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Woman bomber makes confession
Yahoo/Reuters ^ | 11/13/2005 | Suleiman al-Khalidi

Posted on 11/13/2005 9:38:07 AM PST by 1066AD

Back to Story - Help Woman bomber makes confession By Suleiman al-Khalidi 12 minutes ago

An Iraqi woman in Jordanian custody said in a televised confession on Sunday she had tried to blow herself up alongside her husband in an Amman hotel last week, one of three attacks that killed more than 50 people.

"We went into the hotel. He (my husband) took a corner and I took another. There was a wedding in the hotel. There were women and children," the woman, who police identified as Sajida al-Rishawi, said on Jordan's state-run television.

"My husband executed the attack. I tried to detonate and it failed. People started running and I ran with them," Rishawi, wearing a white headscarf, black gown and what looked like a bomb strapped to her body said during a brief recorded television appearance.

Three suicide bombers belonging to al Qaeda in Iraq killed more than 50 people at three luxury Amman hotels on Wednesday, in one of Jordan's worst attacks.

Officials said Rishawi's husband was a bomber who died in one of three simultaneous attacks at the Hyatt, Radisson and Days Inn hotels.

It was not clear under which circumstances Rishawi gave her confession. She spoke with an Iraqi accent and said she came from the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

International human rights groups say Jordanian police extract confessions from detainees under duress, but the woman spoke calmly. At one point she was shown standing up and modeling with what looked like a bomb strapped to her body.

Officials said Rishawi is the sister of Samir Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, a now-dead former senior aide to Jordanian-born al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Al Qaeda in Iraq said in an Internet statement that a married couple and two other men -- all Iraqis -- had carried out the bombings at hotels frequented by Western security contractors who operate out of Iraq and by diplomats.

Most of those who died were Jordanians attending weddings.

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan al-Muasher told reporters all four bombers were from Iraq's western desert province of Anbar, a Sunni guerrilla stronghold bordering Jordan. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province.

He said the attackers entered Jordan four days before the blasts, rented an apartment at a middle-class neighborhood in Amman and used suicide belts packed with 5-10 kg (11-22 lbs) of explosives.

Muasher named the three dead bombers as Safar Mohammed Ali, Rawad Jasim Mohammed Abid and Rishawi's husband as Ali Hussein al-Shimeri. He played down any Jordanian involvement.

ANTI-TERROR LEGISLATION

Hundreds of anti-riot police beefed up security at hotels and shopping malls across Amman. Interior Minister Awni Yarfas said the government would tighten anti-terrorist laws.

"We are speeding up passing an anti-terror law soon to indict anyone who supports terror either through advocacy and incitement either by word or action," he told Reuters.

Jordan, a close U.S. ally and one of two Arab nations to have peace treaties with Israel, had previously been spared al Qaeda-linked attacks that have hit other countries.

But authorities had warned that Zarqawi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, had sent jihadists to strike targets outside Iraq, including Jordan.

Jordan is home to a large exiled Iraqi community, many of whom fled the war and its aftermath to settle here, creating a real estate boom that has boosted Jordan's aid-dependant economy. It is also a hub for Iraq's reconstruction efforts.

But Amman's support for the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has angered some Jordanians, many of whom are of Palestinian origin and are against U.S. policies in the region.

The blasts have sparked outrage in this small kingdom of about five million people. A few thousand people held a candle-light vigil outside the Hyatt on Saturday and chanted support for the King.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is touring the Middle East and Asia, was expected to make a previously unscheduled stopover in Jordan on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Ibon Villelabeitia and Dina Wakeel)


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: femalebombers; iraq; iraqiwomen; jordan; michaelmoore; muslimwomen; wot
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It was not clear under which circumstances Rishawi gave her confession. (snip) International human rights groups say Jordanian police extract confessions from detainees under duress, but the woman spoke calmly.

We're supposed to feel sorry for her ?

1 posted on 11/13/2005 9:38:15 AM PST by 1066AD
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To: 1066AD

"My husband executed the attack. I tried to detonate and it failed. People started running and I ran with them."

Why did you run? You were supposed to blow yourself up and die too, you coward!


2 posted on 11/13/2005 9:40:37 AM PST by jdm
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To: All

TROP ping


3 posted on 11/13/2005 9:40:57 AM PST by BipolarBob (Yes I backed over the vampire, but I swear I looked in my rearview mirror.)
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To: jdm

She realized she was free of him at last. I'm sure there's a defense can be stitched together here of Stockholm Syndrome.


4 posted on 11/13/2005 9:41:56 AM PST by The Westerner
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To: 1066AD
The muzzie author of this Reuters article neglected to report that the bomb was loaded with ball bearings to maximize death.


5 posted on 11/13/2005 9:42:02 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: 1066AD
I hope they did not denigrate her or humiliate her by calling her mean names.

Under the rules the Crats and the McCain want to imposeon us, it would probably be a violation to call a terrorist a "jerk" or a bad guy" or a "dirtbag." Because it is denigrating humiliating or whatever the exact troublesome word was.

6 posted on 11/13/2005 9:43:36 AM PST by Montfort (Check out the 200+ page free preview of The Figurehead by Thomas Larus at lulu.com/larus)
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To: jimbo123
From the "Religion of Peace":


7 posted on 11/13/2005 9:43:44 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: 1066AD

Must have used the (Gasp) "Comfy Chair" on her.


8 posted on 11/13/2005 9:43:45 AM PST by Semper Paratus
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To: 1066AD

Yes of course we are. Her brother died trying to help the Jordanian freedom fighter, Al Zarqarwi, who fights for his freedom (to terrorize) in Iraq.


9 posted on 11/13/2005 9:45:00 AM PST by Wuli
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To: 1066AD
"There was a wedding in the hotel. There were women and children," [said] the woman. . . . "My husband executed the attack. I tried to detonate."

I hope the Jordanian government doesn't go soft on this would-be murderer.

10 posted on 11/13/2005 9:47:06 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: 1066AD

I wonder if they will round up her family, the families of the bombers and kill them all, children included?

The Arabs don't operate under the same strictures we do.


11 posted on 11/13/2005 9:47:37 AM PST by OpusatFR
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To: jimbo123

More:

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/644446.html


12 posted on 11/13/2005 9:48:29 AM PST by Otho
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To: Montfort
I hope they did not denigrate her or humiliate her by calling her mean names.

Yeah, I'm with you. I hope the air conditioning in her cell wasn't too high or too low.

13 posted on 11/13/2005 9:48:34 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: 68skylark
I hope the Jordanian government doesn't go soft on this would-be murderer.

What ?

Do you think they are Europeans, Israelis, or Americans ?

They will execute justice on her.

14 posted on 11/13/2005 9:50:38 AM PST by af_vet_1981
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To: 1066AD

Would a woman martyr get 72 men virgins?


15 posted on 11/13/2005 9:50:43 AM PST by Sir Gawain
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To: OpusatFR
I wonder if they will round up her family, the families of the bombers and kill them all, children included?

The Arabs don't operate under the same strictures we do.

You're right, they follow different rules than we do. By the time this is over, I'm worried they'll set her free and give her a medal -- in this part of the world you never know what will happen.

16 posted on 11/13/2005 9:50:48 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: Montfort

If they put boxer briefs on her head I'm going to call Kofi.


17 posted on 11/13/2005 9:51:03 AM PST by GreenOgre (mohammed is the false prophet of a false god.)
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To: af_vet_1981
They will execute justice on her.

We'll see. By the time the Arab propaganda machine gets done, they may set her free and give her a medal -- people in this part of the world don't have any trouble turning the truth upside down. In the end, the bombs will be the fault of Israel and the U.S.

18 posted on 11/13/2005 9:53:00 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: 68skylark
We'll see. By the time the Arab propaganda machine gets done, they may set her free and give her a medal ...

Do the words Black September ring a bell ?

19 posted on 11/13/2005 9:54:53 AM PST by af_vet_1981
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To: Sir Gawain
Would a woman martyr get 72 men virgins?

I doubt it. Women sometimes have a pretty lousy life in Middle Eastern countries -- perhaps they're more motivated by the "push" to get out of this world than the "pull" of the next world.

20 posted on 11/13/2005 9:55:20 AM PST by 68skylark
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