What happened
A woman still wearing a belt packed with explosives confessed on Jordanian TV this week to taking part in last week's suicide bombing of three hotels in Amman. Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, 35, wore the bulky suicide belt her husband gave her before the pair infiltrated a wedding reception at Amman's Radisson Hotel. 'œHe took a corner, and I took a corner,' an unemotional al-Rishawi told the camera. 'œThere was a wedding in the hotel. Children, women, and men. My husband carried it out. I tried to carry it out, but it did not explode.' Al-Rishawi, whose sister was married to a top Sunni insurgent leader killed in Iraq, was arrested after her landlord noticed the victims' blood on her clothes.
At least 61 people, mostly Muslims, died when the three Iraqi bombers struck Western-owned hotels in the Jordanian capital. This week, hundreds of demonstrators marched past the shattered hotels, waving Jordanian flags and chanting, 'œBurn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.' Al-Zarqawi's group, 'œal Qaida in Mesopotamia,' claimed responsibility for the bombings, which it said were in retaliation for Jordan's support of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. 'œThe places of execution were chosen to be some hotels which the tyrant of Jordan has turned into a backyard for the enemies of Islam,' the group said in a statement.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What the editorials said
The 'œisolation' of al Qaida continues, said The Washington Post. By indiscriminately slaughtering Arab civilians, al-Zarqawi and his cronies are 'œalienating the very public they seek to win over.' Throughout the Middle East, both Sunnis and Shiites are starting to realize that 'œdemocratic politics' offers a better future than beheadings, bombings, and 'œTaliban-style dictatorship.'
Let's hope so, said The Philadelphia Inquirer, but what last week's bombings also demonstrate is that Iraq is now a fully functioning 'œterrorism hub' for al Qaida. Al-Zarqawi's 'œgruesome acts' may be alienating mainstream Muslims, but his violent opposition to the U.S. has made him a hero to young extremists. They're now flocking to the jihad in Iraq, learning their deadly terrorist trade—and being sent abroad by al-Zarqawi 'œto wreak havoc.' Iraq was not a terrorist training ground until President Bush chose to invade 'œand bungled the aftermath.'
What the columnists said
Now it is al-Zarqawi who's bungling the war, said James S. Robbins in National Review Online. His assassins chose to target a wedding, 'œprobably the worst event a terrorist can bomb' if his goal is to win sympathy for his cause. But the 'œwardrobe malfunction' that left Sajida al-Rishawi alive gave investigators an 'œinvaluable asset' with which to crack al-Zarqawi's inner circle. 'œThis is no way to run a revolution.'
Actually, al-Zarqawi may know exactly what he's doing, said James Glanz in The New York Times. The public backlash against the Jordanian government that followed the bombings may have been precisely what al-Zarqawi was hoping for, 'œa first step toward fracturing Jordanian society, with a goal of one day overthrowing the state.' History has shown that a sustained campaign of civilian slaughter can induce 'œa deadening sense of hopelessness' in a population, allowing the perpetrators to seize control.
Jordan 'œis no innocent bystander' in the war with al Qaida, said Fouad Ajami in . In theory, the country is friendly to the U.S. and Israel, but King Abdullah II does not really speak for his people, among whom a virulent anti-Americanism flourishes. The same Jordanians currently marching to protest the Amman bombings have been generally supportive of terrorism in Israel, Iraq, and the U.S.; indeed, they 'œwould love nothing more than to see the whole American project in Iraq come to nullity and defeat.' The bombings were 'œblowback' from that war. Perhaps the Jordanians will now face up to their hypocrisy.
What next?
-
August 10 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a global plastics problem, GOP enthusiasm over tariffs, and more
-
5 thin-skinned cartoons about shooting the messengerCartoons Artists take on unfavorable weather, a look in the mirror, and more
-
Is Trump's new peacemaking model working in DR Congo?Talking Point Truce brokered by the US president in June is holding, but foundations of a long-term peace have let to be laid
-
A bipartisan deal on the federal budgetfeature House and Senate negotiators overcame partisan divisions to hammer out a budget deal, but it remained unclear whether it would be approved.
-
The furor over U.S. wiretapping of its allies
feature The president faced a full-scale diplomatic crisis after leaked documents revealed that the NSA had for years tapped the cellphone of Angela Merkel.
-
The Weiner scandal, Part 2
feature Anthony Weiner acknowledged that he had continued to send sexually explicit messages online after resigning from Congress in disgrace.
-
The IRS’s Tea Party crackdown
feature The Obama administration was scrambling to distance itself from a growing scandal at the Internal Revenue Service.
-
A strong start for holiday sales
feature Shoppers flocked to malls and spent record sums online over the Thanksgiving weekend.
-
Anti-American riots spread
feature A violent backlash against a U.S.-made film that mocked the Prophet Mohammed continued to sweep across the Muslim world.
-
Bishops sue over birth control
feature More than 40 Catholic institutions filed lawsuits challenging the new health-care law's mandate for birth control coverage.
-
Seeking facts in the Martin case
feature The parents of Trayvon Martin called for federal officials to investigate the prosecutor who decided not to charge their son’s killer.