In the wake of three suicide bombings at hotels in Amman that killed fifty-seven people, Jordanians are demanding an end to terrorism.
In a national outcry, thousands of Jordanians took to the streets to condemn the prime suspect in the attacks, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of al Qaida in Iraq. "Death to al-Zarqawi, the villain and the traitor!" shouted the demonstrators. Twenty-two year old Ibrahim Haniya told the New York Times newspaper, "These bombers didn't differentiate between Muslims, Christians, or Jews. They were against the world." As a fifteen-year-old Jordanian student named Hossam told the Associated Press, "These are evil acts carried out by cowardly people."
Jordan's King Abdullah the Second said his government "will pursue those criminals and those who are behind them, and we will reach them wherever they are. We will confront these cowardly terrorist groups that have no religion or conscience. We will pull them from their holes and bring them to justice." He also said his government will crack down on anyone who "justifies terror acts or instigates them."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with King Abdullah and laid a wreath at the Radisson Hotel, one of the sites of the terror attacks:
"There is no justification for the wanton killing of innocents and we stand in solidarity with the people of Jordan [and] the people around the world who have suffered similar tragedies."
Secretary of State Rice said the reactions to the terrorist attacks in Jordan show that people in the Middle East are growing increasingly intolerant of terrorism:
"We will all stand until terrorism is defeated, and until those who simply want to live a normal life and to live in peace can return to the days when this sort of tragedy, this sort of outrage, does not happen."
The people of Jordan are resolute in their mission to stop the terrorist threat. Speaking of the suicide bombers, Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said, "This culture that is mingling in our society has no justification. Our society will confront them. . . .We will do everything to defend ourselves."
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.
