The Amman Bomber Who Failed

Coordinated Attacks at Three Hotels

Sajida Rishawi, a 35-year-old Iraqi, was arrested Sunday morning for allegedly taking part in suicide bombings in Amman on Wednesday, killing 57 people at three hotels.

Read the story: The Amman Bomber Who Failed (Post, Nov. 14)

Washington Post staff writer Jackie Spinner was online from Amman on Monday, Nov. 14, at 3 p.m. ET to discuss the arrest of the female bomber, the ongoing investigation of the terrorist attacks and the results of a news conference today by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is in the Middle East.

A transcript follows.

____________________

Jackie Spinner: Hello from the Jordanian capital of Amman. It is really strange to see all of the security here after coming from two months in Baghdad. I used to "escape" to Amman because I did not worry about car bombs and suicide bombs here. I'm will try to answer your questions about the female would-be suicide bomber, whose video-taped confession was aired on Jordanian state-run television last night. Thank you for reading the Washington Post.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va.: I heard from the Jordanian Attorney General that the husband of the hotel bomber told his wife to leave the dining room when her bomb failed. But the wife said she ran out of the room after her husband blew himself up and her bomb failed to explode. Which account is correct?

Jackie Spinner: Hi Alexandria, the bomber, in her confession, said her husband pushed her out of the room. But it's really not clear how he did that, given where they were standing. We just don't know those details yet. It's pretty clear that her suicide vest did not detonate, for whatever reason. I always wonder what sort of motive it takes to push the knob. I am hoping to find out from intelligence officials here exactly what the malfunction was. I'm sure you are curious about that as well, based on your question.

_______________________

Her ABORTED suicide attack?: The bomber details her "aborted" suicide attack? "Aborted" would imply willful termination, while this attempted murderer simply had a technical malfunction.

Jackie Spinner: Actually we do not know exactly what happened yet. Did she try to push the button and it did not go off? Did she change her mind?

_______________________

Fairfax, Va.: Have there been female suicide bombers before? Do we know why this particular woman became one?

Jackie Spinner: She is definitely not the first female suicide bomber. We've seen them before in the Middle East and also in the Balkans. This seems to be the first husband-wife team. That is what is unusual.

_______________________

Mons, Europe: Hi and thanks for your great work.

By now, I assume the number of insurgents who have been captured is sufficient to study the makeup of the insurgency. Is there a breakdown of who they are? What is the percentage of foreigners? Where do they come from?

Any idea if many speak English and would have been able to enter the United States unnoticed? I'm somewhat skeptical of "let's fight them there so we don't have to fight them at home" argument.

Jackie Spinner: Mons, I can speak to the number of foreign insurgents in detention only. I can tell you that is is relatively small. Most of the insurgent-detainees are Iraqis. The foreign insurgents are behind some of the deadliest, most gruesome attacks in Iraq. But in terms of numbers, I don't know; I don't think anyone knows. The borders are still so fluid, and insurgents cross and blend pretty easily into the population, certainly populations that might be unhappy with the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Interestingly, at least to me, Iraqis simply refused to believe initial reports that their countrymen had carried out these bombings. They assume that most of the suicide attacks in Iraqs are carried out by foreigners and that if Abu Musab Zarqawi needed volunteers for these attacks in Jordan, he'd find plenty of hands raised outside of Iraq.

_______________________

Bethesda, Md.: Have things calmed down in Amman? What is the mood on the street? Are the people there anti-Iraqi?

Jackie Spinner: Amman feels pretty "normal" today. I'll tell you simply what I saw: I went to a shopping district this morning(ooops, my editors are reading this) and it was packed and nothing seemed different. I went to the downtown, old market area, which tends to be more conservative and sat in an open-air restaurant to have lunch with some friends. Nobody paid much attention to us, and we were next to a table of Americans and a table of Europeans. I saw tanks on the streets, and we couldn't drive up to our hotel without showing identification. The taxi driver also was inspected, not normal. But I felt completely safe.

_______________________

Reston, Va.: I've read different accounts of her statements -- and a few articles indicate that some Jordanians are not sure she was actually involved. Are there any reasons not to believe her statements or that she was part of the group of suicide bombers? And, do you think this will prompt more wide-spread protests against al Qaeda and its tactics?

Jackie Spinner: It seems clear to me from all of the interviews I've had with police and intelligence officials that she is real, her involvement is real and we are not writing about some actress.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va.: Any reaction from the Zarqawi camp on this particular suicide bomber?

Jackie Spinner: Alexandria, not yet. We only know that Zarqawi alerted us to her involvement in claiming responsibility for the attacks. Only the group said she had died. In fact, she had survived.

_______________________

Cherry Hill, N.J.: Jackie, I was wondering what most ordinary Iraqis believe will be the next move of the U.S. in Iraq. Do they believe the U.S. will pull out anytime soon (say, before the 2006 elections), or do they, in the main, believe that U..S troops will be in the country for the forseeable future?

Jackie Spinner: Cherry "Owen" Hill, most Iraqis I talked to hope that U.S. troops will NOT pull out soon because they recognize that the Iraqi security forces are not ready to take control of the country. Two days ago, the Sunni vice president of Iraqi, Ghazi Yawar, acknowledged this. It remains to be seen what the newly elected government will do. But from all indications on the ground here, from my talks with US military in Baghdad and with Iraqi government, our troops are here for a while. Most everyone in Iraq with whom I've talked (can't speak for the armchair quarterbacks elsewhere) that it would be a disaster for the U.S. to pull out at this point. In fact, last time I was in the U.S., I was surprised that people were even discussing this issue. It's not an issue in Iraq, not realistically.

_______________________

Hyattsville, Md.: Have the attacks unified the Jordanians against al Qaeda?

Jackie Spinner: Hi Hyattsville! I'm hitting Franklyn's first thing when I get home. In the capital, there certainly seems to be a unified repsonse to the attacks--against terrorism. But I think that is likely deceiving. The capital tends to the progressive. Zaraqawi has plenty of sympathizers in Jordan. Do not doubt that.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: I am skeptical of this woman's claim that her husband pushed her from the room, for one reason: even if her detonation device wasn't working, HIS detonation would still have caused her belt to explode. Thus they still would have inflicted double the damage -- which is what they intended. Is anyone else drawing this same conclusion?

Jackie Spinner: Washington, perhaps you can convince the Jordanians to let me interview her and I'll try to sort it out for you. In the meantime, all we have is what she said, what the intelligence people are saying and what, perhaps, the unkown facts may be. By the way, my mother raised the same issue with me this morning when I called her.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: How/where are you getting the news from? Is it hard reporting on stories like this of such a volatile nature? Do you have sources over there? Do they hand out information?

Jackie Spinner: D.C., I've been in and out of Amman for a year and a half so I've made contacts within that time. The Post also has local fixers and translators here who help us the minute we land. I would not say they "hand out" information, but pretty much, it's the same drill anywhere. You grab a local in the know, check in with the government and your embassy, chat with your fellow press and you're off and running...

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: How did the demonstration come about being televised?

Jackie Spinner: The demonstration or the confession? The confession was aired on state-run Jordanian TV. It appeared to be a video, pre-taped, not live that was probably given to the network.

_______________________

Drexel Hill, Pa.: Jackie,

What's next for this woman? A trial under Jordanian law? What would the punishment be?

Jackie Spinner: Jordanian law. She is their suspect.

_______________________

Durango, Colo.: News coverage indicated that this televised confession was "very staged".

Do Jordanians have an actual perpetrator -- or is this possibly for public (Jordanian and world-wide) consumption?

About the "confession" ... any chance that this is yet another demonstration that sufficient torture will ultimate provoke anyone to confess to anything?

Just wondering.

Jackie Spinner: My understanding is that this was a video-tape of her interrogation, parts of which we saw on television. Staged? I mean, you don't know if you're not there but I have no reason to believe this is the case. I have no doubt that the Jordanians have a would-be bomber in custody. After all, if you read my story today, the bombers' relatives are talking from Fallujah and seem to back up the claims.

_______________________

Philadelphia, Pa.: Given that the three bombers (and one would-be) are allegedly Iraqi, what is mood on the street about the Iraqi exiles who are either living in Jordon or who travel there for respite from violence? Is there increasing resentment toward Iraqis in Jordan after the terrorist attacks?

Jackie Spinner: My colleague, Jon Finer, wrote a great piece on that very subject a few days ago and hopefully our .com friends can link to it. There are tensions for sure.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Do you know, is the same thing promised to men promised to women in heaven if you're a suicide bomber?

Jackie Spinner: Arlington, excellent question. I don't know. Perhaps some of our readers might? Can anyone help?

_______________________

washingtonpost.com: Hotel Bombings in Jordan Fuel Anger at Exiles (Post, Nov. 12)

_______________________

Juneau, Alaska: Hi Jackie-

I stayed at the Radisson and as I recall the area for wedding parties was down a flight of stairs in the basement. The photo in the Post seemed to show the front doors to the lobby blown out. Did the blast occur in the basement? If so was it powerful enough to do that damage in the lobby? Lastly it seems odd that they would target a wedding. Any thoughts on why that target instead of something more "foreign"?

Jackie Spinner: I was at the Raddison a few hours ago. The reception room was on the ground floor. The hotel had put up a brick wall to obstruct the view of the ballroom, about a foot from the ceiling. But you could still see the dangling plaster and cement from where the blast went off. It was adjacent to the lobby. The glass doors had been replaced but it was easy to see how they could have been blown out by the explosion. What was surprising to me was how little damage there was elsewhere to the hotel. This was my perspective from the outside. I've seen some pretty horrific bombings in Baghdad that have blown out windows blocks away. That is not to take away from the damage inflicted inside the room, where the two dozen or so people perished.

_______________________

Philadelphia, Pa.: I heard one or more of the bombers was previously in U.S. custody. Any chance poor treatment of prisoners could have turned them from just anti-U.S. to a suicide bomber?

Jackie Spinner: Philly, the U.S. military has acknowledged that the detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib likely fueled the insurgency in the Iraq. But whether or not that abuse was behind the motivations of these bombers? I simply don't know. The U.S. military confirmed today that it had detained an individual with the same name as one of the bombers. That individual was picked up during the 2004 asault in Fallujah. Now, was that behind his motivations? I don't know. But in tomorrow's paper, I will try to shed some light on what was behind the female would-be bomber's motives.

_______________________

Springfield, Va.: What inspires females to become a suicide bomber? I have heard that male suicide bombers are awarded a 70 virgin women in heaven. Can we say a same to females?

Jackie Spinner: Springfield, I don't know the answer to that question, as I said in an earlier reply. Perhaps one of our readers can answer that?

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: What information do you have about the broadcast videotape? Was it edited from a longer video? Do you have any reason to doubt that the confession was authentic, and that the person was who she was said to be?

Jackie Spinner: Pretty sure that it came from a longer video of the "full" confession. I am sure we got the highlights. I have no reason to doubt that this was a would-be bomber but I cannot say what the conditions of her interrogation where.

_______________________

Clarksburg, Md.: What is the view in the mosques and on the street as to who perpetrated the crime? I read in the Post yesterday quoting an Imam as stating that the attack must have been caused by Jews or Americans, because "Muslims don't do this to fellow Muslims". Is this the prevailing view amongst the populace or have they realized that the attackers are one of their own, perverted by an unholy reading of the Koran?

Jackie Spinner: I've been in Iraq collectively for more than a year. I can tell you that Muslims do commit crimes against Muslims. But I can also tell you that many, many people I talk to point out that Islam is not a violent religion and does not condone the taking of innocent lives. Jordan is a Muslim country, and we've seen on the streets the past few days the absolutely outpouring of condemnation against these attacks. From my experience, personal and professional, Muslims are peaceful. You cannot equate extremism with being Muslim.

_______________________

Munich, Germany: I've never heard of a case before where a suicide bomber was related to the upper echelons of al Qaeda. Did Rishawi, the sister of Zarqawi's former top deputy in Iraq, give any indication regarding her motives other than following her husband's wishes and actions?

Jackie Spinner: Munich, read my follow-up story in tomorrow's Washington Post!

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: What's the news from Condoleezza Rice today?

Jackie Spinner: She was in Jordan briefly today, making an appearance at the Raddison. She was expected to head back to Israel to continue negotiations for a peace deal there.

_______________________

Jackie Spinner: Thank you so much for your thoughtful questions. We have a lot more to learn about this plot and the people involved. Signing off now from Amman.

_______________________

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.