Barbarians at Jordan’s Gate

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Barbarians at Jordan’s Gate

 

The Hashemite Kingdom is threatened by Islamic State—and the Islamic Republic

 

Clifford D. May
23rd July 2014 - The Washington Times

 

AMMAN – The terrorist army formerly known as ISIS has conquered about a third of Syria and much of western Iraq. What are these jihadists going to do next? Assuming they can’t go to Disneyland -- and, trust me, that’s high on their bucket list -- Baghdad would doubtless be their destination of choice. But despite a series of bombings last weekend that killed more than two dozen people, the predominately Shia capital is unlikely to fall easily as did such Sunni-majority cities as Mosul. So the question being asked is whether these warriors will turn their lethal attentions toward Jordan.

 

“I’m well aware of such speculation,” a senior Jordanian government official tells me and a colleague. Like others here, he can speak more candidly if we agree not to quote him by name. He tells us that ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham (Arabic for the Levant, an area that includes Jordan), which has now taken to calling itself simply the Islamic State, “is not a problem for the Jordanian military. I’m not worried. Not in the short run.”