Jordanians Protest And More Rantings On The IAF

2,000 Jordanians protested in front of the parliament today (God I wish I was there), denouncing terrorism and mainly the act of those 4 IAF (Islamic Action Front) MPs who went to Zarqawi’s funeral to offer their condolences and praise him as a â??martyrâ?. It was obviously not such an organized protest as it was announced pretty late. But it did include tribal leaders which is actually a pretty interesting group to show up. I hope they can form another one for Friday that is better organized, this being on the assumption that this story will continue to be a story till then.

You can read about Roba’s disappointment in her latest post and see some pictures of it. As to not be redundant I’ll just post some of the photos by way of REUTERS.

But I still cannot get over it. It’s like a math equation that just doesn’t make sense. How can these elected officials do such a thing and still have the gall to….I dunno….can anyone understand my frustration and outrage? I seriously and literally have not felt this bad since the Amman Bombings themselves 7 months ago. Part of this rage is frustration because like the Amman Bombings I could not make sense of it. The question I asked myself then was why would a man who claimed to be fighting for Islam kill 60 or so Muslims on his own soil? And now I’m asking how can these “officials”, these representatives of the people, who claim to represent an Islamic political platform, offer their condolences and praise the same man who attacked their own people? These are all rhetorical questions. I knew the answers then and I know them now.

Questions…

How do you look a family member of one of the victims who died last November in the eye: a father, a mother, a daughter, a son…how do you look them in the eye and tell them their lost one was part of an â??ignorant mobâ? and is not a martyr and that the person who killed them, the person who took their life and threatened the sovereignty of our land, that person is the true hero and â??martyrâ?. How do you move on from that? How do you sleep at night?

How can the IAF party chief respond to this by so passively saying: “We did not prevent, nor did we support, this private initiative which falls within the norms of social duty”

What kind of response is that? What does that say about this party? What goes through a person’s mind when he says such a thing? Where does one summon suchâ?¦embarrassing bravado?“The norms of social duty”? To praise a terrorist that attacked us? Well this is a new custom to me? Have any of you heard about this? Did I just not get that memo?

“Did not prevent”? Why not?

I pray to God that for once opposition parties can take advantage of this golden opportunity and expose the IAF and regain some sort of organized power over this party which has for too long been a thorn in our backs as Jordanians and as Muslims. And with recent win of Hamas in the west theyâ??ve only become increasingly bolder. They are disgraceful for not condemning the act. And by not preventing it, and by calling it a social norm, they are in fact supporting it.

I reported earlier that these 4 MPs who are currently detained for questioning were asked to be released by the IAF chief who said they have parliamentary immunity. But in an article today I was reminded by MP Jamal Dmur that parliament is currently not in session, so no, they don’t have that immunity.

You know what? I hope they take them to the state security court. If they can do it to journalists then they should do it to these guys. They don’t deserve to have a seat. (This of course is besides my constant request for the parliament to be dissolved until further elections and the reforming of judicial institutions, but I’ll take what I can get with the current realities).

It’s treason. Simple as that. Or at worst, it is in support of treason which in itself is (or should be if not already) a treasonous act.