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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Jordan wedding joy turns to tragedy as bomber strikes |
| 2005-11-10 |
| Minutes before a suicide bomber blew himself up in the grand ballroom of the luxury Radisson SAS in Amman, a joyous wedding reception was in full swing. The bride and groom were making their grand entrance surrounded by women uttering the traditional shrill calls of celebrations while the elegant guests swayed to the sounds of tambourines. The unsuspecting group failed to notice one man who managed to elude the parked police car outside the hotel, making his way into the ballroom wearing an explosives belt under his clothes. Within seconds the festive wedding turned into a massacre. "I lost my father and my father-in-law on my wedding night," the groom Ashraf Mohammad said. "The world has to know that this has nothing to do with Islam", he said. "I was in the lobby when it happened. There was panic all around me, people were running, screaming," a young man told AFP. "I ran into the ballroom and there amidst the debris the wedding cake stood miraculously in one piece. I was stunned," he said. Jordanian MP Awdeh Qawass who toured the Radisson after the attack described the scene as "horrible". "Body parts were scattered all over the ballroom," he said. Pools of blood and scattered glass covered the thick carpet. Police, ambulances and civil defence teams rushed to the Radisson just as a second blast rocked the nearby luxury Grand Hyatt hotel causing chaos among rescue teams. A short while later a third blast shook the three-star Days Inn hotel which is located near the Israeli embassy, in the Rabiyeh neighbourhood of west Amman. "I helped evacuate several people out of the Grand Hyatt hotel," adviser to King Abdullah II, Aqel Biltaji, told AFP. At least 57 people were killed and 115 others wounded in the three attacks, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Moasher said. Amongst those dead was the daughter of Syrian film director Moustafa Akkad who was also injured in the deadly blast at the Hyatt. Aqqad, who suffered a gash across his neck and lost a lot of blood, was due to attend a wedding in the southern Red Sea resort of Aqaba on Friday with his daughter Rima, 33, sources close to him said. Masked policemen cordoned off the hotels and prevented reporters from entering the scene as dozens of ambulances raced off the dead and injured to hospitals around Amman. Hospitals were sending out calls for blood donations to cope with the wounded, which some sources said were close to 300. "Jordan and Jordanians will not be deterred by these terrorist and cowardly acts", Moasher told a press conference at the entrance of the Radisson SAS where the majority of casualties fell. Several members of the royal family inspected the scenes of the blasts including Prince Hashem, King Abdullah II's half-brother and acting regent for the monarch who is on a visit to Kazakhstan. Right before the explosions, a fuel tanker caught fire on the outskirts of Amman warranting heavy deployment of police, firefighters and rescue teams, in what was seen by security officials as a "diversionary tactic". |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #10 mhw/grom: I'm an old time poster, but not for a long time--busy with other stuff. But thanks mhw for the info on Islam. A lot of people read this site and it's a good idea to keep the dialogue going. Islam is a mixed-up soup to be sure, with contradicting "fatwas" being issued that are largely a reflection of what the power-broker imams are trying to accomplish regarding any given subject. It's still an important to note that an average Moslem is disavowing the actions of terrorists as having anything to do with his religion. And right now 1,000s are protesting against Zark and his band of extremists. The "rah-rah kill'em all" bandwagon that some ride on around here doesn't cut it in the real world. I hear all the time how our guys in Iraq admire the guts and courage of the MOSLEM Iraqis they're training. Things are a lot more complicated than they seem, and China and Russia are the wild cards in this game. |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-11-10 23:07 |
| #9 ex-lib I'm sure the now father-less fellow was sincere at the time he made his "This has nothing to do..." but if you know enough Moslems you realize they can sincerely believe contradictory things simultaneously (e.g., they can sincerely believe Israel was behind 9-11 and also sincerely believe the US had it coming and that it was the revenge of Allah). You also have to realize that no other religion has terrorism supporters in anywhere near such numbers; no other religion produces Fatwas that justify suicide bombing; no other religion mass markets hate speech and antisemitic propaganda (on the last one that would not be true if you counted Communism as a religion). |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-11-10 16:34 |
| #8 Ex-lib spracht You don't know that, grom Only in the sence that that I can't be 100% sure---only 99.99999999% |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-11-10 15:00 |
| #7 You don't know that, grom. But even if so (which would suck), the fact reamins that NOW is the time to build alliances. NOW that they have a taste of what the terrorists are really all about. And as usual, the attempt to destabilize the existing government will backfire, methinks. By following the "palestinian" model of attacking average citizens to gain political advantage, they forget that those average citizens will 9 times out of 10 back the current government in a crisis. I wouldn't be surprised if the Gaza pullout didn't embolden the terrorists. They probably think Israel was "whooped" and they can do "the same thing" in Jordan. |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-11-10 11:50 |
| #6 "The world has to know that this has nothing to do with Islam", he said. Betcha anything, he danced on the street on 9/11. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-11-10 11:09 |
| #5 This article brings into focus an interesting imperative regarding US/Western-Arab/Middle East relations. "I lost my father and my father-in-law on my wedding night," the groom Ashraf Mohammad said. "The world has to know that this has nothing to do with Islam", he said. A while back, some here were bitching about President Bush's strategy at calling Islam a "religion of peace." Bitch-bitch-bitch. (And I'm not going to name names--you know who you are). But here's the perfect example of WHY THAT'S SO IMPORTANT and WHY BUSH IS RIGHT. Many nominal Moslems have no grid for what the terrorists do as being at all "Islamic." This perception should be both recognized and strengthened. (Duh, all you deconstructionist anti-Bush people--if you're confused about what I'm saying, go to the archives). Anyway, the terrorists don't speak for Moslems in general, and the opportunity to increase positive relations because of these attacks should be taken advantage of. It's critical to realize that Islam can be defined and interpreted in many ways. Prosocial directions must be recognized, given legitimacy, and encouraged. The fact that the "Islamic" thugs are hurting even their own, is terrible, but is nevertheless a shared commonality with the West. |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-11-10 11:04 |
| #4 Right before the explosions, a fuel tanker caught fire on the outskirts of Amman warranting heavy deployment of police, firefighters and rescue teams, in what was seen by security officials as a "diversionary tactic". I'd give that a strong probably. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2005-11-10 08:09 |
| #3 Target of opportunity, maybe? Three hotels and one of them happened to be having a big shindig? Plus they were "mixing," which is very haram in the Salafist view of things. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2005-11-10 00:33 |
| #2 Apparently a lot of Baathists in Amman throwing big money around. Possibly some personal payback here by Zhakawi. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-11-10 00:21 |
| #1 Quick question. The marriage - Iraqi, Jordanian or what? Any tie-ins from the wedding clans to Iraq? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-11-10 00:08 |