Jordan - A big victory in The War On Terror

That's the way Austin Bay sees it and I agree.

Why is this a victory? Because it demonstrates, unequivocally, that Al Qaeda is merely Murder Incorporated, and most of its victims are Muslims. Al Qaeda’s biggest recruiting tool was – and is— the political failure of the Arab Muslim world. In this dysfunctional world tyranny and terror reinforce one another, with the people of the Middle East the inevitable victims.

And if the anti-war movement had its way, it would continue.

Muslims are starting to agree as well.

It will be interesting to see if the terrorist attacks that predominantly killed Jordanian Muslims will effect the support of suicide bombers among Jordanians. I wager that it will and this is why. In a poll taken in portions of the Muslim world earlier this year, support for Osama bin Laden and the tactic of suicide bombing in defense of Islam had declined remarkably (proving that the U.S. is winning the battle for the "minds" of Muslims). The most precipitous drops were, not surprisingly, in countries that had directly endured the brunt of Islamic suicide bombings, such as Indonesia and Morocco.

Of the countries surveyed, however, Jordan was the only country where the majority surveyed (57%) still supported terrorist acts in defense of Islam, something attributed to the majority Palestinian population that makes up Jordan. To date, although Islamofascists have tried numerous times before the Iraq War to attack Jordan, they had not successfully carried out a terrorist bombing inside the country. That changed yesterday as Jordan felt the full effects of suicide bombings. Now that Jordanians are not immune from the murderous intentions of terrorists using suicide bombings in the name of Islam, look for that 57% figure to drop the next time this poll is taken. Indications are this shift has begun to occur already, as the Jordanians start to learn what their brethern in the Muslim world increasingly realize: that Bin Laden's Jihad against the West is a fraud, further exposed with attacks such as these.

More here.

The Associated Press reports that Hazyim Muzadi, head of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdatul Ulama, condemned suicide bombings, and warned that terrorism was hurting the reputation of Islam:

"Killing is only justified in war," said Muzadi, the head of the Nahdatul Ulama, in remarks carried by the state news agency Antara on Sunday. "Terrorists who are acting in the name of Islam are ruining the religion's reputation as a blessing to the universe. Islam's followers both in Indonesia and abroad are being cornered as a result," he said.

Nahdatul Ulama claims some 40 million followers.

And Instapundit has this:

THIS SOUNDS LIKE GOOD NEWS: "Al Qaeda on defensive as bombs begin to backfire."

As Bill Roggio noted a while back: "the more the Iraqis, even those opposed to a U.S. presence in their country, are exposed to the depravity of al Qaeda, the more they grow to despise them." For "Iraqis" substitute, well, everyone and you've pretty much got it.

Once again Bush is proved right.
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