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Jordan may face al-Qaeda insurgency
Pro-Western Jordan, spared major al Qaeda violence before this month's suicide bombings, risks copycat attacks by homegrown Islamist militants inspired by the insurgency in Iraq, security sources and analysts say.But Jordan might now experience a violent homegrown campaign like one launched in Saudi Arabi by local al Qaeda supporters after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the sources fear. "These attacks could encourage some militant radicals â despite the wide popular condemnation and outrage â to do something similar in Jordan," said Mohammad Najjar, a political analyst who tracks Islamist radical groups. Jordanian authorities say their vigilance has foiled many militant plots to bomb well-protected embassies and tourist sites. But one security official, who asked not to be named, said he feared militants might now switch to easier targets. "These soft targets could be more potent now in their eyes than the traditional ones," he said, arguing that the militants were not deterred by popular outrage over attacks on civilians. "They have declared open-ended war and inflicting revenge on the state, so boundaries between civilian and military targets no longer mean much for them," the official added. He said the authorities had detained several hundred Jordanian Islamists in recent months for plotting attacks at home, far more than in previous years. The official said their aim was to destabilize Jordan because of the monarchy's pro-Western stance. Previously, most militants had been seized returning from Iraq or trying to go there to join the anti-U.S. insurgency. That traffic has thinned, security sources say, though it is not clear whether this is because of tighter border security or because more Iraqis have joined Zarqawi's group, taking command positions once held by Jordanians or other Arab fighters. If Jordanian militants cannot reach Iraq, that has not dimmed their zeal, the sources say, with many collecting donations for Zarqawi and looking to him for inspiration even if they do not have organizational links with al Qaeda. "The Jordanian cells are scattered and fragmented but the common denominator is that they are inspired by Zarqawi's tactics," one security source said. A Jordanian official, who asked not to be named, said local militants identified with fighters across the border. "They believe if they cannot reach that target they can reach another in Jordan as an extension of the jihad (holy war) in Iraq." Fears that instability is spilling over Iraq's borders were heightened last month when Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said documents found with a slain Iraqi lieutenant of Zarqawi showed a plan to send Arab militants home to widen the struggle. There was no way to verify his statement. While anger over Iraq is one factor fuelling Sunni militancy in Jordan, economic hardship is another â often made harder to bear by the ostentatious lifestyle of the wealthy few. "When there is poverty and despair this helps in recruiting these young people," said Adnan Abu Odeh, a former adviser to the Jordanian royal family. "The poor go to mosques as an escape from this situation and then they are recruited." Such radicalized youngsters often come from impoverished cities such as Irbid and Zarqa, home town of Zarqawi. A few are trained in Lebanon or Syria. Others have become battle-hardened in Iraq, the Jordanian security source said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-11-22 |
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