Way to go, Michael.
Posted on 06/30/2002 5:04:29 PM PDT by freeperfromnj
AMMAN, JORDAN – Eleven men with ties to Al Qaeda are arrested in an alleged plan to target US and Israeli Embassies.
For the second time in two years, Jordanian officials say they have halted an Islamist plot against the United States. The arrest of 11 suspected militants – who are said to have Al Qaeda ties – may have short-circuited plans to attack a variety of US and Israeli targets in the area.
The arrests were confirmed to the Monitor by the state prosecutor, Mahmoud Obeidat, who says the men are accused of "conspiring to carry out terrorist actions against US and foreign targets in Jordan, and possessing automatic weapons and explosives for illegal use."
Arab countries – including Yemen, Tunisia, and Morocco – have all recently arrested Arab fighters fleeing Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban regime. Diplomatic observers say the Jordanian arrests are part of a clear pattern: Arab veterans of the Afghan conflict are returning to their homelands to work with small, loosely coordinated groups dedicated to promoting a strict version of Islam through violent action.
Militants like these have made lawyer Mohammed Duwaik a prosperous man. With evident pride, he flips through a scrapbook of legal reports about his clients, including Al Qaeda conspirators and stabbers of suspected Israeli spies.
"It's a duty to defend these boys," says Mr. Duwaik.
"Why doesn't America understand that its policies are just breeding more and more violence?"
His latest case, he says, is that of the recently arrested 11 suspects. The men are said to be led by Emir Wail al Shalabi, a Palestinian-Jordanian fighter from the Arab camps in Afghanistan.
According to Duwaik, Mr. Wail was arrested this April after fleeing the Taliban fortress of Tora Bora during America's bombing, and his 10 acolytes were detained in raids on their homes two weeks ago.
Publicity-shy Jordan
US diplomats in Amman were unavailable for comment. But informed sources said four of the men were understood to be planning attacks on the American and Israeli Embassies, and on leisure centers believed to be frequented by Americans recuperating during military exercises in the kingdom. A second six-man cell, says Duwaik, was supposedly planning to hit unnamed Israeli targets across the Jordanian border in the West Bank. He says the men are accused of belonging to a hitherto unknown group known as Al Ashara, or "The 10," and are now being held in Al-Juwaydah Prison, south of Amman.
Jordanian officials are understood to have shunned going public with the case up until now for fear the news could further damage a tourism industry battered by the 20-month old Palestinian intifada, as well as fears it could spark an outcry in a country where the US "war on terror" is widely perceived as a means to extend US and Israeli power in the region.
But analysts say some officials are pressing for Jordan to follow the example of Morocco, which recently unveiled an Al Qaeda catch, to save Jordan from sacrificing its status as Washington's closest ally in the Arab world.
Jordan was the only Arab state to send peacekeepers to Kabul, and it conducts frequent military exercises with the US. A third of its $450 million US aid budget goes to military aid. But on Saturday, the Jordanian Foreign Minister denied reports in a Lebanese newspaper, Al Safir, that 2,000 US troops were based in Jordan to prepare for an attack on Iraq.
Jordanian officials say popular anger at perceived US support for Israel's onslaught against the Palestinians and America's active role in isolating Iraq has turned to helpless resignation.
But the rise in militant Islam still alarms the king's men. Friday prayers in some mosques are accompanied with celebrations for the martyrs of the previous week's suicide bombings on Israelis, and the anti-American mood is partially fostered by dozens of Arab Afghans who are reported to have returned home to Jordan since Sept. 11.
Refugee camps as cover
While they remain under surveillance, the Arab Afghans are said to have integrated easily into Palestinian refugee camps and the cities of Ma'an and Salt, locally known as Jordan's Tora Bora. Tanks have taken up positions outside the US Embassy in the normally relaxed capital, and American Peace Corps volunteers stationed in the country's hinterland have been cautioned against visiting Amman.
In an attempt to curb the spread of Al Qaeda splinter groups since Sept. 11, the authorities have introduced a wave of authoritarian laws, confiscated thousands of books of jihadi literature from publishing houses in Amman and made a spate of arrests, reportedly including that of Abu Mohammed Al Makdisi, the spiritual mentor of Jordan's oldest militant group, the Islamic Liberation Party. Late last year a 17-year-old boy, Suleiman Fanatseh, died in custody after he was arrested for carrying a photo of bin Laden in a pocket notebook.
Observers also express the fear that the crackdown could erode what commentators say is Jordan's long-standing but tacit alliance with activists of political Islam advocating nonviolent reform. "Since the 1950s, Abdullah's father, King Hussein, worked with the Muslim Brotherhood to root out leftists, communists, and Nasserites," says Basil Rafa'iyah, a journalist at Jordan's Al Rai newspaper.
A series of plots
Jordan remains one of the rare Arab states where Islamist parties are not banned, but there are signs that the relationship is fraying. In February this year, suspected militants blew up the car of a key terrorist investigator, Lt. Colonel Ali Burjak, in central Amman, killing two foreigners.
The incident followed the death sentence passed on a Jordanian-American, Raed Hijazi, for conspiring in 1999 to act against American and Israeli tourists on the eve of the millennium celebrations. The authorities said the plot was funded by Al Qaeda, and linked it to further alleged attempts to assassinate King Abdullah while on his summer holiday, and to attack the tourist facilities at the site of Jesus' baptism near the Jordan River.
Despite the state crackdown, many jihad warriors in Jordan's southern Islamist heartlands have declined to remove the photos of bin Laden that decorate their homes.
Hero-worshippers in the southern town of Ma'an eagerly recall how the Saudi-born militant acknowledged his Jordanian support in a recent videotape by reciting a poem by Ma'an's best-loved poet, Yussef Abu Hileleh, who got to know bin Laden while an Islamic teacher in Saudi Arabia.
In response, Abu Hileleh has penned a poem dedicated to bin Laden entitled "The Lion of the Gulf." It hails bin Laden as a great and free man whose "good deeds are innumerable."
Lessee, Pres. Bush made a major "change of direction speech" last week, essentially exposing the PLO and Arafat and withdrawing all protection. Here is how I read this: the Arabs respect power, and they suddenly saw a major power shift in the region, and it was NOT in their favor. Uh oh---do a little butt-kissing time!
And I use that term advisedly, because while their governments might be "friendly" many of their citizens are DECIDEDLY not.
Muslim code phrase for "Why doesn't American let us behead every man, woman, and child in Israel, as the Koran instructs us?"
Way to go, Michael.
The Libdem/Chicoms call this "imposing one's views on another..."
He's right, were just nincompoops who don't understand. We should change our policies (what policies would those be exactly?) and cower to the great all knowing Al Qaeda. < /sarcasm >
I saw mention of this elsewhere but couldn't get the Al Safir website to download in English. This is the second mention of this I've heard- US Troops coming out of Jordan to link up with the opposition in Iraq. Also read an article the other day about the US beefing up troops in Turkey, that more troops were landing in Incirlik every day. Special Ops maybe? There's a lot of rumors floating around about the opposition in Iraq. Maybe we're sliding operatives into the North to link up with these forces.
If you consider a few other developments- the recent resigning of Bush's terrorism adviser. He was the one advocating a swift attack of Iraq using SpecOps and air strike like we did in Afghanistan. Also, the big buildup of troops necessary to properly defeat Iraq would be a dead give away that we were about to kick off in Saddam's backside. I've been puzzling over a way to get around that as well as how to get around Kuwaiti and Saudi reluctance to let us attack from their territory. We've secured airbases in several key areas around the region like Georgia and Azerbajain and we have Special Forces in Georgia as well. We could probably launch a pretty effective surprise air offensive using these nations instead of Kuwait/Saudi for bases. The SpecOps guys could come in from places like Jordan, Turkey, Georgia and try to rally the oppostion and use them as ground troops with our Air Force for support. If you really wanted it to be a surprise it might make sense to have the General advocating this "resign" to make it look like the admin was displeased with this course of action when in fact it favored it.
Just throwing it out there. ;-) I like to speculate as much as the next guy but I've been puzzled by the lack of logistical buildup near Iraq so this is one way to explain that and keep me interested.
I was encouraged by King Abdullah's mention of his western and Arab "cultural switches". It's somewhat hopeful to think there actually is some behind the scenes diplomacy going on with some of our Arab "friends". Particularly where the heat may be turned up, as necessary...with the ultimate Arab recognition of its being militarily backed-up. Especially where the Saudis are concerned. Wahabbism is a key to this whole Islamist jihad.
Sankei Shimbun: Bush calls on Japan to cancel Jordanian debts From the Arabic News. Here's a good financial favor Bush is doing them.
Jordanian minister flayed over drive to boycott U.S. goods From the Gulf News. Anti US protestors and boycotters silenced.
Jordan hopes to become Arab center for tech From Silicon Valley.com-- the carrot of that Prosperity?
Jordan's King Abdullah II meets U.S. Air Force commander From Yahoo- JUN 18.
King Meets U.S. Commander General of The Central Command (Tommy Franks) from Jordan News Agency Petra Jun 26
Prince Faisal Meets British Defense Ministry Delegation- again, Petra. Discussing matters of "mutual concern".
US deploys soldiers, CIA agents in northern Iraq from Jordan: Beirut daily As posted on this forum from Agence Presse France.
Jordan denies press reports about U.S. military presence as part of preparations for attack on Iraq- from Albawaba
Then for recent stories on Turkey:
American reinforcement in Turkey for striking Iraq; Baghdad: dialogue with the UN will not bring back the inspectors - from the Arabic News
Iraq condemns Turkey's new mandate for 'no-fly zone' - from the Jordan Times
There was another article about Bush giving the go ahead for a big aid package to Jordan in the past week or so. All these things probably add up to nothing. But then again, maybe Bush decided he couldn't trust Saudi and that's why he's been getting tight with Pootie Poot Putin to make sure we've got a good source of oil if things get ugly with the Arabs. All this activity does seem kind of odd in Jordan as well. This would be such a perfect international relations coup d'etat for Dubya if this is what he's doing and even more so if we kick off in Saddam's hide on the 4th of July.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.