Mick Hartley

An interesting article in MEMRI on Iraqi-Jordanian tension prompted by the “most lethal suicide” – the car bomb in the predominantly Shi’ite City of Hilla, sixty miles south of Baghdad, on February 28th, which exploded in front of a health office in a busy bazaar where new recruits to the police and armed forces were waiting to apply for health certificates. “The bomb killed 132 people and injured 120. A fireman, ‘Ammar al-‘Aani, who took part in the rescue operation, found the terrorist’s hands chained to the steering wheel and a charred copy of the Koran in the car.” The bomber was Raid Mansour al-Banna from the City of al-Salt in Jordan:

What riled the Iraqis the most was that al-Banna’s family honored his act by holding a festive ceremony known as “the wedding of the martyr” [ ‘irs al-shahid ] to symbolize his wedding in paradise with 72 virgins. At these events, the bereaved family receives guests who offer it condolences and congratulations for their son’s martyrdom. A truck was seen on television bringing food to a special tent erected to receive the guests. In justifying the celebration, the family argued that the victims were Americans. In fact, there was no American casualty in this operation. […]

Not satisfied with the festivities his family organized in honor of his terrorist brother, Naseer al-Banna published a letter on the internet praising Raid and wished him pleasant days in heaven alongside his grandfather Hassan al-Banna. He was puzzled as to why the Iraqis were calling his brother a terrorist.

In his letter, Naseer labeled the Shi’a as “American and Jewish agents.” He claimed that the Shi’a religion was created by Jews and the Shi’a killed Prophet Mohammad’s grandson, al-Imam Hussein whom the Shi’a consider the greatest martyr in Islamic history.

The brother concluded his letter by stating his intention to join the Jihad against the Americans, the Jews, and the Shi’a. […]

The terrorist act in Hilla by a Jordanian has only dramatized for most Iraqis what they perceive as a quarter century of unlimited Jordanian support for the regime of Saddam Hussein, including his war with Iran and his invasion of Kuwait. Saddam rewarded Jordan with the supply of Iraqi oil at sharply discounted prices and opened the Iraqi markets for unrestricted imports from Jordan. While Iraqis became increasingly impoverished under the United Nations sanctions regime, Jordan has witnessed times of expanding economic prosperity. The Iraqis have also resented King Abdallah’s warning prior to the Iraqi elections of the imminent danger of “a Shi’ite Crescent” that would destabilize the Middle East.