by Natasha Tynes | Jun 26, 2006 | Jordan, my nation, Political mayhem
It seems efforts are underway to fight corruption in Jordan.
The Amman prosecutor general recently indicted 350 people on charges of corruption, a senior interior ministry official said on Monday. "Abuse of public and private posts has wrought havoc on our economy and development," said the official, preferring anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. "We need to send a message that Jordan is a safe country for foreign investors. We can only do that by cracking down on corruption."
The official went on to point out that, of the 350 indictments, at least 300 were handed out to members of the private sector. While he was unwilling to disclose the precise amounts of money involved in the cases, he conceded that some involved amounts in the millions of dollars. "Some cases involve hundreds or thousand of dollars, but others are in the tens of millions," he said. Source: [IRIN]
However, some remain skeptical.
"We have thousands of high-profile corruption cases, but they’re covered up by the government and influential personalities," said MP Abdul Rahim Malhas, who accused successive governments of "lacking serious motivation" for fighting corruption. "The past four governments used all kinds of rhetoric to announce their ‘wars on corruption’, but we later discovered that top officials from the same governments were themselves corrupt."
I guess one reason behind such cynicism is Jordan’s ranking in the official statistics:
In a 2005 report by corruption watchdog Transparency International, Jordan ranked 37th out of 145 countries in the world in terms of official corruption levels. The report ranked Jordan fourth in the Arab world, after Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
I think it’s best to take a "wait-and-see" attitude. Maybe Jordan’s shameful rating will improve after this new anti-corruption drive.
by Natasha Tynes | Jun 12, 2006 | Jordan, my nation, Political mayhem
Jordanian blogger Hamzeh has unleashed his anger at the Jordanian deputies who showed support for Zarqawi by posting this powerful image.
Meanwhile, Roba is disappointed by the lack of female protesters at the sit-in that took place today in front of Parliament. For sure, Zarqawi’s death and its repercussions have galvanized the Jordanian blogoshpere.
by Natasha Tynes | Jun 11, 2006 | Jordan, my nation, Political mayhem, The Mideast
Jordanian bloggers have expressed anger over the actions of a number of Islamic Action Front (IAF) deputies who paid condolences to Zarqawi’s family and called him a "mujahid" (Arabic). Jordanian blogger Ahmad Humeid calls the deputies’ actions "shameful," saying:
… anger for Palestine, Iraq and no feeling of oppression or humiliation and no ‘jihad’ justifies the killing of 60 people in Amman’s hotels last year. The public stance of the three IAF deputies in mourning and praising Zarqawi is shameful. What kind of society will we live in when some of our elected representatives are ready to offer us for slaughter by anyone who ‘fights the Americans.’
Meanwhile, Nas wrote a personal letter to the IAF:
… I don’t care about Hamas calling him a martyr. I care when IAF deputies in Jordan go to his funeral and call him a "Mujahid," someone fighting for the "Islamic" cause. Those deputies should be removed from their seats. I would try them for treason if I could. And what was their excuse for attending the funeral? It was a religious duty, they said. They can’t pass judgment on a fellow Muslim, they said. Screw You! When a fellow Muslim turns against the Ummah and starts killing his own people in cold blood that should be some indication that he isn’t one of us, you dumbasses! And to the IAF, if these deputies spoke out of line from the party’s position then now would be a good time to condemn them and for good measure state your position clearly to Jordanians.
Batir has a powerful post (Arabic). He’s also posted in, unleashing his anger at both the state of Israel and Zarqawi:
… other bastards are here, living amongst us and stabbing us in the back. The four "deputies" of the Islamic Action Front who visited the Zarqawi home to consider him a martyr are a shame to Jordan and the country, they are nothing but a group of leeches sucking our blood and supporting criminals and terrorists like Zarqawi. They must be prosecuted, go to jail and never ever be allowed to represent the Jordanian people who were targeted by Zarqawi gang. I hate the IAF, and if they do not apologize right now to the Jordanian people they must be chased down in every corner of this country and never be allowed to express any kind of political activity. The 60 people who died due to Zarqawi’s acts, plus the [tears] of the Jordanian girl Marah who lost her father in Iraq at the hands of a Zarqawi assistant is a real Jordanian purity that will wipe away all those cockroaches thriving on the dirt of the worst ideas in our time and by this I mean the terrorist IAF. Those do not need to blow bombs themselves, if they support Zarqawi then they are terrorists as well.
I just want to echo much of what my fellow bloggers said. What the deputies did is simply despicable and can never be justified. Their actions show the ultimate disrespect to the souls of the 60 victims who died last November as a result of the sinister acts of the "Mujahid" Zarqawi.
In other news, Batir reports that there is a sit-in tomorrow in front of Parliament to condemn the actions of the MPs and to pay tribute to the victims of the Amman bombings. In other developments, the same deputies who showed support for Zarqawi were arrested today. Batir thinks it’s a "step in the right direction."
by Natasha Tynes | Jun 8, 2006 | Political mayhem
So Zarqawi is dead. Good riddance. To all the skeptics out there, it seems that Zarqawi wasn’t a "US invention" or a "creation by Jordanian intelligence" after all! What will the conspiracy theorists say now? "We need proof!" "We want to see the corpse." [There’s now pictorial evidence] Frankly, I would have preferred seeing him captured and then put to justice so that everyone could see how sinister this man was and that he really existed, inflicting terror upon millions and millions of people.
David Igantius wrote in the Washington Post in November of last year that Jordan was determined to capture or kill Zarqawi following the terrorist attacks on the kingdom.
A senior official told me that Jordan is considering aggressive new anti-terrorism operations that will seek to capture or kill Abu Musab Zarqawi and his top lieutenants. When I asked King Abdullah about the campaign, he explained, "Zarqawi brought the war to our doorstep, and there’s a feeling in Jordan that we’d like to bring him to justice."
Well, they were true to their word as:
A Jordanian official said Jordan also provided the U.S. military with information that helped in tracking al-Zarqawi down. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was addressing intelligence issues, would not elaborate, but Jordan is known to have intelligence agents operating in Iraq to hunt down Islamic militants. Source: [MSNBC]
Today is a good day for humankind!
Update: Zarqawi’s relatives are now calling him a martyr. Yeah, whatever! I hope he enjoys a prime place in hell as a slave to the devil himself. What’s wrong with these people, really! Were they not the very same ones who declared that they disowned him following the terror attacks in Jordan last November.
Update 2: According to Aljazeera (Arabic), Al-Qaeda in Iraq has confirmed Zarqawi’s death.
by Natasha Tynes | May 16, 2006 | Media watch, Political mayhem
The United Nations News agency IRIN ran a story today about the ongoing Hamas vs. Jordan issue. The thing that bugged me about the article was its choice of headline: Observers skeptical about Hamas plot in kingdom. The reason I’m peeved about this is not my subjective take on the issue but the fact that the writer/editor of this article chose the word "observers" for the headline when the article only quotes members of the Muslim brotherhood.
My humble experience as a journalist/writer taught me that "observer" is a label used for renowned writers, academics and scholars — pundits. I do not really buy the labeling of members of an opposition group as "observers." Another thing worth highlighting is the article’s quote from IAF member Zaki Abu Rsheid saying:
Neither I, nor anybody else in the kingdom, believe the government’s story that Hamas planned attacks against targets in the kingdom, despite a televised confession by two men arrested in connection with the case, said Abu Rsheid.
Dear Mr. Abu Rsheid, please do not speak for all Jordanians … or at least do not speak for me. Okay, enough about Hamas for now. I hope I don’t have to discuss this topic again, as whenever I do the discussions on this blog get heated, bordering at times on the offensive. If you choose to leave a comment on this very subjective blog, please keep it civil. Thank you.
by Natasha Tynes | May 5, 2006 | Political mayhem
While doing my usual daily surfing of the Arab blogoshpere this morning I came across this disturbing picture of public hangings occurring in Kuwait City as featured on the blog 2:48AM ~ The B Sides. [Click the picture to enlarge] Yes, you heard me right. Public hangings are occurring in this day and time!
Welcome to the Middle East ladies and gentleman. It’s a place where you cannot kiss in public — or show any public displays of affection — but you’ll definitely get an opportunity to see the sights and sounds of public executions! Yes, I’m frustrated!
