SEPTEMBER 11 ONE YEAR LATER IN JORDAN: SYMPATHY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005168

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2007
TAGS: PREL PGOV SOCI XF JO
SUBJECT: SEPTEMBER 11 ONE YEAR LATER IN JORDAN: SYMPATHY
STILL, BUT DISAPPOINTMENT OVER "LESSONS NOT LEARNED" AND
ANXIETY OVER THE FUTURE


Classified By: CDA Gregory L. Berry. Reasons 1.5 (b,d).

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Summary
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1. (C) A year after 9/11, many Jordanians still make a point
of expressing sympathy for the victims of the attacks and
condemnation for those who carried them out. That said, many
also quickly add that the U.S. "failed to learn the lessons
of September 11" and has yet to address the perceived "root
causes" behind the acts -- i.e. America's "unbalanced"
approach in the region. While the local press in recent days
has been full of stories marking the 9/11 attacks, most
Jordanians are more focused on -- and more anxious about --
the anticipated consequences for Jordan of U.S. military
action against Iraq. End Summary.

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On A Human Level, Sympathy
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2. (C) September 11 shocked Jordanians, like others around
the world, by its brutality and the scale of devastation it
wrought. A year later, many of our contacts still make a
point of expressing sympathy for the victims and condemnation
for the perpetrators. Former parliamentarian Ra'ad Bakri
told us "September 11 is a black day. Those who did it are
as far from Islam as possible. Jordanians stand 100 percent
with Americans on this sad day." Similarly, journalist Nadia
Aloul told us "we don't need an anniversary to remind us of
September 11 as we have been living it every day."
Conversations with other contacts and with ordinary
Jordanians in casual interaction show a similar perception --
September 11 was a tremendous human tragedy and an act
against Islam. (Note: at this point, the argument generally
turns in one of two directions: either al-Qaeda's world view
is a deeply warped interpretation of Islam, or Muslims could
not have carried out such an act and someone else was
responsible. End Note). Thus, in the human context,
Jordanians feel genuine sympathy for America on this
anniversary.

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Looking Back: America Did Not Learn Its Lessons
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3. (C) That said, Jordanians continue to view September 11
primarily through the prism of their own immediate concerns.
They listen to our counter-arguments patiently, but are
likely simply to brush them off. For many of them, September
11 was a consequence of the U.S.'s flawed policies in the
region, a relationship the U.S. didn't understand then and
still doesn't understand now. Former Parliamentarian Mahmoud
Kharabsheh made this point to the A/DCM recently, arguing
that "rational, reasonable Arabs don't support what happened
on 9/11. But they believe that the reasons given by al-Qaeda
are valid bases to oppose U.S. policy." In a September 8
editorial, the English language, government-affiliated,
Jordan Times expressed a related idea: "The last year would
have been well spent had the U.S. and the international
community done more thinking and soul-searching on the root
causes of terrorism." And another Embassy contact echoed the
same sentiment recently, noting: "people here feel that 9/11
was an historic opportunity for the U.S. to improve its
negative image in the Arab world, but the U.S. failed to
review its policies." Most here perceive that the U.S. has
not addressed "the root causes" of the region's tensions and
that it has acquiesced in the face of the IDF's ever more
brutal tactics for suppressing the Intifada. They still feel
strongly that it is a mistake to equate "legitimate
Palestinian martyrdom operations" with 9/11. All of these
factors combined have left many here (who are otherwise
sympathetic to what befell America a year ago) with a bitter
taste.

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Looking Ahead: Iraq is the Main Concern Now
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4. (C) Over the past week, the local press has devoted
considerable space to stories and editorials marking the
anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. As a result, public
consciousness of, and discussion about, 9/11 has risen. That
said, most Jordanians' primary concern is focused at home --
not on what happened in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania
a year ago, but rather, on what they fear will happen to
Jordan and the region in the months ahead. Growing anxiety
about the anticipated consequences for Jordan of possible
U.S. military action against Iraq looms ever larger. For many
ordinary people, America's "failure to learn the lessons of
9/11 and address the root causes" is part of a continuing
dynamic leading the region toward an uncertain and
anxiety-filled future.
BERRY