US President Barack Obama made a statement on Iraq days ago in which he elaborated on the dangers that are associated by the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant(Isil) or as it is more often known as the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in a subliminal message to remind readers of the Nazi SIS. The American president referred to Jordan as one of the countries that will be targeted by ISIS if not defeated now in Iraq.
Moreover, many US congressmen, senators and army generals, including Gen. Garner and Senator Lindsey Graham (R,SC) voiced great alarm that if ISIS is allowed to win against the government of Baghdad, their next step will be Jordan and the army lines along the Ghour Valley facing the Israeli army and the adjacent settlements.
It is true that ISIS has an ideological agenda which thrives on territorial expansionism, especially if it is coloured by the popular white wash slogans attractive to the crowd like: Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al Aqsa Mosque. Moreover, ISIS is the wealthiest terror organisation in the whole world, with nearly $2 billion in the coffers of its emir, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, who said to his marine prison guards, on his release from Abu Ghraib, “Shall see you in New York.”
But the Jordanian front is solid enough to defeat Baghdadi the same way it had handled Zarqawi, who had threatened Jordan, and a team of our special forces killed him inside his hideout at the Iraqi village of Baqouba on June 7, 2006 along with all the second generation of Qaeda leaders. As an indication of Jordan’s self-confidence, Abu Mohammed al Maqdesi, one of Qaeda’s main ideologues and leaders, was released from his jail last week, since he served completely his sentence. Another ideologue and leader, Abu Qutada, is expected to be released soon, as the Jordanian courts are at the moment studying the final evidence supplied by the British authorities when he was handed over to spend his prison term in his home country.
It is no longer a secret that Al Qaeda has a branch in Jordan. The main spokesman is Abu Sayyaf, Mohammad Al Shalabi, who used to live in Maan, but moved to Amman recently. He admitted that his group has nearly 2,000 Jihadis in Syria, fighting against President Bashar al Assad. Al Shalbi claims his followers here are no more than 5,000 Salafi Jihadis. Dr Saad Huneiti, an Islamic activist, was in Syria where he tried a reconciliation between Jordanians fighting in ISIS and those with Al Nusra Jihadists but without any luck.
But Jordan has many reasons for its self-confidence regarding al Qaeda, ISIS, and other Islamic Jihadis.
It is the cohesiveness of the Jordanian society, which was lacking in Iraq. Moreover, the professionalism of our security people and high alertness of our special forces guarantee the ultimate security of the Kingdom.The social fabric here is alien to ISIS ideology while in Iraq it was receptive by the 12 million Sunnis who felt marginalized and persecuted by Maliki’s Shiite Dawa Party.
Jordan is well prepared and equipped to give the third generation of Baghdadi’s Qaeda the same death blow it had given to the second generation of Zarqawi.
