Bin Laden's new videotape praising Zarqawi lambasted King Abdullah of Jordan at length and by name. Addressing the King as an American agent and instrument of oppression,
he told him that he would be the first one to depart Jordan to his real
country, the Hijaz, land of his ancestors until the British gave the
country to his great grandfather Abdullah. Demanding that Zarqawi's body be allowed to be buried in his homeland - and also in what I take to be a reference to the continuing crisis over the IAF deputies imprisoned for publicly praising Zarqawi - bin Laden implied that the King feared Zarqawi's dead body so much because he knew that the Muslim people of Jordan loved the jihad more than they do him ("What scares you about Abu Musab after he’s dead? You know that his
funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the
extent of sympathy with the mujahedeen.") - a questionable claim, but one carefully tailored to further inflame the Jordanian arena.
The pro-government al-Rai didn't report bin Laden's video at all. Neither did al-Dustour. Neither did al-Arab al-Yawm, or even the English-language Jordan Times. Al-Ghad was the only major daily to report the tape, but while it reported his praise for Zarqawi and his criticisms of George Bush, it somehow failed to mention the part about bin Laden's extensive discussion of Jordan. Jordanians will find out from al-Jazeera, so what does such censorship really hope to accomplish in this day and age, other than to further diminish the trust citizens place in their domestic media?
Comments