Hey, just because he’s a bloodthirsty, murderous terrorist, that doesn’t make him a bad Moslem, right?
The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, said in an Internet audiotape on Friday the group had not meant to blow up Muslims in their deadly bomb attacks in Jordan.
Suicide bombings killed 54 people in Amman hotels last week, provoking outrage in Jordan despite the high level of support in the country for the activities of the Jordanian-born Zarqawi in Iraq. Most victims were Muslim Jordanians at wedding parties.
In the tape, posted on an Islamist Web site often used by insurgent groups in Iraq, Zarqawi defended the suicide blasts on three hotels saying al Qaeda had inside information that they were used by U.S., Israeli and Jordanian intelligence agencies.
“We ask God to have mercy on the Muslims, who we did not intend to target, even if they were in hotels which are centers of immorality,” the voice on the tape said.
“The idea that they blew up inside wedding ceremonies is a lie by the Jordanian regime … the target was a meeting of intelligence agencies, but a roof collapsed on a wedding party from the blast,” he said.
[…]
Al Qaeda in Iraq had already claimed responsibility for the blasts and named the attackers as four Iraqis including a woman. She failed to blow herself up, confessing on Jordanian television last week that she had tried.
[…]
Indicating there might be further attacks, Zarqawi warned ordinary Jordanians to avoid large hotels, military installations and embassies of countries involved in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Dear Jordanian hotel employees,
As you are being blown to shreds, please realize you are not targets.
Love,
Abu
Of course, you believe Zarqawi, right? But we already know that Zarqawi has stated that the murder of innocent Moslems is okay in attacks on infidels, even if no infidels are present. One should note, the absence of infidels is quite commonly the case in the murder of an individual Moslem or bombings at mosques.