DEVELOPMENTS
• Iyad Madani, the leader of the 57-nation, Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation — the world’s largest bloc of Muslim countries — said Wednesday that the Islamic State’s killing of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh showed total disregard for the rights of prisoners under Islam, as well as what he called the moral standards for war.
• From the world’s most prestigious seat of Sunni Islam learning, Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb said the Islamic State militants deserve the Quranic punishment of death, crucifixion or the chopping off of their arms for being enemies of God and the Prophet Muhammad. “Islam prohibits the taking of an innocent life,” al-Tayeb said.
• “Let’s use the same methods as them!” Jordanian politician Mohammed al-Rousan shouted during an interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV. “Let’s kill their children! Let’s kill their women!”
— From news services
Jordan called Wednesday for a decisive battle against the Islamic State group, declaring “this evil can and should be defeated,” after the militants burned a Jordanian pilot to death in a cage and gleefully broadcast the horrific images on outdoor screens in their stronghold.
Waves of revulsion over the killing washed across the Middle East, a region long accustomed to violence. In mosques, streets and coffee shops, Muslims denounced the militants’ brutality and distanced themselves from the violent version of Islam.
Even a prominent preacher with close links to jihadi groups said Islamic State militants miscalculated if they hoped the images of the pilot’s agony would galvanize greater opposition to a U.S.-led military coalition that has been staging airstrikes against the group.
“After millions of Muslims were cursing every pilot (in the coalition), with this act, (the Islamic State militants) have made the burned one into a symbol,” Abdullah al-Muhaysni, a Saudi sheik, wrote on his Twitter account.
The militants, who controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, have killed captives in the past, posting videos of beheadings and sparking widespread condemnation. However, the killing of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who crashed over Syria in December, also highlighted the vulnerability of Jordan, a key Western ally in the region, to threats from extremists.
Jordan was long considered an island of relative stability in a turbulent region, but in recent years has had to absorb hundreds of thousands of war refugees, first from Iraq and then Syria, amid a sharp economic downturn. Experts estimate the Islamic State and other jihadi groups have thousands of supporters in the kingdom, with an upswing last year after the militants declared a caliphate in the areas they control.
In Washington, congressional support built Wednesday for increasing U.S. military assistance — already $1 billion a year — to the kingdom.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Jordan’s King Abdullah II — who met with lawmakers and President Barack Obama on Tuesday — must be given “all of the military equipment” he needs to combat the group.
At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration would consider any aid package put forward by Congress, but that the White House would be looking for a specific request from Jordan’s government.
Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he expected his panel to swiftly approve legislation. He repeated his criticism that the Obama administration has “no strategy” for dealing with the Islamic State group, and said he hoped the video of al-Kaseasbeh’s death will galvanize not only U.S. leadership but “the Arab world.”
Abdullah rushed home after his Washington meetings to rally domestic support for an even tougher line against the militants. In September, Jordan joined the U.S.-led military coalition that began bombing Islamic State group targets in Syria and Iraq.
The decision was not popular in Jordan, with the bombing campaign widely seen as serving Western, not Jordanian interests. During weeks of uncertainty about the fate of the airman, some of his relatives and supporters chanted against Jordan’s role in the coalition.
On Wednesday, Hammam Saeed, the leader of Jordan’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, visited relatives of the pilot in the southern tribal town of Karak, and called on Jordan to pull out of the anti-Islamic State coalition, saying that “we have no relations with this war.”
But Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani called for a redoubled effort, urgingthe international community to work together and deliver a decisive blow to Islamic State militants. Jordan believes that “this evil can and should be defeated,” he said.
In an initial response to al-Kaseasbeh’s killing, Jordan executed two Iraqi al-Qaida prisoners, Sajida al-Rishawi and Zaid al-Karbouly, before sunrise Wednesday.
Over the past week, Jordan had offered to trade al-Rishawi, a failed female suicide bomber, for al-Kaseasbeh, but insisted on proof he was still alive. Al-Momani said Wednesday that Jordan now believes the pilot was killed in early January.
Dozens more suspected Islamic State sympathizers are in detention in Jordan, most rounded up during a crackdown in recent months.
Public outrage over al-Kaseasbeh’s death and calls for revenge could help Abdullah broaden support for the coalition, said Scott Stewart, vice president of tactical analysis at Stratfor, a global intelligence and advisory firm in Austin, Texas.
“Sentiments (about the airstrikes) are going to start changing across the Middle East after people see the video, especially the Jordanian people,” he said.
Stewart said a similar shift occurred a decade ago in Iraq after Sunni Muslim tribes turned away from a local branch of al-Qaida, a precursor of the Islamic State group, over its brutality.
Marwan Shehadeh, a Jordanian expert on jihadi groups, said he expects the opposite outcome.
“Public opinion rejected the (Islamic State) behavior, but at the same time, more voices are questioning the participation of Jordan in the international coalition,” he said. “The killing (of the pilot) will drive more people to question that.”
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