Life takes priority

With an air force fighter pilot held in captivity by the Islamic State, Jordan faces grim options.

Many expert strategists suggest sending combat troops from the Jordanian army to join the Iraqis in liberating the whole region that is under Abu Baker Al Baghdadi’s authority, from Syrian Raqqa province to Iraq’s Mosul governorate.

Baghdadi’s forces might be capable of facing the Kurdish peshmerga or the Shiite militias of Moqtada Al Sadr, or even the Iraqi army with its thousands of “ghost soldiers”, but it cannot win against the accumulated professional combat experience of the Jordanian armed forces.

IS fighters have only a few Iraqi M1 tanks, few scud missiles captured from Syria, armed pickup trucks and light armoured vehicles, which are easy prey compared to Jordan’s artillery, modern Abrams tanks or superior air force.

Other strategists applaud the strategy used to secure the release of former Jordanian ambassador to Libya, Fawaz Aitan, who was kidnapped on April 15, 2013, by Al Qaeda terrorists who asked for the release of one of their leaders, Mohammed Darsi, imprisoned in Swaqa since 2000, sentenced for life because of his attempt to blow up Queen Alia International Airport.

Many members of Al Qaeda, nearly 200, are in custody in Jordan, including Sajida Al Rishawi who was tasked by Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi himself to bomb hotels in Amman in 2005.

Other Al Qaeda figures are Azmi Jayyousi, Ziad Karbouli and Sheikh Abu Muhammad Al Tahawi. Having in Amman two of the main ideologues for the “caliphate”, Sheikh Abu Abu Muhammad Al Maqdesi, and Sheikh Abu Qatada Al Filistini, will make a negotiation process much easier.

Moreover, a well-known Islamic activist, Saad Al Huneiti, is already in Mosul. He will not hesitate to intercede on behalf of the Kasasbeh family to free their captive son, first lieutenant fighter pilot Muath Kasasbeh. 

The old paradigm of “no negotiation with terrorists” has proved its futility a long time ago, when the Turkish government secured the release of 49 captives of its consular staff in Mosul, on September 20, 2014, in exchange for the release of more than 300 Al Qaeda members from Turkish jails.

Foregoing that old paradigm secured the release of the Syrian nuns from Maaloula, of a French hostage from Aleppo, and of the 22 Iranian pilgrims in Damascus.

All Israeli soldiers held prisoners by Hamas and Hizbollah during the last decade were released through direct secret negotiation with the other parties.

Kasasbeh unified all strata of Jordanians in support of his cause. Securing his return should be a priority.