Intelligence

Jordan a Target Because of Links to U.S.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Jordan a Target Because of Links to U.S.

Saturday November 12, 2005 9:31 PM
By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Squeezed in a precarious corner in the volatile Mideast, tightly secured Jordan enjoyed a kind of calm its blood-soaked neighbors Israel and Iraq could only dream of. But this week's triple hotel bombings in Amman shattered that illusion.

Perhaps most surprising is that such attacks have not happened before, because Jordan presents any number of reasons why al-Qaida in Iraq might single it out as a target.

Jordan has been a key backstage support for U.S. and other international operations during the Iraq war. For the past several years, it has carried out a crackdown on Islamic militants - including members of al-Qaida in Iraq. It is a longtime U.S. ally, it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, and its King Abdullah II has been a vocal proponent of religious moderation.

Moreover, al-Qaida in Iraq's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is Jordanian and has spent time in the country's prisons.

Al-Qaida in Iraq said it attacked three Western-operated hotels Wednesday because Jordan was ``a backyard garden for the enemies of the religion, Jews and Crusaders ... a filthy place for the traitors ... and a center for prostitution.''

Its Internet claim said the attacks put Washington on notice that the ``camp for the Crusader army is now in the range of fire of the holy warriors.''

Since the 2003 invasion that toppled Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Jordan has played a low-key, but vital role as the doorstep into Iraq.

U.S. military officials enjoy brief respites from Iraq's battlefield, rubbing shoulders in Amman's British-style bars and trendy nightclubs with foreign diplomats and secret service agents from countries like the United States, Israel, Britain, France and Russia. Some watering holes have hired Iraqi, Eastern European and Russian women to work as barmaids and, in many cases, prostitutes.

Diplomats and many foreign workers for non-governmental organizations have fled Iraq to operate out of Amman due to the campaign of kidnappings, beheadings and suicide bombings by al-Qaida in Iraq.

Jordan played a key role in the U.S.-led war, too, offering logistical facilities to American forces. It now hosts the U.S.-led training of Iraqi army and police recruits, aimed at building up Iraqi forces to help quell the insurgency waged by al-Zarqawi followers and Saddam loyalists.

Amman, a city of 1.8 million people, has become a hub for international conferences on war-ravaged Iraq's reconstruction. And Jordan's relative security is also valuable to foreign intelligence services monitoring Mideast hotspots like Israel, Iraq and Iran.

Jordan's own fierce intelligence agency is considered by the United States and other countries to be the region's most efficient. It has boasted foiling numerous terror plots and attacks blamed on al-Zarqawi and Saudi militant Osama Bin Laden in recent years.

In August, Jordan's sole sea outlet, Aqaba, was attacked by militants - believed to be al-Qaida operatives - who fired three Katyusha rockets. One narrowly missed U.S. Navy warships docked in its harbor, while another landed in neighboring Israel's seaport of Eilat.

One of the most serious, yet bungled, threats was a planned chemical attack on the Amman headquarters of Jordan's General Intelligence Department, which officials said would have killed thousands if not foiled in April 2004.

The prime suspect in the plot, Azmi al-Jayousi, reportedly told interrogators al-Zarqawi bore a personal grudge against his homeland's government, ordering al-Jayousi to put aside all other plans, including attacking Israel, and focus on targeting Jordan's intelligence services.

Al-Zarqawi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head by the U.S. military, was jailed for four years in Jordan for militant activities before being freed in 1999.

He may also be aiming to silence Jordan's rulers, who are vocal opponents of his fanatic ``takfiri'' ideology, bent on killing anybody considered an infidel.

Jordan, whose Hashemite rulers trace their lineage back to Islam's 7th century Prophet Muhammad, has a moderate approach to Islam and politics. Deputy Premier Marwan Muasher said after Wednesday's attacks that Jordan is paying the price for promoting a ``true version of Islam'' calling for respect for diversity and religious, social and political openness.

``That is in direct contradiction with the policies of hatred that Mr. al-Zarqawi and his likes are trying to propagate,'' he said.

November 13, 2005 at 01:05 AM in Middle East | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home