Israel and the Amman 11/9 Terror Attacks?
paranoid | 15.11.2005 08:03 | Anti-militarism
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Did Israel have Prior Knowledge of the Amman 11/9 Terror Attacks?
by Michel Chossudovsky
November 13, 2005
GlobalResearch.ca
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Did Israel have prior knowledge of the terror attacks on three hotels
in
Amman, Jordan, which led to the death of 57 people?
According to an official Jordanian statement, the casualties included
33
Jordanians, six Iraqis, two Bahrainis, three Chinese, an Indonesian, a
Syrian, a Saudi and an American.
Israeli Citizens evacuated prior to the Blast
At least two authoritative news sources cast doubt on the official
version
of events.
According to Haaretz, Israel managed, with the cooperation of the
Jordanian
security forces, to discreetly evacuate several Israeli citizens prior
to
the blast, who were staying at the Radisson SAS hotel:
"A number of Israelis staying yesterday at the Radisson SAS were
evacuated before the bombing by Jordanian security forces, apparently
due to
a specific security alert. They were escorted back to Israel by
security
personnel.
The Foreign Ministry stated yesterday that no Israeli tourists are
known
to have been injured in the blasts. Representatives of Israel's embassy
in
Amman were I contact with local authorities to examine any report of
injured
Israelis, but none were received."(Scores dead in three Amman hotel
bombings; Israelis evacuated before attack, by Yoav Stern and Zohar
Blumenkrantz, Haaretz, 9 November 2005, italics added)
Moreover, a report published in The Los Angeles Times, quoting an
authoritative source, also suggests that Israeli intelligence had prior
knowledge of the attacks and failed to intervene:
"Amos N. Guiora, a former senior Israeli counter-terrorism
official,
said in a phone interview with The Times that sources in Israel had
also
told him about the pre-attack evacuations.
"It means there was excellent intelligence that this thing was
going to
happen," said Guiora, a former leader of the Israel Defense Forces who
now
heads the Institute for Global Security Law and Policy at Case Western
Reserve University in Cleveland. (LA Times, 11 November 2005)
According to Amos N. Guiora:
"The question that needs to be answered is why weren't the
Jordanians
working at the hotel similarly removed?" (quoted in LA Times, op. cit)
Retraction
No doubt under pressure from both the Israeli and Jordanian
authorities,
Yoav Stern and Zohar Blumenkrantz who authored the first report in
Haaretz
on November 9, retracted their statement to the effect that the Israeli
citizens had been evacuated prior to the blast:
"There is no truth to reports that Israelis staying at the Radisson
SAS
hotel in Amman on Wednesday were evacuated by Jordanian security forces
before the bombing that took place there. The Israelis were escorted
back to
Israel by Jordanian security personnel only after the attacks had taken
place, contrary to earlier reports." (No truth to report of Israeli
evacuations before Amman bombs, By Yoav Stern, Haaretz, 10 November
2005)
Ironically, the following day, in the November 11 issue of Haaretz, the
retraction had been retracted. The author's of the November 9 article
Yoav
Stern and Zohar Blumenkrantz had reaffirmed their earlier report:
An Israeli Arab businessman was one of the casualties in the
multi-pronged terror attacks, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said
Thursday. Two high-ranking Palestinian security officials were also
said to
be among the dead. ...It was still unclear whether there were any other
Israeli casualties in the attack. (...)
Hours before the bombings, many Israelis were evacuated from the
Radisson SAS, one of the hotels hit in the attacks, apparently due to a
specific security alert." (Haaretz, 11 November 2005, italics added).
Head of Palestinian Intelligence dies in Attacks
Three high-ranking Palestinian intelligence officials including
Maj.-Gen.
Bashir Nafeh, head of the Palestinian Authority's military intelligence
and
Col. Abed Allun, a high-ranking Preventive Security forces official,
who
were staying at the Hyatt Hotel were also killed in the blast. .
In this regard, Russian analyst Shamil Sultanov of the Russian Duma's
International Affairs Committee has pointed to an "Israeli connection".
According to Sultanov, in a radio interview, the death of Maj General
Bashir
Nafeh "has furthered the chances of Muhammad Dahlan" (who currently
occupies
the position of Minister of Civilian Affairs), to replace Mahmud Abbas
as
leader of the Palestinian National Authority. Sultanov suggests that
this
change in leadership within the Palestinian Authority would serve
Israeli
interests:
"If you consider these blasts, there are two key points, from my
point
of view. First, Jordan is a key player here for the Americans. The
stance of
the new king, Abdallah II, who, by the way is half-English, is fairly
complex because contradictions have arisen between the old Jordanian
team
and the king in the last six months, even the last year. And in
principle
what has just happened is a very good opportunity for Abdallah II to
make
certain changes, to put it mildly, to his team and to strengthen his
personal authority, and so on.
And the second theory I adhere to is the Israeli connection.
Abu-Mazin
[Mahmud Abbas], the leader of the Palestinian National Authority, is
seriously ill. And many believe that his Fatah party may not win with
such a
leader, that it will definitely not win the parliamentary elections
scheduled to take place in the next few months. So for a very large
number
of players - for the Americans, for Israel, for Sharon, for the
Egyptians -
[Palestinian Minister of Civilian Affairs Muhammad] Dahlan would be the
optimal player and politician to replace Abu-Mazin. In that sense,
these
explosions, and in particular the murder, as a result of one of the
blasts,
of Bashir Nafi, the Palestinian National Authority's military
intelligence
chief in the West Bank, is, from my point of view, a clearing of the
way for
Dahlan."( Radio Mayak, Moscow, in Russian, 1214 gmt 11 Nov 05, BBC
Monitoring)
This Russian viewpoint is consistent with other assessments on the role
of
Dahlan, who actively collaborated from 1994 to 2001 with the Israeli
IDF and
Shin Bet in the crackdown and arrest of Hamas leaders. According to
GlobalSecurity.org:
"Both Israel and the US [have] groomed Dahlan as a successor to
Arafat"
.
Chinese Defense Delegation
According to CNN, there were three Chinese "students" among the dead.
The
official reports, however, confirm that the three Chinese were in fact
members of a Chinese Defense delegation to Jordan from China's National
Defense University. Beijing has rushed a high level investigative team
integrated by China's ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense to
Amman
with a view to investigating the deaths of the three Chinese military
personnel.
Moreover, Dr Ghalib Abd-al-Mahdi, a senior Iraqi economic official and
brother of Iraqi Vice-President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi, was also killed in
the
blasts
Joint Intelligence Agreement between Israel and Jordan
According to an Israeli radio report, the attacks have open the way
towards
the signing of a joint intelligence agreement between Israel and
Jordan.
"Jordan is in the process of signing a joint security agreement
and the
establishment of an operations room for combating terrorism in
cooperation
with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian National Authority."
(Journalist quoted in Jordanian foreign minister's news conference, 13
November 2005)
Media Disinformation
The attacks were immediately described by the Western media, without
corroborating evidence and prior to the conduct of an investigation, "
as
bearing the hallmarks of Al Qaeda."
A statement allegedly written by "Al Qaeda in Iraq" was posted on a
mysterious Islamist website. The web posting, which claimed
responsibility
for the attacks,. stated that the attacks were in response to "the
conspiracy against the Sunnis whose blood and honor were shed by
Crusaders
and the Shiites".
Aired on network TV around the World, the attacks were followed by
organized
mass rallies and demonstrations across Amman directed against terrorist
mastermind Al Zarqawi.
What the Western media, however, has failed to report, is the
atmosphere of
disbelief and skepticism which characterizes Jordanian public opinion.
Openly discussed and debated on the streets of Amman, as confirmed by a
recent article in the New York Times (November 12, 2005), many
Jordanians
believe that Israel is behind the bombings.
ANNEX: PRIOR EVACUATION OF ISRAELI CITIZENS, HAARETZ, NOV 11, 2005
This article appeared on November 11, one day after Haaretz retracted
the
story in its November 10 issue. For the record we are reproducing below
both
articles. We have highlighted the relevant paragraphs in bold-italics
King Abdullah cancels trip to Israel after Amman triple suicide bombing
By Yoav Stern and Zohar Blumenkrantz, Haaretz Correspondents, and News
Agencies
Friday, November 11, 2005
[link to original article
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/643639.html]
Israel on Thursday evening says Jordan's King Abdullah II has canceled
a
planned trip to Israel after at least 57 people were killed in
simultaneous
suicide bombings at three hotels the Jordanian capital of Amman on
Wednesday
night.
An Israeli Arab businessman was one of the casualties in the
multi-pronged
terror attacks, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Thursday. Two
high-ranking Palestinian security officials were also said to be among
the
dead.
Husam Fathi Mahajna, 40, from the nothern town of Umm al-Fahm, was a
guest
at a wedding held at the Radisson Hotel and his body was taken to the
Jordan
University Hospital in Amman, where it was identified by a local
friend.
The family of Mahajna headed to Amman on Thursday morning. Mahajna was
to be
buried in his hometown on Thursday at 7 P.M.
It was still unclear whether there were any other Israeli casualties in
the
attack. Hours before the bombings, many Israelis were evacuated from
the
Radisson SAS, one of the hotels hit in the attacks, apparently due to a
specific security alert.
More than 115 people were wounded in the bombings at the Radisson, Days
Inn
and Grand Hyatt, where the bomber is believed to have blown up in a
banquet
hall where a wedding reception was underway. The Radisson is known to
be
popular with Israeli tourists.
"There were three terrorist attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS
and
Days Inn hotels and it is believed that the blasts were suicide
bombings,"
police spokesman Major Bashir al-Da'aja told The Associated Press. He
declined to elaborate.
Most of the victims of the attacks were Jordanian, said Jordanian
Deputy
Prime Minister Marwan Muashar said.
Al-Qaida in Iraq posted a statement in an Arabic Internet site in which
it
claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The claim of responsibility, signed in the name of the spokesman for
the
group Al-Qaida in Iraq, said that "after studying and watching the
targets,
places were chosen to carry out an attack on some hotels that the
tyrant of
Jordan has made the backyard garden for the enemy of the religion -
Jews and
crusaders."
Hundreds of angry Jordanians rallied Thursday outside one of the three
U.S.-based hotels attacked by suicide bombers, shouting, "Burn in hell,
Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi!" after the terrorist's group claimed responsibility
for
the blasts that killed at least 56 people, including an
American.
Protesters - including women and children - gathered outside a bombed
hotels, shouting, "Death to al-Zarqawi, the villain and the traitor!"
Drivers honked the horns of vehicles decorated with Jordanian flags and
posters of the king. A helicopter hovered overhead.
Jordan rounds up first suspects
Jordan's King Abdullah II chaired a meeting with his security chiefs,
just
hours after returning home from a trip abroad and inspecting the
still-smoldering sites.
Jordanian security forces snared a group of Iraqi suspects in the
triple
hotel bombings that killed at least 56 people, and officials said
Thursday
one of the bombers spoke Iraqi-accented Arabic before he exploded his
suicide belt in the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
A senior security official linked the bombings to Jordan's war-ravaged
eastern neighbor, saying the Hyatt bomber spoke with an Iraqi accent
and
several other Iraqis have been detained.
Security staff patrolling the Hyatt stopped the middle-aged terrorist
as he
was wandering the lobby. He spoke briefly to the guards before
detonating
the explosives strapped underneath his Western-style suit, the official
said
on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the
media.
"Among those arrested there were different nationalities, including
Iraqis
and other Arabs, and not only Jordanians," the official added.
Another official, insisting on anonymity because he is not allowed to
speak
to the press, said that DNA tests were being carried out to determine
the
identity of the perpetrators, including two suicide bombers who blew
themselves up in two of the separate hotel attacks. A third suicide
attacker
used a car to attack the third hotel.
Palestinian officials among dead
Two high-ranking Palestinian security officials, a senior Palestinian
banker
and the commercial attache at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo died in
the
bombings in Jordan, the Palestinian envoy to Amman said on Thursday.
Maj.-Gen. Bashir Nafeh, the head of military intelligence in the West
Bank,
and Col. Abed Allun, a high-ranking Preventive Security forces
official,
were killed in the attack at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Ambassador Attala
Kheri
told The AP in a telephone interview.
Jihad Fatouh, the commercial attache at the Palestinian Embassy in
Cairo,
and Mosab Khorma, deputy Chairman of Cairo-Amman Bank in the
Palestinian
territories, were also killed in the three nearly simultaneous suicide
bombings on American-owned hotels in the Jordanian capital on Wednesday
night, Kheri said.
The Palestinian Authority ordered Palestinian flags lowered to
half-staff
for one day, and declared a three-day mourning period.
"It's a very sad day for Palestinians, and we extend our condolences to
King
Abdullah and the Jordanian people," Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told
reporters. "We condemn this attack vehemently. It's a criminal attack
that
targeted innocent civilians."
International condemnation
Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned the attacks as "criminal acts
committed
by a deviant and misleading bunch" and said they would not sway Jordan
from
continuing its battle against terrorism. He cut short his official
visit to
Kazakhstan to return home.
"The hand of justice will get to the criminals who targeted innocent
secure
civilians with their cowardly acts," he said in a statement carried by
the
official Petra news agency.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called King Abdullah and expressed his
condolences. He told the Jordanian King the entire world must unite in
the
war against terror.
U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the bombings and offered U.S.
assistance in the investigation.
"The president condemns in the strongest possible terms the vicious
terrorist attacks against innocent civilians in Amman, Jordan," said a
statement by White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
"Jordan is a close friend of the United States, and we will offer every
possible form of cooperation in investigating these attacks and
assisting in
efforts to bring these terrorists to justice," he added.
Israelis allowed to return
A Jordanian police official said the attacks hit minutes before 9 P.M.
in
two districts in the Jordanian capital, including the commercial areas
of
Jebel Amman and al-Rabiyeh, which houses the Israeli Embassy.
The Allenby border crossing between Israel and Jordan was opened to
allow
Israelis to leave the Hashemite Kingdom immediately.
The first bomber struck the Grand Hyatt, completely shattering the
stone
entrance.
Police said a second explosion hit the nearby Radisson SAS hotel where
about
250 people were attending a wedding reception.
The Radisson in particular is popular with Israeli tourists and was a
target
of several foiled Al-Qaida plots in the past.
"The attacks carry the hallmark of Al-Qaida," one police official said
on
condition of anonymity in line with police regulations. "However it is
not
certain. We are investigating."
Ayman al-Safadi, editor of Jordan's Al-Ghad newspaper, told Al-Arabiya
satellite network that it was a "terrorist operation."
"Finally, the terrorists succeeded in breaking the security in Jordan,"
he
said, referring to past success in foiling many terror plots.
The Grand Hyatt and Radisson SAS hotels, in the Jebel Amman district,
are
located about one kilometer apart and are frequented by American and
European businessmen and diplomats. The Days Inn is located three
kilometers
away.
An American businessman who was at the Grand Hyatt when the explosion
occurred, said that it was caused by a "bomb that went off in the
lobby." He
declined to identify himself.
"It was a miracle that we made it out with a scratch," said a British
guest
at the Grand Hyatt.
"We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people falling
to the
ground," said Ahmed, a wedding guest at the Radisson who did not give
his
surname. "I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly."
Security was beefed up across the capital, especially around hotels and
diplomatic missions, police said. Several armed policemen and cars were
patrolling the streets of Amman, where Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan
Badran
declared Thursday a national holiday - apparently in order to allow
tightened security measures to take hold.
Jordan, a key ally of both the United States and Israel, had largely
escaped
the terror attacks that have hit other parts of the Middle East, and
its
sleepy capital, Amman, is viewed as a haven of stability in the region.
But Jordan has not been entirely immune: On August 19, militants fired
three
Katyusha rockets at a Navy ship docked at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba,
narrowly missing it and killing a Jordanian soldier.
Jordanian officials blamed that attack on Al-Qaida in Iraq, and there
have
been growing worries that the violence in Iraq could spill over into
Jordan,
where many Iraqi exiles have taken refuge from the violence.
Jordan has arrested scores of Islamic militants for plotting to carry
out
attacks in the moderate Arab kingdom. It has also sentenced numerous
militants to death in absentia, including the Jordanian-born leader of
al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
copyright Haaretz, 2005. Emphasis added
No truth to report of Israeli evacuations before Amman bombs
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
November 10 2005
[link to original article
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/643661.html]
There is no truth to reports that Israelis staying at the Radisson SAS
hotel
in Amman on Wednesday were evacuated by Jordanian security forces
before the
bombing that took place there.
The Israelis were escorted back to Israel by Jordanian security
personnel
only after the attacks had taken place, contrary to earlier reports.
Al Qaida said Thursday that it had carried out the triple suicide
bombings
at the Radisson, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels in downtown Amman, in
which
at least 57 people, including an Israeli, were killed.
Representatives of Israel's embassy in Amman were in contact with local
authorities to examine any report of injured Israelis, but none were
received. There are often a number of Israeli businessman and tourists
in
Amman, including in the hotels hit Wednesday.
Israel's counter-terror headquarters on Wednesday recommended Israeli
citizens not travel in Jordan. Travel warnings regarding Jordan were
tightened a few months ago, but many Israelis still visit the country.
Many
also visit other regions such as the Jordanian Arava and the ancient
city of
Petra.
Copyright Haaretz 2005. Emphasis added.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole
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Did Israel have Prior Knowledge of the Amman 11/9 Terror Attacks?
by Michel Chossudovsky
November 13, 2005
GlobalResearch.ca
Email this article to a friend
Print this article
Did Israel have prior knowledge of the terror attacks on three hotels
in
Amman, Jordan, which led to the death of 57 people?
According to an official Jordanian statement, the casualties included
33
Jordanians, six Iraqis, two Bahrainis, three Chinese, an Indonesian, a
Syrian, a Saudi and an American.
Israeli Citizens evacuated prior to the Blast
At least two authoritative news sources cast doubt on the official
version
of events.
According to Haaretz, Israel managed, with the cooperation of the
Jordanian
security forces, to discreetly evacuate several Israeli citizens prior
to
the blast, who were staying at the Radisson SAS hotel:
"A number of Israelis staying yesterday at the Radisson SAS were
evacuated before the bombing by Jordanian security forces, apparently
due to
a specific security alert. They were escorted back to Israel by
security
personnel.
The Foreign Ministry stated yesterday that no Israeli tourists are
known
to have been injured in the blasts. Representatives of Israel's embassy
in
Amman were I contact with local authorities to examine any report of
injured
Israelis, but none were received."(Scores dead in three Amman hotel
bombings; Israelis evacuated before attack, by Yoav Stern and Zohar
Blumenkrantz, Haaretz, 9 November 2005, italics added)
Moreover, a report published in The Los Angeles Times, quoting an
authoritative source, also suggests that Israeli intelligence had prior
knowledge of the attacks and failed to intervene:
"Amos N. Guiora, a former senior Israeli counter-terrorism
official,
said in a phone interview with The Times that sources in Israel had
also
told him about the pre-attack evacuations.
"It means there was excellent intelligence that this thing was
going to
happen," said Guiora, a former leader of the Israel Defense Forces who
now
heads the Institute for Global Security Law and Policy at Case Western
Reserve University in Cleveland. (LA Times, 11 November 2005)
According to Amos N. Guiora:
"The question that needs to be answered is why weren't the
Jordanians
working at the hotel similarly removed?" (quoted in LA Times, op. cit)
Retraction
No doubt under pressure from both the Israeli and Jordanian
authorities,
Yoav Stern and Zohar Blumenkrantz who authored the first report in
Haaretz
on November 9, retracted their statement to the effect that the Israeli
citizens had been evacuated prior to the blast:
"There is no truth to reports that Israelis staying at the Radisson
SAS
hotel in Amman on Wednesday were evacuated by Jordanian security forces
before the bombing that took place there. The Israelis were escorted
back to
Israel by Jordanian security personnel only after the attacks had taken
place, contrary to earlier reports." (No truth to report of Israeli
evacuations before Amman bombs, By Yoav Stern, Haaretz, 10 November
2005)
Ironically, the following day, in the November 11 issue of Haaretz, the
retraction had been retracted. The author's of the November 9 article
Yoav
Stern and Zohar Blumenkrantz had reaffirmed their earlier report:
An Israeli Arab businessman was one of the casualties in the
multi-pronged terror attacks, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said
Thursday. Two high-ranking Palestinian security officials were also
said to
be among the dead. ...It was still unclear whether there were any other
Israeli casualties in the attack. (...)
Hours before the bombings, many Israelis were evacuated from the
Radisson SAS, one of the hotels hit in the attacks, apparently due to a
specific security alert." (Haaretz, 11 November 2005, italics added).
Head of Palestinian Intelligence dies in Attacks
Three high-ranking Palestinian intelligence officials including
Maj.-Gen.
Bashir Nafeh, head of the Palestinian Authority's military intelligence
and
Col. Abed Allun, a high-ranking Preventive Security forces official,
who
were staying at the Hyatt Hotel were also killed in the blast. .
In this regard, Russian analyst Shamil Sultanov of the Russian Duma's
International Affairs Committee has pointed to an "Israeli connection".
According to Sultanov, in a radio interview, the death of Maj General
Bashir
Nafeh "has furthered the chances of Muhammad Dahlan" (who currently
occupies
the position of Minister of Civilian Affairs), to replace Mahmud Abbas
as
leader of the Palestinian National Authority. Sultanov suggests that
this
change in leadership within the Palestinian Authority would serve
Israeli
interests:
"If you consider these blasts, there are two key points, from my
point
of view. First, Jordan is a key player here for the Americans. The
stance of
the new king, Abdallah II, who, by the way is half-English, is fairly
complex because contradictions have arisen between the old Jordanian
team
and the king in the last six months, even the last year. And in
principle
what has just happened is a very good opportunity for Abdallah II to
make
certain changes, to put it mildly, to his team and to strengthen his
personal authority, and so on.
And the second theory I adhere to is the Israeli connection.
Abu-Mazin
[Mahmud Abbas], the leader of the Palestinian National Authority, is
seriously ill. And many believe that his Fatah party may not win with
such a
leader, that it will definitely not win the parliamentary elections
scheduled to take place in the next few months. So for a very large
number
of players - for the Americans, for Israel, for Sharon, for the
Egyptians -
[Palestinian Minister of Civilian Affairs Muhammad] Dahlan would be the
optimal player and politician to replace Abu-Mazin. In that sense,
these
explosions, and in particular the murder, as a result of one of the
blasts,
of Bashir Nafi, the Palestinian National Authority's military
intelligence
chief in the West Bank, is, from my point of view, a clearing of the
way for
Dahlan."( Radio Mayak, Moscow, in Russian, 1214 gmt 11 Nov 05, BBC
Monitoring)
This Russian viewpoint is consistent with other assessments on the role
of
Dahlan, who actively collaborated from 1994 to 2001 with the Israeli
IDF and
Shin Bet in the crackdown and arrest of Hamas leaders. According to
GlobalSecurity.org:
"Both Israel and the US [have] groomed Dahlan as a successor to
Arafat"
.
Chinese Defense Delegation
According to CNN, there were three Chinese "students" among the dead.
The
official reports, however, confirm that the three Chinese were in fact
members of a Chinese Defense delegation to Jordan from China's National
Defense University. Beijing has rushed a high level investigative team
integrated by China's ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense to
Amman
with a view to investigating the deaths of the three Chinese military
personnel.
Moreover, Dr Ghalib Abd-al-Mahdi, a senior Iraqi economic official and
brother of Iraqi Vice-President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi, was also killed in
the
blasts
Joint Intelligence Agreement between Israel and Jordan
According to an Israeli radio report, the attacks have open the way
towards
the signing of a joint intelligence agreement between Israel and
Jordan.
"Jordan is in the process of signing a joint security agreement
and the
establishment of an operations room for combating terrorism in
cooperation
with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian National Authority."
(Journalist quoted in Jordanian foreign minister's news conference, 13
November 2005)
Media Disinformation
The attacks were immediately described by the Western media, without
corroborating evidence and prior to the conduct of an investigation, "
as
bearing the hallmarks of Al Qaeda."
A statement allegedly written by "Al Qaeda in Iraq" was posted on a
mysterious Islamist website. The web posting, which claimed
responsibility
for the attacks,. stated that the attacks were in response to "the
conspiracy against the Sunnis whose blood and honor were shed by
Crusaders
and the Shiites".
Aired on network TV around the World, the attacks were followed by
organized
mass rallies and demonstrations across Amman directed against terrorist
mastermind Al Zarqawi.
What the Western media, however, has failed to report, is the
atmosphere of
disbelief and skepticism which characterizes Jordanian public opinion.
Openly discussed and debated on the streets of Amman, as confirmed by a
recent article in the New York Times (November 12, 2005), many
Jordanians
believe that Israel is behind the bombings.
ANNEX: PRIOR EVACUATION OF ISRAELI CITIZENS, HAARETZ, NOV 11, 2005
This article appeared on November 11, one day after Haaretz retracted
the
story in its November 10 issue. For the record we are reproducing below
both
articles. We have highlighted the relevant paragraphs in bold-italics
King Abdullah cancels trip to Israel after Amman triple suicide bombing
By Yoav Stern and Zohar Blumenkrantz, Haaretz Correspondents, and News
Agencies
Friday, November 11, 2005
[link to original article
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/643639.html] Israel on Thursday evening says Jordan's King Abdullah II has canceled
a
planned trip to Israel after at least 57 people were killed in
simultaneous
suicide bombings at three hotels the Jordanian capital of Amman on
Wednesday
night.
An Israeli Arab businessman was one of the casualties in the
multi-pronged
terror attacks, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Thursday. Two
high-ranking Palestinian security officials were also said to be among
the
dead.
Husam Fathi Mahajna, 40, from the nothern town of Umm al-Fahm, was a
guest
at a wedding held at the Radisson Hotel and his body was taken to the
Jordan
University Hospital in Amman, where it was identified by a local
friend.
The family of Mahajna headed to Amman on Thursday morning. Mahajna was
to be
buried in his hometown on Thursday at 7 P.M.
It was still unclear whether there were any other Israeli casualties in
the
attack. Hours before the bombings, many Israelis were evacuated from
the
Radisson SAS, one of the hotels hit in the attacks, apparently due to a
specific security alert.
More than 115 people were wounded in the bombings at the Radisson, Days
Inn
and Grand Hyatt, where the bomber is believed to have blown up in a
banquet
hall where a wedding reception was underway. The Radisson is known to
be
popular with Israeli tourists.
"There were three terrorist attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS
and
Days Inn hotels and it is believed that the blasts were suicide
bombings,"
police spokesman Major Bashir al-Da'aja told The Associated Press. He
declined to elaborate.
Most of the victims of the attacks were Jordanian, said Jordanian
Deputy
Prime Minister Marwan Muashar said.
Al-Qaida in Iraq posted a statement in an Arabic Internet site in which
it
claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The claim of responsibility, signed in the name of the spokesman for
the
group Al-Qaida in Iraq, said that "after studying and watching the
targets,
places were chosen to carry out an attack on some hotels that the
tyrant of
Jordan has made the backyard garden for the enemy of the religion -
Jews and
crusaders."
Hundreds of angry Jordanians rallied Thursday outside one of the three
U.S.-based hotels attacked by suicide bombers, shouting, "Burn in hell,
Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi!" after the terrorist's group claimed responsibility
for
the blasts that killed at least 56 people, including an
American.
Protesters - including women and children - gathered outside a bombed
hotels, shouting, "Death to al-Zarqawi, the villain and the traitor!"
Drivers honked the horns of vehicles decorated with Jordanian flags and
posters of the king. A helicopter hovered overhead.
Jordan rounds up first suspects
Jordan's King Abdullah II chaired a meeting with his security chiefs,
just
hours after returning home from a trip abroad and inspecting the
still-smoldering sites.
Jordanian security forces snared a group of Iraqi suspects in the
triple
hotel bombings that killed at least 56 people, and officials said
Thursday
one of the bombers spoke Iraqi-accented Arabic before he exploded his
suicide belt in the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
A senior security official linked the bombings to Jordan's war-ravaged
eastern neighbor, saying the Hyatt bomber spoke with an Iraqi accent
and
several other Iraqis have been detained.
Security staff patrolling the Hyatt stopped the middle-aged terrorist
as he
was wandering the lobby. He spoke briefly to the guards before
detonating
the explosives strapped underneath his Western-style suit, the official
said
on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the
media.
"Among those arrested there were different nationalities, including
Iraqis
and other Arabs, and not only Jordanians," the official added.
Another official, insisting on anonymity because he is not allowed to
speak
to the press, said that DNA tests were being carried out to determine
the
identity of the perpetrators, including two suicide bombers who blew
themselves up in two of the separate hotel attacks. A third suicide
attacker
used a car to attack the third hotel.
Palestinian officials among dead
Two high-ranking Palestinian security officials, a senior Palestinian
banker
and the commercial attache at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo died in
the
bombings in Jordan, the Palestinian envoy to Amman said on Thursday.
Maj.-Gen. Bashir Nafeh, the head of military intelligence in the West
Bank,
and Col. Abed Allun, a high-ranking Preventive Security forces
official,
were killed in the attack at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Ambassador Attala
Kheri
told The AP in a telephone interview.
Jihad Fatouh, the commercial attache at the Palestinian Embassy in
Cairo,
and Mosab Khorma, deputy Chairman of Cairo-Amman Bank in the
Palestinian
territories, were also killed in the three nearly simultaneous suicide
bombings on American-owned hotels in the Jordanian capital on Wednesday
night, Kheri said.
The Palestinian Authority ordered Palestinian flags lowered to
half-staff
for one day, and declared a three-day mourning period.
"It's a very sad day for Palestinians, and we extend our condolences to
King
Abdullah and the Jordanian people," Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told
reporters. "We condemn this attack vehemently. It's a criminal attack
that
targeted innocent civilians."
International condemnation
Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned the attacks as "criminal acts
committed
by a deviant and misleading bunch" and said they would not sway Jordan
from
continuing its battle against terrorism. He cut short his official
visit to
Kazakhstan to return home.
"The hand of justice will get to the criminals who targeted innocent
secure
civilians with their cowardly acts," he said in a statement carried by
the
official Petra news agency.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called King Abdullah and expressed his
condolences. He told the Jordanian King the entire world must unite in
the
war against terror.
U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the bombings and offered U.S.
assistance in the investigation.
"The president condemns in the strongest possible terms the vicious
terrorist attacks against innocent civilians in Amman, Jordan," said a
statement by White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
"Jordan is a close friend of the United States, and we will offer every
possible form of cooperation in investigating these attacks and
assisting in
efforts to bring these terrorists to justice," he added.
Israelis allowed to return
A Jordanian police official said the attacks hit minutes before 9 P.M.
in
two districts in the Jordanian capital, including the commercial areas
of
Jebel Amman and al-Rabiyeh, which houses the Israeli Embassy.
The Allenby border crossing between Israel and Jordan was opened to
allow
Israelis to leave the Hashemite Kingdom immediately.
The first bomber struck the Grand Hyatt, completely shattering the
stone
entrance.
Police said a second explosion hit the nearby Radisson SAS hotel where
about
250 people were attending a wedding reception.
The Radisson in particular is popular with Israeli tourists and was a
target
of several foiled Al-Qaida plots in the past.
"The attacks carry the hallmark of Al-Qaida," one police official said
on
condition of anonymity in line with police regulations. "However it is
not
certain. We are investigating."
Ayman al-Safadi, editor of Jordan's Al-Ghad newspaper, told Al-Arabiya
satellite network that it was a "terrorist operation."
"Finally, the terrorists succeeded in breaking the security in Jordan,"
he
said, referring to past success in foiling many terror plots.
The Grand Hyatt and Radisson SAS hotels, in the Jebel Amman district,
are
located about one kilometer apart and are frequented by American and
European businessmen and diplomats. The Days Inn is located three
kilometers
away.
An American businessman who was at the Grand Hyatt when the explosion
occurred, said that it was caused by a "bomb that went off in the
lobby." He
declined to identify himself.
"It was a miracle that we made it out with a scratch," said a British
guest
at the Grand Hyatt.
"We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people falling
to the
ground," said Ahmed, a wedding guest at the Radisson who did not give
his
surname. "I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly."
Security was beefed up across the capital, especially around hotels and
diplomatic missions, police said. Several armed policemen and cars were
patrolling the streets of Amman, where Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan
Badran
declared Thursday a national holiday - apparently in order to allow
tightened security measures to take hold.
Jordan, a key ally of both the United States and Israel, had largely
escaped
the terror attacks that have hit other parts of the Middle East, and
its
sleepy capital, Amman, is viewed as a haven of stability in the region.
But Jordan has not been entirely immune: On August 19, militants fired
three
Katyusha rockets at a Navy ship docked at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba,
narrowly missing it and killing a Jordanian soldier.
Jordanian officials blamed that attack on Al-Qaida in Iraq, and there
have
been growing worries that the violence in Iraq could spill over into
Jordan,
where many Iraqi exiles have taken refuge from the violence.
Jordan has arrested scores of Islamic militants for plotting to carry
out
attacks in the moderate Arab kingdom. It has also sentenced numerous
militants to death in absentia, including the Jordanian-born leader of
al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
copyright Haaretz, 2005. Emphasis added
No truth to report of Israeli evacuations before Amman bombs
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
November 10 2005
[link to original article
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/643661.html] There is no truth to reports that Israelis staying at the Radisson SAS
hotel
in Amman on Wednesday were evacuated by Jordanian security forces
before the
bombing that took place there.
The Israelis were escorted back to Israel by Jordanian security
personnel
only after the attacks had taken place, contrary to earlier reports.
Al Qaida said Thursday that it had carried out the triple suicide
bombings
at the Radisson, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels in downtown Amman, in
which
at least 57 people, including an Israeli, were killed.
Representatives of Israel's embassy in Amman were in contact with local
authorities to examine any report of injured Israelis, but none were
received. There are often a number of Israeli businessman and tourists
in
Amman, including in the hotels hit Wednesday.
Israel's counter-terror headquarters on Wednesday recommended Israeli
citizens not travel in Jordan. Travel warnings regarding Jordan were
tightened a few months ago, but many Israelis still visit the country.
Many
also visit other regions such as the Jordanian Arava and the ancient
city of
Petra.
Copyright Haaretz 2005. Emphasis added.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole
responsibility
of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for
Research on Globalization.
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paranoid
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
do you realize?
15.11.2005 11:00
do you realize how low down you've gone?
do you realize?
Hmm.
15.11.2005 13:30
You say the Israelis planted the bomb.
Then they realised there would be Israelis in the hotel. (Good planning)
So they tell the Jordanians to evacuate Israeli citizens because of a bomb threat.
The Jordanians politely evacuate the hotel as requested, but do nothing about their own people.
Does any of this make any sense at all?
Question: are there suicide bombers? Yes - Israel suffers them repeatedly. Films are made about them. Videos are recorded by them before they go off on their mission. So is this a plausible cause for the bombing?
sceptic
This is a rerun of a previous post
15.11.2005 14:24
ex-Brit
thanks
15.11.2005 15:02
They just come to show how racist the poster is and how Indymedia supports it, which all together serves to give people a good impression of what Indymedia is about.
uzi
knee-jerk protection of the False Flag just identifies it more
15.11.2005 17:04
"1984" has a Blair like world where people are employed to literally re-write and photo-doctor recent recorded history. With OUR internet, the process of doctoring is actually recorded and can be examined at our leisure. Because of this, you will notice the New Reich trolls above using meaningless analogies like "poisoning the wells". This is highly ironic, since the modern meaning of "poisoning the well" refers to a technique in Black Propaganda much used by Blair's people.
Anyone following THIS story should ask themselves how many other stories are doctored BEFORE the early version reaches the general public.
REMEMBER, the bombing of Jordan is going to prove of great significance, and yet your master's want you to believe (at this distance) that it is nothing more than an extension of the fight for freedom in Iraq.
These FALSE FLAG operations will always be easy to spot because of their unique signature and illogical nature. However, they will also have the greatest likelyhood of accidently going wrong in many small and large ways, destroying the official story, and forcing a significant cover-up operation, which these days will include significant psy-ops on the internet. Some of this is handled by a media campaign of controlled FALSE FLAG information release across the days and weeks after the event. This is merely part of the original planning.
The misfortune of the Israeli leak over the true nature of events in Amman compares nicely with all the similar Israel data that occured all around 911, including the amazing story of the Israeli's at Odigo instant messenging service (in Israel) that received details of the 911 "attack" 2 hours before it happened. The bigger the FALSE FLAG operation, the more likely it has leaked, if you look carefully.
Perhaps the SADDEST side of all this human depravity is that a comic-book action film "The Long Kiss Goodnight", lays out the basic template for how these things are done. Of course, the very fact that the public only gets lessons in the use of FALSE FLAGS in silly Hollywood movies is, in itself, all psy-ops. After all, the average person entertained by such fiction is NOT going to know that writers tend to be well read and well informed, and use real events (like Operation Northwoods) as the inspiration for their fun and throw-away plot lines. Thus people can be shown the very method of something, and made to believe that such a thing is a fairy tale, all at the same time.
Anyway, Blair's intended future progression is a very complicated thing. He has allies in all the places you know, but mostly in places you don't. This occurs when a monster in a position of extreme power is prepared to "think outside the box". He is able to make proposals, and offer services that in all probability can interest significant forces in ANY nation on this Earth. This does not mean the game is easy for Blair. Just consider how hard Blair had to work to get the US to launch its full scale genocidal strike against Fallujah. The Jordan operation is just another stepping stone, albeit clearly an important one.
twilight
changes in news stories
16.11.2005 00:24
Changes of facts usually occur to fit around accepted/acceptable government policy. I write often to the BBC on this - there is no debate as to the fact they change - the debate usually revolves around why.
Haaretz did publish one version (in which Israelis were evacuated beforehand) and then another, and then another. Haaretz is a respectable Israeli newpaper, left of centre (and reflecting from what I read more opinions/views of the opposition leader in Israel than that of Ariel Sharon). To disagree and suspect the motivations of the Israeli government is no more outrageous than to do the same here, in the UK, or in the US, or in Australia. All are guilty of corruption and war-mongering. So are many other nations, for that matter.
Reuters also published an article explaining that police on the scene found evidence of bombs in the ceilings (and there is pictorial evidence about to verify this). They have not retracted that story - neither has the LATimes. We are told it was suicide bombers responsible for the event, because planted bombs do not fit accepted al qaeda (current) bombing techniques.
BBC left out information regarding the deaths of 3 prominent Palestinian officials, yet Haaretz left it in, as did Al Jazeera.
When there is confusion over such events, it is worth looking at motivations - who wins, who loses.
It is worth remembering that based on the result, Palestinians gain nothing (the loss of many Palestinian refugees and officials and a weakening for the Hamas position on suicide bombing), whereas Israel gains stronger support from Jordan.
It is not racist to bring to light evidence which has been supressed by the Western media. To do so negates the intelligence regarding such events as Falluja, and other atrocities. Where it is shown information has been left out of mainstream media, you will perhaps almost always find a political motivation behind it.
Kind Regards,
Derek Lane
derek lane
Homepage:
http://govinfo.billystyx.co.uk