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The
Jordanian press is reporting at least two (bombers) in the
Wednesday's attacks are likely Iraqis.
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WASHINGTON,
November 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The triple
blasts that rocked Jordan, one of the US's closest allies, are a new
evidence the "war on terror" championed by US President
George W. Bush's is not working, security experts said, maintaining
that the Iraq invasion has fueled "extremism" worldwide.
"These
attacks show that (President George W.) Bush's 'We're fighting them in
Iraq so that we don't have fight them elsewhere' is dubious,"
said Ivan Eland, a defense policy expert at the Independent Institute
in Washington, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
"The
conflict in Iraq is generating more Islamist hatred and providing
training and combat experience for people who are now attacking the
UK, Spain, Jordan, et cetera," Eland added.
Abu
Musab Al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaeda's "suicide martyr unit" claimed
responsibility for the Jordan's coordinated attacks, which left 56
people killed and hundreds injured.
The
claim of responsibility was the strongest indication yet that
Zarqawi's group is using Iraq as a base from which to expand his
operations in the region, according to experts.
The
Jordanian press is reporting at least two (bombers) are likely Iraqis,
a US intelligence official told AFP Friday, November 11.
"…The
name of the group is the same name that Al-Qaeda uses in Iraq for
their suicide martyr unit. So it stands to reason it is likely that
they are Iraqi," said the official, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
"Failure"
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Bush
claims Iraq invasion aims at curbing "terror", experts
now say the exact opposite. (Reuters)
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US
experts added that the Amman attacks undermine the Bush
administration's assertion that the United States is fighting in Iraq
to defeat what it calls the "global terror".
"It
is an argument that has been cooked up when all the other arguments
failed," said David Rothkoph of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace in Washington.
In
August, Bush vowed to continue to fight "terrorists" in
Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world, "so we do not have to
face them here at home."
"The
record since we went into Iraq is not one that supports it, if you
look it the bombings in Spain and the bombings in the United
Kingdom," Rothkopf added.
Jean-Louis
Bruguiere, a French anti-terrorism official, agreed, saying that the
US occupation of Iraq has spread radicalism worldwide and has
increased extremist ideologies.
"The
Iraqi situation had greatly increased the influence of radical
Islamist ideology", Bruguiere, one of Europe's leading
anti-terrorism investigators, told Reuters.
Questions
The
experts predicted more attacks against US allies, but questioned
Washington's focus on Zarqawi as the originator of all the attacks.
"In
the future, we can expect more attacks on US allies in the Iraq
war," Eland said.
Richard
Falkenrath, a Brookings Institution national security expert, said
that Zarqawi's role in the Amman bombings hasn't been proven.
"These
are loosely-connected networks and whether he personally had anything
to do with this attack remains to be seen," Falkenrath said.
On
Thursday, Major-General Rick Lynch, a senior US military official in
Iraq, expressed fears that Zarqawi could in fact be expanding his
attacks across the Middle East.
Rothkopf
warned that in its focus on Zarqawi, Washington could be making a
mistake of "over-personalizing" the attackers.
"What
is more important is that the network of Islamic extremists remains in
place, remains active and remains capable of delivering very
destructive blows in many places in the world," he said.
He
further assailed the concept of the war on terror, "because the
implication ... is that there can be a victory."
"Terrorism
is an aspect of life, what you want to achieve with regard to terror
is individual victories over particular threats and a general
reduction in the overall number of attacks over time," he said.
