Posted on 11/29/2005 4:03:57 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
Hundreds of clan members of terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi publicly disowned him Tuesday despite anger from his al-Qaida in Iraq, which said they will face God's judgment for abandoning him.
The members of the Bani Hassan tribe published a full-page letter in Jordanian newspapers pronouncing their loyalty to King Abdullah II. The letter bore the stamps and signatures of more than 370 clan members.
It was the second attempt to persuade Jordanians that the family has renounced all ties to the man who claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 triple suicide blasts in Amman hotels that killed 60 people. Three weeks ago, 60 members of al-Zarqawi's al-Khalayleh clan published a similar letter.
"We, the sons of the Bani Hassan tribe in all its branches in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan support and express solidarity with our cousins, the al-Khalayleh clan, and their decision to sever relations with the terrorist Ahmad Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, who calls himself Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," said Tuesday's letter.
"We condemn all terrorist actions carried out or claimed by this individual — actions which are alien to members of this tribe," it said.
The message came a day after the al-Qaida in Iraq group condemned other family members for disavowing relations with al-Zarqawi.
"Either the enemy of God forced you to take this step ... or you agreed and did it voluntarily," the group said in a Web statement. "Enemy of God" was a reference to King Abdullah.
"If the first case, then you have an excuse. In the latter case, then you can only make your excuses before God Almighty," said the statement, posted Monday on an Islamic Web forum and signed by al-Qaida in Iraq's spokesman, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi.
Al-Zarqawi uses a name derived from the Jordanian city where he was born, Zarqa, 17 miles northeast of Amman. He runs the al-Qaida in Iraq group, which has carried out several of the biggest attacks in the insurgency. The United States has put a $25 million bounty on his head.
The Bani Hassan is one of the largest of Jordan's nearly 100 major Bedouin tribes, which form the bedrock of support for the royal family. Its members hold senior posts in the army and other government departments.
Referring to family of King Abdullah, the letter added: "We reiterate our support for the Hashemite Crown which, God willing, will always be protected, and we uphold the pledge of our ancestors to be a sword in the hands of the noble Hashemite dynasty."
In a similar letter on Nov. 20, almost 60 members of al-Zarqawi's family — including his brother and several cousins — disowned him and pledged fidelity to the crown.
Al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for several terror attacks in Jordan, including a plot to cause a chemical explosion that would have killed thousands of people, according to government experts. The plot was foiled in April 2004.
A Jordanian court condemned him to death in absentia for planning the attack that led to the 2002 murder of U.S. aid worker Laurence Foley.
It is encouraging to see them stand up to him.
You get the feeling from reading this article that the AP is more upset by this than Zarqawi is.
Could be.
The are probably the same bunch that were still praising him when intervied on the news in the immediate aftermath of the bombings.
They have been sending him recurits and money for years, and now they disown him? Too late. Too Little.
Now that they are in fear of their lives from their fellow Jordanians, they will all probably flee to America for safety.
Ironically, they were all en mass treated like royalty until the Jordanian bombings.
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