Jordanian Blogger Disappointed with Anti-Zarqawi Demonstration

Writing of yesterday's Amman demonstration against four Jordanian deputies who had expressed sympathy for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Ahmad Humeid says:

In a number of ways, the demonstration was disappointing. Although I found myself agreeing with a lot of the banners held up, the demonstration felt like a ‘bussed-in’ affair (i.e it felt like the usual ‘pro-government’ gathering). The audience consisted mainly of tribal representatives (which is ‘interesting’ as one blogger put it), but I would have liked to see more diversity and a representation of Amman’s people.

We are also seeing ads of ‘condemnation’ in the newspapers and lot of ‘declarations of allegiance’!

And the four deputies have been arrested and it seems they will be tried in front of the State Security court, on grounds of ’stirring up discord’.

I honestly think this is not the right response.

What the four deputies did (and what one of them said) was unbelievably insensitive and disgusting. It can be argued that it makes them apologist of Zarqawi type terror. But using the State Security court against them will make them seem as victims of a government controlled process of score settling with the Islamists (as some Islamists are already claiming).

Regardless of any real or perceived process ’score settling’, the Islamists need to understand (and some of them apparently do) that there is a real feeling of disgust among a sizable segment of society and the media...

Apparently, the Jordanian government finds it tough not to manipulate public opinion and to instead, let people form their own ideas. From reading a sampling of Jordanian blogs, one can see that there is genuine moderation that rejects the nihilism of Zarqawi associates. These Jordanians don't want their outrage co-opted by their government or anybody else.