A Female Suicide Bomber’s Confession

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.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

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?