aren't convinced that he is the one behind it."

In the days immediately after the attacks the streets were filled with people who condemned the violence, and while the government helped organize the demonstrations, much of the outpouring appeared sincere. Families with small children joined vigils around the city, and young and old marched together waving flags and chanting slogans against Mr. Zarqawi.

Officials said they hoped this marked a turning point in Jordan, and throughout the Muslim world, where the so-called silent majority would rise up against Islamic extremism. Polls fueled the optimism.

But King Abdullah II said in an interview on Tuesday that he expected it would take years to overcome the extremist ideology that has infiltrated Islamic societies. He said he was talking about a concept known as takfir, which in effect allows self-anointed judges, like Mr. Zarqawi, to excommunicate anyone they deem impious, then kill them.

"We have this major conflict inside Islam between this sort of takfiri ideology and what we are trying to do, which is to galvanize the silent majority, which is unfortunately the ones that are for many reasons sitting on the fence, not willing to take a stand," he said.

 

But here's some evidence of the quiet emotional support that existed for Al qaeda - probably to a lesser degree now...