Jordanians Tell al-Zarqawi: 'Burn in Hell'

Eli Lake, The New York Sun:

Jordanian secret police have fanned out around the city in the first phase of a new war on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after his organization yesterday claimed credit for the triple suicide bombings Wednesday that killed 56 people, including two Americans.

The effects of the bombings are reverberating in a city that until this week was relatively untouched by the rising tide of terror in the region following the liberation of Iraq. A statement posted yesterday by Al Qaeda in Iraq singled out Jordan for its recent support for the elected government in Iraq.

"Let the tyrant of Jordan know that the protecting walls for the Jews built in Jordan and the backyard camp for the Crusaders' army is now in the range of fire of the mujahedeen," the statement read. Mr. al-Zarqawi's organization also boasted that the three targeted Western hotels were chosen in part because "they were made by the tyrant of Jordan as a backyard garden for the enemies of the religion - Jews and crusaders - and a filthy place for the traitors of this nation and a safe haven for the infidels' Mukhabarat that run conspiracies against the Muslims and a center for prostitution."

But Mr. al-Zarqawi may have made a serious blunder in his attack at the center of the Hashemite Kingdom, a country whose populace until now has been favorably disposed to his car bombers and insurgents at war with the government in Baghdad and the American military. Only three hours after the blasts Wednesday, Jordanians began peaceful marches in solidarity with the victims, with thousands rallying here and in other cities shouting, "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!" READ MORE

The bombing at the Radisson SAS Hotel killed the father of the bride at a wedding reception attended by many notables in Arab society. Among the guests at the wedding was the daughter of a well-known Syrian filmmaker, Mustafa Akkad, as well as a chief executive at the Cairo-Amman Bank and two dozen Palestinian Arabs with roots in the West Bank, according to the Associated Press.

The attack has prompted the Israelis and Americans to press for even closer security cooperation with Jordan and other countries in the region, according to diplomatic sources. In a condolence call to King Abdullah, Prime Minister Sharon personally raised the prospect of renewed efforts to share intelligence and expertise in fighting against Mr. al-Zarqawi's organization.

Mr. al-Zarqawi is already a wanted man here, but nonetheless intelligence sources say one of his wives this summer was able to sneak out of his hometown of Zarqa and slip through the border with Iraq to see her husband.

[Yesterday, according to the Associated Press, security forces snared a group of Iraqis for questioning, and officials said one of the bombers spoke Iraqi-accented Arabic before he exploded his suicide belt in the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

In the West Bank village of Silet al-Thaher, members of the Akhras family mourned 13 of their relatives killed during a wedding party at the Radisson.

"Oh my God, oh my God. Is it possible that Arabs are killing Arabs, Muslims killing Muslims? For what did they do that?" screamed 35-year-old Najah Akhras, who lost two nieces in the attack. Similar thoughts were heard over and over throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

But later yesterday, in an apparent response to the protests, Mr. Zarqawi's group took the rare step of trying "to explain for Muslims part of the reason the holy warriors targeted these dens."

"Let all know that we have struck only after becoming confident that they are centers for launching war on Islam and supporting the Crusaders' presence in Iraq and the Arab peninsula and the presence of the Jews on the land of Palestine," Al Qaeda in Iraq said in an Internet statement, the authenticity of which could not be immediately verified by the AP.

The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, condemned the Amman attacks and said they put Jordan on notice against harboring terrorists.

"Unfortunately, there are still some groups in Jordan supporting terrorist criminals, describing them as the resistance, and they are deceived by their claims," Mr. Talabani said in Rome.

Two daughters of ousted leader Saddam Hussein now live in Jordan, as do many other wealthy and formerly powerful Iraqis.

"I hope that these attacks will wake up the 'Jordanian street' to end their sympathy with Saddam's remnants ... who exploit the freedom in this country to have a safe shelter to plot their criminal acts against Iraqis," an Iraqi government spokesman, Laith Kubba, said.

He also said Iraqis may have had a hand in the attacks.

President Bush said the attackers defiled Islam, and America would help bring those responsible to justice.

"The killings should remind all of us that there is an enemy in this world that is willing to kill innocent people, willing to bomb a wedding celebration in order to advance their cause," Mr. Bush said during a meeting with the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The AP reported that officials from around the world sent condolences to King Abdullah, who said his nation was targeted because it was committed to "fighting the terrorists who are killing innocents in the name of Islam."]