Jordan jihadis vow fight to the end

By Katya Adler
BBC News, Amman

Some of al-Qaeda's biggest names have grown up in Amman

Life is dusty and bleak in the downtrodden townships around Jordan's capital, Amman.

You see boredom, resentment and frustration everywhere. This is fertile ground for spreading radicalism.

Some of al-Qaeda's biggest names grew up in these streets, like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Possibly the most notorious insurgent in Iraq, he is blamed for bombings, assassinations and beheading foreign hostages in Iraq, including Briton Ken Bigley.

American troops killed Zarqawi a year ago but we came to meet his friends and followers back home in Jordan.

They are recruiting waves of new warriors - self-styled holy fighters against the West in Iraq.

It was not easy to get into contact with Jordan's jihadis. Crackdowns by the secret police here make getting to Iraq extremely difficult.

Veteran jihadi's story

So, they only agreed to meet us at night. We were told at the very last minute who we were seeing, without being given anyone's real names, of course, and where.

Abu Abdel Rahman is a veteran jihadi. He told us he had been to Iraq from Jordan five times.

You infidel countries. You came to fight us, in Muslim lands. What do you expect: that we greet you with roses? Muslims don't kill for the sake of killing. America and its allies have dug their own graves in Iraq Abu Abdel Rahman, jihadi

"When I am in Iraq I feel calm, happy and comfortable. There is a lot of blood, killing and carnage but I know I am there in God's name," he says.

He was keen to point out that he and his fellow mujahideen were not blood-thirsty, just on the defensive. He said, that is why he and other Jordanian jihadis agreed to meet the BBC. They wanted us to understand their point of view.

"You infidel countries. You came to fight us, in Muslim lands. What do you expect: that we greet you with roses? Muslims don't kill for the sake of killing. America and its allies have dug their own graves in Iraq," he says.

I also asked Abu Abdel Rahman about Muslims killing Muslims in Iraq in what seems to be an increasingly vicious vengeful power struggle between radical Sunni and Shia Muslims there.

He agreed the phenomenon was regretful but said, as a Sunni, it was his duty to continue fighting against what he described as the Shia crescent. But, he insisted, his prime concern, remained ridding Muslim lands of non-Muslims.

Back home from Iraq, Abu Abdel Rahman now actively recruits other Jordanians to fight. He says it is not difficult to persuade them.

Dramatic videos

People have so little in these neighbourhoods but what they do have is satellite television, bringing bloody images of Iraq straight in to their homes.

Abdullah says he is ready for martyrdom in Iraq

Abdullah, 16, is one of Abu Abdel Rahman's newest recruits.

I asked him why he was prepared to leave his family in Jordan, to fight in a foreign country. I wanted to know if he was afraid to die.

"I see the pictures on TV, how they kill Muslims in Iraq. It makes me feel so much hate, I want to kill them," says Abdullah.

"My cousin was also killed in Iraq on his way home from school. I want to die there, in God's name, to stop them killing any more children."

Catching the eye and exciting the passions of young Muslims in Jordan and elsewhere are jihadi videos.

Islamist researcher Marwan Shahada, showed me dozens of them - dramatic images of successful attacks on British and American troops in Iraq. All are accompanied by monotonous, hypnotic chanting of extremist texts.

Spreading radicalism is de-stabilising the whole Middle East, not just Iraq, says Mr Shahada.

Extremists in Jordan do not just want to fight abroad, he says, they question leaders back home who seem to support American policy.

"They have a political dispute due to the Arab alliance with the Americans," he told me.

"They give the American logistical, political and security support. So they [extremist groups] target many Arab countries through their suicide attacks or other means."

'Infidels and believers'

Jordan's authorities are mindful of the threat, especially after the bombing in a five-star hotel in Amman two years ago.

Jihadi videos show attacks on the US-led coalition in Iraq

Jordan's military courts have just sentenced 17 Jordanian nationals for attempting to join Iraqi insurgents, and mosques are closely monitored in Jordan's jihadi neighbourhoods.

At the Friday prayers we attended, the Imam spoke simply of being a good Muslim.

But to some in his congregation, that means killing British and American soldiers in Iraq.

And even when - and if - all Western soldiers leave, Abu Abdel Rahman said the fight will not be over.

"Jihad will never end. We will keep going until Judgement Day. It will always be there because there is wrong and there is right," he says.

"The conflict between the infidels and the believers will continue. Our fight with the Americans will end when they leave the Muslim world alone. But jihad doesn't end with Iraq. It will continue.

"I encourage every Muslim to fight. I know that there are many Muslims out there who dream of becoming martyrs in Iraq, in God's name. I have children and I hope they too will sacrifice themselves for the good of Islam," says Abu Adel Rahman.