1 As I and a few others mentioned in the last couple of days, wedding receptions don't really seem like high value targets, unless there's something else to be gained. I think the Paleostinians and Saudis were talking about giving up a few big fish in order to take the pressure off. Most people don't realize it, but we give the Paleo's tons of money every year because of their "plight", and the war on terror is threatening to stifle the flow. Likewise, if the Saudis wear out our patience, they may see things go downhill fast, so they were probably doing what arabs always do when the chips are down; betray someone.

2 Interesting. A meeting between officers from countries most involved in terrorism at the state level (excluding Jordan). I'm not sure if this represents a new majority opinion among Mid East governments about terrorism or if it's just like-minded small groups who recognise that terrorism is trouble for everyone. Either way, Zarqawi now realises that he isn't very popular. Hopefully this meeting signifies change, although admitedly I'm not very optimistic.

3 Damn. I didn't think of that. IM's probably right.

4 Once this becomes common knowledge, the leftards will go crazy with their JOOOOO/CIA conspiracies, but remember, I called it first! Where's greg? Come on greg, put down the kiddy porn and tell us how the JOOOOOOOOS did it.

5 IM, Good theory and I give you all the credit. I know that there is more to this than meets the eye. Perhaps you are right about the meeting, but it's just too damn easy for me to give you a lot of credit for predicting that the Jews will sooner or later get the blame, or that Greg would come up with a new conspiracy theory. Those two are a given, haha. But nice theory, nonetheless.

6 Thanks JJ. I basically looked at it like this: Terrorists choose their targets based on several criteria, which include psychological impact, military or civic importance, ease of access, and chances of success. Given that it was a hotel, I ruled out the military and civic angles, and the psychological impact of hitting a wedding is obviously producing negative publicity, which they surely knew it would. The only other thing that is obvious is that the hotels were Western brand names, and were frequented by foreigners, which is the excuse they used. The access was a breeze, and chances of success were high, and odds of killing a few foreigners were good. On its face, it looks like an amateur job done by a local yahoo who'd had enough of bad tips, but the first blush is often deceptive. There were four bombers, which means that this wasn't a pissed-off waiter; someone was serious, and wanted something or someone blown to smithereens in a big way. Now, building bombs is not easy nor cheap, it's pretty damn expensive, and finding four people to 'splode themselves is probably not easy even in such an insane place, but for four people to kill themselves to get a few tourists? Nah, I don't buy it at all. This was an expensive operation, because the planners probably had to pay blood money to the families of the bombers beforehand, not to mention the cost of the materials. Why would someone carry out such an expensive operation against such an unimportant target? They wouldn't. You see, these "terrorist masterminds" really are fairly bright guys when it comes down to it, and they're not going to just spend their materiel and people killing random, unimportant civilians, so I immediately suspected that there was something or someone else there that they needed to destroy, then the news came about the Pali's and Saudis there, and it all fell into place. This was a message to al Qaeda's arab allies to stick to the script. Now let's just see what happens.

7 You know, IM, you may be on to something. What was odd to me was that this wasn't al-Qaeda which is known for global bombings. It was "al-Qaeda in Iraq" who, to my knowledge, hasn't operated outside the boundaries of Iraq other than just recruiting from outside. There are many in Jordan who, even though Zarqawi claimed responsibility, refuse to believe it and say Israel did it. And Iran insists it was Israel too. Talk about a total disconnect from reality....

8 Well of course, no matter what happens, it's all about the JOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS!!! I swear, why we let these cavemen into our civilization, I have no idea.