AMMAN, 15 December 2005 — Jordan’s new Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit pledged yesterday that his government would pursue a “preventive war” against terrorism following the Nov. 9 suicide bombings at three Amman hotels, but said the new approach would not affect the country’s drive toward democracy, modernization and the adoption of home-grown reforms.
“The terrorist incidents which our beloved capital has been exposed to will only enhance our determination to go ahead with our preventive war against terrorism and the Takfir (labeling people as atheists) culture,” Bakhit said in a major policy statement he delivered before the lower house of Parliament.
“This war will not exclude any persons, institutions or bodies regardless of their references or those who stand behind terrorism and will target all those who justify terrorist crimes against humanity,” he added.
Bakhit, a retired army general who has a blend of experience covering diplomacy and academia, spoke against the backdrop of last month’s unprecedented blasts in Jordan that killed 60 people and wounded more than 50. The bombings were claimed by the Jordan-born fugitive Abu Mussab Zaraqwi, who leads the Iraqi branch of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda group.
The probe conducted by the Jordanian security authorities into the explosions has revealed the involvement of three Iraqi suicide bombers.
A fourth would-be bomber, a detained Iraqi woman identified as Sajeda Atrous Al-Rishawi, has confessed over the state-run Jordan TV of being part of the terror gang.
She alleged that she had failed to detonate her explosive belt at a wedding party which was in process on Nov. 9 at Radisson SAS hotel, while her husband succeeded in blowing himself up at the site, killing more than 30 people and wounding scores others.
Bakhit said his government, which was formed on Nov. 27, would introduce several legislations for dealing with the post-blasts situation including a new anti-terror law, but pledged the new legislations would not affect the country’s democratization process.
“The government hereby emphasizes that there is no contradiction between security and democracy, but rather believes there is integration between them,” he said.
He was responding to fears voiced by human rights activists that the new anti-terror law and other legislations could encroach on public freedoms and other human rights in the country.
Bakhit, a former ambassador in Israel, said Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip earlier this month “should be followed by other withdrawals from the West Bank” in compliance with international legitimacy particularly the Quartet’s “road map” plan.
On Iraq, he said that his government would go ahead with Jordan’s old policy in supporting the political process in Iraq with a view to “preserving the country’s unity, sovereignty and pluralism” and eradiating violence and terrorism from the neighboring war-ravaged country.
The House of Representatives will start on Sunday a general debate on the new government’s policy statement that is expected to be wound up with vote of confidence at the weekend.
