The War on Terrorism: Let’s Set the Record Straight

We won’t be the least bit embarrassed that we are coordinating with the United States in the war against al-Qaida terror. Whoever thinks it’s wrong of the government to do so, and doesn’t understand it, often has hidden sympathy toward al-Qaida’s ideology and extremist organizations’ agenda. We have a long legacy of acquittal and justification policies toward extremism and violence by politicians and media, either consciously or unconsciously. This approach did not change until after the terror crimes in our Amman hotels.

Jordan has always been a friend and ally to the United States, and even if it wasn’t, the close coordination among all countries has become a necessity. The terrorism phenomenon by nature is international and hits everywhere from the Far East to the Far West. In any case, we Arabs generated the phenomenon before anyone else, and we sent out heroes and stars to states in Central Asia from Afghanistan to Chechnya. Who was Al-Zawahiri before he became Bin Laden’s partner in al-Qaida, but the leader of Islamic Jihad movement in Egypt, which started the bombings, massacres and assassinations before al-Qaida and September 11 attacks in the United States?!

The plan to shift from local terrorism against local systems to international terrorism against the United States was consciously designed with complete confidence of the return. Preaching for this plan came at a time of decay and local isolation for these organizations. And that’s when the genius theory of opening a new war front with an external enemy evolved to restore popularity. Of course, this enemy is the United States, Israel’s historic ally. The truth is, this move succeeded miraculously in turning violence and terrorism into fascinating Jihad. And since Jihad against the United States was originally a pretext, al-Qaida and other organizations returned to their same methods and local agendas, broadcasting blind murder and terror. Regrettably, the misconception provided an endless stream of suicide bombers.

The confusion between Jihad and criminal terrorism reached legendary levels in Iraq with Al-Zarqawi, who created one of the ugliest chapters in Iraq’s history; and he was a Jordanian, as well as many of the leaders residing in Afghanistan. So even if we weren’t directly targeted, we carry no less than a moral and ethical responsibility to combat terrorism. Terrorists never cease to dream about returning to us with their terrorist attacks, as Al-Zarqawi did in the Amman hotel bombings, and they continue to dream of establishing a Taliban-style principality, just as they did in Waziristan, where they caused explosions in 180 schools so far, and recently blew up a graduation ceremony attended by students and their families. Throughout human history, there have never been movements with such trends of excessive darkness and brutality.

It’s an ongoing battle intellectually, politically and militarily, which is security-wise internationally coordinated among all involved parties. And let’s be clear here, we did not make this a priority, the terrorists are the ones who chose battle fields thousands of miles away from Palestine, and when they return to their countries seeking to establish their dark regime, they couldn’t care less about Palestine.