Herald.com | 11/12/2005 | Attacking a Hyatt, killing Arabs

Bombing a Hyatt, Killing Muslims

BY FRIDA GHITIS

fghitis@yahoo.com


Among the scores of families who felt their hearts stop in awful foreboding at news of terrorist bombings in Amman were the relatives of an Israeli, a 40-year-old husband and father of three, who had just traveled to the Jordanian capital.

Fearing the worst, they called his cellphone. It rang and rang. He was dead.

Killing an Israeli civilian might be construed as a propaganda coup for al Qaeda. Except, the Israeli was Husam Fathi Mahajna, an Arab and a Muslim. The three suicide bombings also killed the Palestinian West Bank intelligence chief and a number of other high-ranking Palestinian figures.

Observers have rushed to describe the targets of the Amman attacks as ''Western.'' But anyone who has witnessed the joyous ululations of wedding receptions in Amman hotels knows the guests are almost all Muslim Arabs, probably Palestinians, who make up the majority of Jordan's population. The bombers who killed at least 57 people knew they were not killing scores of Americans.

The reality is that, as with most operations by al Qaeda and its affiliates, the overwhelming majority of the victims were Muslim, and that was not a fluke.

No democratic aspirations

If Islamic extremists hired a public-relations firm, the first advice they would hear is to stop slaughtering fellow Muslims. Killing other Arabs, especially Palestinians, is no way to make friends in the Muslim world. Mahajna's uncle told an Israeli journalist, ``I have no answer for such crazy people who choose to hurt innocents.''

While some have predictably rushed to blame Washington and the Iraq intervention for the terrorism, millions of Arabs are revolted by the barbarism of these attacks.

In fact, many of the same experts who explain that the bombings were directed at ''Western targets'' also said al Qaeda's action would turn people against it. What they fail to see is that al Qaeda is not waging a popularity campaign. Al Qaeda has no democratic aspirations.

If killing Muslims is such a counterproductive tactic, why do they continue to do it? And if it is so counterproductive, why is al Qaeda surviving, maybe even thriving?

Attacking an American brand such as Hyatt or Days Inn may provide some faint political cover, legitimizing the claim that the attack aimed at the American ''crusaders'' and their allies. But the real objective is to undermine and ultimately depose the secular Jordanian government of King Abdullah II.

When suicide bombers can blow up three hotels, the regime looks weak and vulnerable. The people may initially rally around their leader, but in their eyes the government loses a little luster. A major attack -- killing scores of people, as this last wave of bombings did -- inevitably brings about a massive drop in tourism and frightens potential investors. It hurts the economy and helps foment discontent. It also forces the government to crack down. Crackdowns against terrorism are usually harsh and tend to become deeply unpopular after patience with security wears off.

The Jordanian regime is one of the Arab systems that has made noticeable -- if small and slow -- moves towards democracy. Each day, Jordan steps a little farther from the ideal society envisioned by Islamic radicals. Every day it looks a little less likely to resemble the Taliban's Afghanistan, a nightmare for most who lived there, but an earthly Nirvana for advocates of a return to the 7th century Caliphate, the bizarre dream of al Qaeda's time-travel dreamers.

Ease off on beheadings

Whether or not the people of Jordan love al Qaeda is a secondary concern. More important is the strength of the existing secular government in a relatively progressive Muslim country; a government al Qaeda would like to overthrow.

That, at least, is the calculation of some in al Qaeda. It is a gamble, of course, and there are indications that some in the organization's hierarchy worry about the impact of killing Muslims. An intercepted letter, believed written by al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to Zarqawi in Baghdad, urged him to ease off on the beheadings and the mass murder of Muslims that were disgusting the Islamic nation. But Zarqawi has proved unstoppable.

We could conclude he is a poor tactician, but judging by the success of his efforts to undermine the Iraqi regime, he just may have it horribly right.

Frida Ghitis writes about world affairs