Jordan's own 9-11

In the Middle East, dates are written with the month after the day, and this particular tidbit of information only makes the recent terrorist attacks in Jordan all the more tragically symbolic. On the ninth day of the eleventh month (November 9th, 2005), suicide bombers entered three hotels in Amman, Jordan, and detonated bombs that killed 56 people. They managed to kill good fundamentalist Muslims who hated the United States with a passion, and by doing so, they engaged in a rare public relations faux pas. The people of Jordan flooded the streets outside the hotels chanting "Burn in hell, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi!" in a demonstration that was astonishing due to the fact that it was organized by anti-Western Islamic hardline trade groups that have expressed sympathy and support for Al-Qaida and other Islamic terror groups in the past.

The Jordanian people found their own personal limit for terrorist activity on November 9th, because terrorism found its way to their doorsteps and neighborhoods with its insidious ways. No longer could they look at the television screen and cheer for the stretchers bearing wounded American civilians, because the images on the screen showed them the consequence of tolerating or endorsing terrorist activity for their own countrymen. Allah, it seems, is not without a sense of delicious irony.

Al-Qaida didn't attack an occupying force in this attack, it didn't assault a foe that was Western in origin, it instead attacked Arab Muslims in an ambush made all the more vicious by the messages Al-Qaida posted on the Internet afterwards. These messages justified the killing of Muslims because they lived in “a backyard garden for the enemies of the religion, Jews and crusaders ... a filthy place for the traitors ... and a center for prostitution.” Jordanians obviously did not agree with Al-Qaida's assessment of their homeland or the cold-blooded murders of their countrymen.

The "center of prostitution" was actually a wedding. Two individuals were about to be united in holy vows before their maker when they and their guests had their sacred ceremonies cut short by a suicide bomber. Not one Jew was listed amongst the casualties, which likely rendered the attack a total waste in the mind of even the most hardened terrorist. The vast majority of the victims were probably good solid Jew-hating Muslims who felt great glee when they viewed the images broadcast on Al-Jazeera of the effects of the Al-Qaida masterminded Iraqi insurrection. They did not deserve the fate that befell them. They certainly did not deserve to be slandered with invidious terms after their deaths.

This day will likely live on as the most maladroit moment in Al-Qaida's history. They slaughtered their political and spiritual base in these attacks, and they denigrated their victim's memories by labeling them as foes of Islam, Jews, and consorts of harlotry. Al-Zarqawi could possibly face pressure to resign by his colleagues, just as Trent Lott felt pressure from his colleagues to resign after his ringing endorsement of Strom Thurmond. Al-Qaida cannot afford to alienate the base on which it depends.

The public relations arm of Al-Qaida needs to spring forward to engage in damage control. They should find a willing cleric who will postulate some consolation prize for those who lost their relatives in the attacks. Extra virgins in paradise, perhaps? Who knows what conciliatory message will be crafted to assuage the current wrath of the Jordanian people towards Al-Qaida.

In the meantime, the countries of the Middle East should realize now more than ever what the leading cause of death for snake handlers happens to be (take a wild guess). Those countries who allow terror to flourish within their borders or who harbor and give safe passage to terrorist figures only set themselves up for grief at a later date. Al-Zarqawi spent three years in a Jordanian prison, but he was pardoned by the King. On November 9th, he showed the world his deep capacity for gratitude by killing 33 Jordanians and 23 other people of varying nationalities. His original sentence was fifteen years, and had he been held for the duration of his original prison term, these attacks would likely not have occurred.

Terrorism breeds instability and chaos wherever it is tolerated, and until recently Muslims have been willing to tolerate that instability and chaos so long as it was directed at Americans and Jews. Nowadays we see a new trend: terrorism is being used as a weapon against Muslims who apparently aren't Muslim enough to satiate the stringent requirements of men such as Al-Zarqawi. Perhaps Muslims will now realize that it does not pay to look with romanticism upon the antics of such men and their groups, because they might one day find themselves on the receiving end of an attack. We can only hope that this will be the case.