November 14, 2005

There are all kinds of problems with the Official Story of the Jordanian bombings. I've mentioned some already, and here are some more:

1. Pictures of the damage appear to show evidence of bombs placed in the ceiling. Since this would be inconsistent with the Official Story that the bombing was done by visitors from Iraq, who presumably had no privileged access to plant the bombs (how much do you tip the bellboy when he carries your explosives into the hotel, and how much does the concierge get when he sends out to find you the detonators you forgot back at your 'safe house'?), the Official Story had to be changed to deny that there were ceiling bombs. If it was a suicide bomb, why would the ceiling twelve feet above the floor be extensively damaged, but the wall directly adjacent to where the bomb is supposed to have gone off be completely unmarked?


2. The Jordanians have supposedly found a witness, the wife of one of the suicide bombers. Unfortunately, the story as told by the Associated Press is incoherent (Muasher is Jordanian deputy premier Marwan Muasher):

   "Al-Rishawi was shown on state television wearing a white head scarf, a buttoned, body-length dark denim dress, and belts packed with TNT and ball bearings. Muasher told CNN the belts were captured with her.
   
   Al-Rishawi said she and her husband, Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, 35, were wearing explosive-laden belts when they strolled into a Radisson ballroom where hundreds of guests, including children, were attending a Jordanian-Palestinian wedding reception.
   
   'My husband wore a belt and put one on me. He taught me how to use it, how to pull the (primer cord) and operate it,' she said, wringing her hands.
   
   'My husband detonated (his bomb). I tried to explode (my belt) but it wouldn't. I left, people fled running and I left running with them.'
   
   Muasher said al-Rishawi's husband noticed her struggle and pushed her out of the ballroom in order not to attract attention before blowing himself up."

   
   Pushing her out of the ballroom wouldn't attract attention? If she was already outside, how then did she run out with the people running from the bomb? Here is the same story from Aljazeera, quoting the wife:

   "'We went into the hotel. He [my husband] took a corner and I took another. There was a wedding in the hotel. There were women and children,' she said.
   'My husband detonated [his bomb] and I tried to explode my belt, but it wouldn't. People fled running and I left running with them.'"

   
   Did he push her out before he set off his bomb, or not? Why would he bother to do so? Why not just set off his bomb? Was he suddenly afraid that his wife might be killed in the explosion (that would be ironic, don't you think?).


3. The Jordanian story of how they found her doesn't make sense either (from the same Associated Press story):

   "Al-Rishawi was arrested Sunday morning at a 'safe house' in the same Amman suburb where her husband and the other two bombers rented a furnished apartment, a top Jordanian security official said.
   
   Jordanian security was tipped off to her presence by al-Qaida in Iraq's claim of a female bomber, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists. The group apparently assumed she was killed in the blasts."

   
   How did the claim that there was a female bomber possibly provide enough information for them to find her in her 'safe house' unless they already knew where the 'safe house' was?


4. Why would insurgents fighting the American occupation of Iraq decide to take a busman's holiday and blow themselves up in Jordan? Didn't they have enough to do in Iraq? Wouldn't their meager resources of available suicide bombers be better put to use in Iraq?


5. Why would Sunni insurgents in Iraq head immediately to blow up a Sunni wedding reception in the hotel? Weren't there much better targets around? Speaking of better targets, how lucky do you have to be to kill a number of Palestinian officials, including the head of Palestinian intelligence, and take out the Chinese defense officials the Palestinians may have been planning to meet? For a bunch of bombers just arrived in town, they sure seemed to know where specific targets were located.