It will be interesting to see if the terrorist attacks that predominantly killed Jordanian Muslims will effect the support of suicide bombers among Jordanians. I wager that it will and this is why. In a poll taken in portions of the Muslim world earlier this year, support for Osama bin Laden and the tactic of suicide bombing in defense of Islam had declined remarkably (proving that the U.S. is winning the battle for the “minds” of Muslims). The most precipitous drops were, not surprisingly, in countries that had directly endured the brunt of Islamic suicide bombings, such as Indonesia and Morocco.

Of the countries surveyed, however, Jordan was the only country where the majority surveyed (57%) still supported terrorist acts in defense of Islam, something attributed to the majority Palestinian population that makes up Jordan. To date, although Islamofascists have tried numerous times before the Iraq War to attack Jordan, they had not successfully carried out a terrorist bombing inside the country. That changed yesterday as Jordan felt the full effects of suicide bombings. Now that Jordanians are not immune from the murderous intentions of terrorists using suicide bombings in the name of Islam, look for that 57% figure to drop the next time this poll is taken. Indications are this shift has begun to occur already, as the Jordanians start to learn what their brethern in the Muslim world increasingly realize: that Bin Laden’s Jihad against the West is a fraud, further exposed with attacks such as these.

And for the record, although it is true that Zarqawi is Jordanian, keep in mind that he does not consider himself Jordanian, but Palestinian, a subtle, but noteworthy difference.

Posted by Jeff at November 10, 2005 06:52 PM | eMail this entry

Comments
Is the US winning hearts and minds or is Al-Quaeda losing them?

Posted by: will at November 11, 2005 09:30 AM

Touche. But if it is Al Qaeda that is losing the minds (rather than the U.S. winning them), by default, it should accomplish the same goal of increasing security by shunning terrorism. Perhaps the contention that Al Qaeda is losing the minds rather than the U.S. winning them is a good explanation for why the U.S. is failing to win the “hearts.” But, as I’ve mentioned before, winning the hearts of Muslims is a nice objective, but ultimately irrelevant. Succeeding in having the mindset of Muslims change is all that really matters, obtaining their “hearts” is simply a concellation prize. We don’t need them to love us, just to stop trying to kill us.

Posted by: Jeff at November 11, 2005 03:21 PM

We don’t need them to love us, just to stop trying to kill us.

Hell, that describes our relationship with most of our nominal “allies”. I’d call it an unambiguous victory.

Posted by: Reid at November 13, 2005 02:36 PM