AMMAN, Jordan (AP)  A Jordanian military prosecutor on Wednesday revealed a previously unannounced plot by three alleged militants to assassinate President Bush during his last visit to the kingdom.
The military prosecutor has charged the three Jordanians  Nidhal Musleh al-Momani, Sattam al-Zawahrah and Tharwat Daraj  with plotting to carry out terrorist attacks and illegal possession of explosives. They also were planning to attack the American and Danish embassies in Amman, the prosecutor alleged.
The three were apparently unaware Denmark has no embassy in Jordan. According to the indictment sheet, they also planned to attack a Jordanian brewery in the northeastern city of Zarqa.
They were arrested on Nov. 28, one day before Bush’s arrival in Amman for talks with King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The prosecutor told the court the defendants were found with homemade bombs made by filling large plastic bottles with gasoline.According to the prosecutor, the three met in Zarqa in October to plan their attacks. The prosecutor described them as followers of the Takfiri extremist doctrine which regards even non-militant Muslims as infidels.
The prosecutor provided no additional details about the case and it was not immediately clear how far along or how sophisticated the alleged plot against the president was. Military courts in Jordan prohibit news organizations from releasing the names of prosecutors for security reasons.
The defendants, who could face the death penalty if convicted, did not give their plea on Wednesday, but were assigned a lawyer, Abdul Jabar Abu-Gollah. He could not immediately be reached for more details. The trial was then adjourned until March 14. [Source]
This is a piece of news that seems to be spreading fast in the media probably because the mere mention of a plot to kill Bush is the equivalent of seal blood in shark infested waters. So is the orgiastic state of the international press. But it’s really one of those things people can’t really have an opinion on until something is presented by way of evidence. Anything else would be premature.
For now it’s just a charge. Although the prosecutor claiming that the two didn’t know there was a Danish embassy in Jordan suggests to me that there were probably confessions involved. If so, then the trial will probably consist of them pleading not-guilty along with the standard confessions-extracted-under-torture position for the defense. And that’s the ballgame.
When I first read this piece of news my imagination took me back several months ago when Zarqawi was killed and how since then we’ve stopped hearing the words “Jordanian terrorist” all over the media. Now that Zarqawi has faded into the depths of obscurity, would these two militants become just as internationally infamous?
Or would they be regarded as heroes for the assassination of a President that, let’s face it, is not exactly loved by inhabitants of planet Earth (except for 33% of the U.S.)
More importantly, had they (hypothetically) carried out such an act: how would the Jordanian street view them, despite their takfiri doctrine?
Yeah I know, those are all rhetorical questions.
I personally believe many of the Jordanian street wouldn’t be so happy about this. It’s purely barbaric, and wouldn’t lead to anything but more trouble in the future and Jordan will be labelled with a big fat label of “Terrorism”.
Yet I don’t know how things would run without the idiot’s existence on this earth. What do you think?
Political assasinations cannot be dubbed as “purely barbaric” Omar; they’re not completely pointless acts of murder. History has shown us that they can sadly be a last resort to rid people of a tyrannical dictatorship, trigger much-needed political action or even prevent potential worser evil.
Although in this particular case, the assasination would have been unwise, flushing US-HKJ relations down the drain and giving the “West” yet further excuse to retaliate and make the Arab world more of an enemy than it already is (Republicans and loony evangelicals will not be extinct in effect; “they murdered the Chosen One! Death to the infidels!”)
I wonder though, about the timing of revealing such information to the world during the King’s historical visit to DC and his congress speech…