Amman 9/11

Today has been a flurry of text messages and phone calls....what did we do in these situations before the advent of mobile phones...reassuring text messages from people who are ok, worrying text messages from those who are still trying to contact friends...and in true Jordanian style...the odd humorous message...

Today has also been spent reminiscing about fun times spent at the three hotels, the time my boss and I both fell asleep in the lobby of the Hyatt too tired to talk or the time my flat mate and I sat and debated what type of bubble bath we were going to splash out on as soon as we could summon the energy to remove ourselves from the comfortable chairs at the Hyatt lobby....all great times in a location where, judging by the photos from the Jordan Times today, such carnage has taken place...

I am sure at some stage I shall write more coherently about the events of yesterday but here are a few first thoughts...

Jordan, and by default, Amman have long lived under the threat of terrorism. Many of my friends, when I spoke to them earlier, voiced the thought ‘It was inevitable, just surprised it took this long to happen’.

Terrorism is not new to Amman, however up until now the intelligence forces have been successful at keeping the attacks at bay...the Millennium terror attacks and the foiled chemical attacks.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (Jordan’s most hated citizen) has often voiced his hatred for the Jordanian government and they way they have ‘sold out’ to the West. He was allegedly the mastermind for the Millenium plot, the chemical plot and the murder of Laurence Foley.

A lot of news reports have said that the hotels targeted had American and Israeli connections...in Amman there are a high number of five star hotel properties, built to deal with the influx of Israeli tourists after Israel and Jordan signed their 1994 peace treaty, given how the average Israeli is looked at in Jordan not many do visit, particularly since the start of the 2000 Intifada, as a result most of the hotel business in Amman is based around on the people who flow in and out of Iraq, local business (weddings etc) and during the summer the annual influx of the Gulf Arabs seeking somewhere a little cooler.

A quick run down of the Amman hotel properties (please note that the ownership may be a little hazy or incorrect – hotel ownership is usually fairly confusing):

Four Seasons (opened 2003)– Canadian management company, built by the BinLaden group, owned by various Jordanian and Saudi individuals

Sheraton (opened 2001)– American management company, if I remember correctly, the same details as the Four Seasons r.e. construction..but I could be wrong.

Grand Hyatt (opened 1999)- American management company, owned by Zara Holdings; a group of independent investors who put money into Jordanian tourism projects - mainly hotels, including the wonderful Dead Sea Movenpick)

The Inter-continental (opened 1964 ) – Management company with British roots but now more American, the grand-mother of hotels in Amman, this hotel has seen more action than the average hotel!. Owned by Zara holdings (same as Grand Hyatt).

Le Meridien (opened 1987), British (at present) management company.

Le Royal(opened 2002) – owned and managed by GMH a company owned by an Iraqi naturalized Brit by the name of Nadhmi Auchi – has ‘cloudy’ links to Saddam Hussein, Jordanian rumour has it the hotel was built with Saddam’s money, Auchi denies all knowledge of ever having met Saddam – the public jury is still out….

Marriott - another of the older properties in Amman, an American management company, owned by Arab International Hotels, a Jordanian company.

Radisson SAS - European management company, Jordanian Palestinian owners. Another of the older properties of Amman, quite a landmark as by Jordanian standards it is a 'skyscraper' and it stands in a fairly obvious location.

That’s the sum total of the five-star properties, although there is a new kid on the block, the Kempinski. Following the chain five star properties there are a lot of independently owned and managed properties that aim for five star but fall into the low four star, possibly high three star rating…and then there’s the Days Inn…this tiny little property which has …bedrooms and a grotty little coffee shop and a tiny little nightclub which local hotel staff go to (due to a few reasons - location, price and nobody else really goes there – hotel staff like to keep to themselves after hours!)

Reading some of the Jordanian blogs via Jordan Planet - particularly Mental Mayhem, who has this post with a press-statement from the Radisson SAS, and this post, with some other links. In Natasha's comments I found this article link, if it is true it is incredibly disturbing. Knowing how good Jordanian and Israeli intelligence is it is possible that they knew something was going to happen.

A day of mourning has been declared today in order that the authorities have more time and space to clean this up, the borders have apparently been closed in order to control the movement of any involved in this…however, Jordan’s borders are fairly porous, miles and miles of desert are difficult to control and Amman is sealed...theoretically easy to do...in practice a little more challenging.

The Jordanian intelligence and military will find people involved in this crime, however, they will only be the foot soldiers of this band of terrorists..the masterminds (al-Zarqawi and his Al-Qaeda followers)will remain free to continue to unleash their particular brand of evil across the Middle East.

The scar, that the events of yesterday will leave across Amman and its small society, is deep and will be felt for many, many years to come. My thoughts and sympathies are with everyone there.