This blog is written from the safety of the beautiful and historical city of Petra, Jordan. I have spent nearly two weeks in the Jordanian Capital, before going by bus to the tremendous city of Petra. I was due to go to Baghdad with Chicago based peace organisation Christian Peacemakers (CPT) but due to a disagreement, which I cannot elaborate on, I didn’t go. I had felt very disappointed at the time but it seems as if my miss was my mercy as four members of CPT have been kidnapped in Iraq. I do not have any more information at present than is in the press. I phoned Chicago but they were understandably reluctant to give out any information, which might endanger the hostages.
Jordan has long been considered one of the most stable of the Middle Eastern countries but there was a rude awakening when on Wednesday 9th November three hotel bombings killed over 50 people - the worst atrocity in Jordan in 30 years. The Hotels targeted were the Radisson SAS where a wedding party was taking place and the second was the nearby Hyatt Hotel; the Days Inn on the outskirts of Amman was also struck by a bomb.
The security situation is much stricter now as you would expect with a much more visible police presence. Jordanian surveillance aircraft regularly make low over flights across the Capital and there is an increased security presence at many hotels. For all that the atmosphere in Amman is generally one of safety and the Jordanian people are still as welcoming and helpful to foreigners as ever.
I stayed at the one star Al Monzer hotel near the Abdali bus station in Amman. It’s clean and comfortable but at 6JD (about ₤5) a night it isn’t exactly the Hyatt! The 5 star Hyatt is where long time BBC Baghdad correspondent Caroline Hawley was staying when the bomb went off though fortunately she wasn’t injured. The respectable, responsible journalists of the world can stay in 180JD (about ₤160) a night hotels where the crème de la crème stay, while us mere bloggers must mix with the back packers and refugees in somewhat less salubrious surroundings. Talking of refugees I met a family who had fled war torn Iraq - there were just three of them, the mother, father and three year old daughter. They had lived in Al Qaim, an oasis town just 12km from the Iraqi/Syrian border. The savage US bombing of the town resulted in hundreds of deaths including 9 (nine) members of their family. I have enclosed some photos of the little girl Alaa and her father Khaled, the mother who had lost an eye and was badly disfigured declined to be photographed. They were such nice people - the little girl was a bundle of joy always running around and playing and being friendly to strangers. It makes you feel very angry that people like this are targeted or `collaterally damaged` by indiscriminate firepower from the world’s mightiest military machine.
Despite all the talk about `precision bombing` and `surgical strikes` the whole purpose of bombing a country is to kill and injure as many people as possible. Furthermore the aim is to lower the morale of those who survive and terrorise them in to submitting to the new masters of the country. Secondary objectives are to destroy the infrastructure of the country and to target electricity stations, sewage and water treatment plants, food factories and indeed in the case of Fallujah, mosques, schools and hospitals. Needless to say this is all totally illegal under the Geneva Convention and is a violation of any kind of decent or civilised behaviour - ah, but then of course we are the `civilised west` and west is best. If you don’t agree you get the crap bombed out of you. “Believe or Die” as the late Bill Hicks would have put it.
It takes a really sick bunch of minds to dream up schemes like these and there are some very sick minds in Washington DC. The so called `crazies` whose fantasy of `full spectrum dominance` involves the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians not to mention several thousand of their own young working class men want to rule the roost. What gives them the right to maim, murder and mutilate in the way that they do? - or rather in the way that they get young working class men to do it for them. The Dick Cheneys, George W Bushs, Donald Rumsfelds and Richard Perles of the world never saw any military service. They have no conception of what war really is about. It is about horrific death and destruction. These crazies are cowards, `chickenhawks` who would never fight in any war nor would their children.
Let them see firsthand the scorched shadows of the Iraqi women and children who died an agonising death in the Al Ameriyah air raid shelter in Baghdad, let them tour the overcrowded Baghdad hospitals with people screaming in pain due to lack of painkillers and anaesthetics. Incredibly some 2 and half years after the `war` (in reality a one-sided slaughter) basic services like electricity and water have still been restored. In Sadr City in Baghdad with a population of some two and a half million there is reportedly (by Christian Peacemakers) a hepatitis rate of some 72%. The streets are awash with sewage and electricity is at best a few hours a day. Those who sit in great comfort in their air conditioned offices plotting world targets in mega deaths would be well advised to ponder the consequences of their asshole policies.
Today I return to Amman via historic Petra and I hope to learn more of the fate of the CPT hostages. Jordan, while not an ideal democracy is still by and large a fairly decent country to live in. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Palestinian refugees certainly think so. Over half the population of Jordan is Palestinian, mainly around the north in Amman and Zarqa, around Petra the population is mainly Bedouin Arab.
I still have hopes of visiting Iraq though of course it is now extremely dangerous for foreigners with even respected organisations like Christian Peacemakers being targeted by kidnappers.
19 Labelled photos are attached.
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