Jordan's pro-Western stance fuels attacks: think-tank

24 Nov, 2005

Jordan's support for US policies in the Middle East is fuelling Islamist militant attacks such as the triple suicide blasts which killed 60 people earlier this month, a think-tank said on Wednesday.
The International Crisis Group also said Jordan must deliver on much-touted pledges of political reform and civil liberties; create jobs; and combat government corruption to avoid pushing disenfranchised Jordanians into radicalism.
The attacks, on three hotels, were the work of Iraqi militants sent by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian born leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
The ICG report also warned of Jordanian militants crossing into neighbouring Iraq to join the anti-US insurgency only to return home to use their battle experience to strike in Jordan.
It said Jordanian cells could be laying the groundwork for future suicide attacks by non-Jordanians.
"Feeding on disaffection with a government that has failed to address basic needs and maintains an unpopular alliance with the US, violent Islamist militants have flourished of late," the ICG said in its report titled "Jordan's 9/11: Dealing with Jihadi Islamism".
"Lack of representation and participation, combined with a shortage of economic opportunities, fed into a romanticised notion of jihad that has sent a steady trickle of young men across the border to join the fight against the US and its perceived proxies in Iraq," the independent Brussels-based group said.
Jordan, which backed the US-led invasion of Iraq and is one of only two Arab countries to have signed peace accords with Israel, has forcefully rejected suggestions that its pro-US stance brought about the attacks against the hotels, popular with Western aid workers and contractors who operate in Iraq.
King Abdullah has said the blasts, which killed mostly Jordanians participating in wedding ceremonies, are part of a long-term struggle among extremist and moderate Muslims over the direction of their faith.
The ICG issued recommendations for what it said was Jordan's opportunity to chart a new course.
These include changing an electoral law that under-represents urban centres, bastions of Islamists and Palestinians, in favour of rural areas, inhabited by tribes which make the backbone of the king's support.
The report did not recommend that Jordan change its pro-Western policies, which polls shows are deeply unpopular among Jordanians, many of whom are of Palestinian origin.
King Adbullah, a frequent visitor to the White House, repeatedly promotes his domestic reform programme abroad.
The ICG warned against using the attacks to clamp down on freedom of expression, warning such measures could back fire.

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