داعش

I was going to finish writing the post about Petra, but in light of the US + coalition attacks against ISIS (or داعش as it is referred to here) I thought I would give some thoughts on the current situation and what it's like being in Jordan while this is happening.

I woke up this morning to an automated email sent out from the State Department to all US citizens currently traveling in Jordan. In light of the recent airstrikes against داعش in Syria, it warns us to remain vigilant and keep travel documents with us. "The U.S. Embassy is closely coordinating with Jordanian authorities, but at this time the Embassy has no specific information on increased potential for threats against U.S. citizens" - in essence, we want you to be worried but there is nothing specific to be worried about yet.

I have yet to legitimately fear for my safety since arriving in Jordan (minus the death-defying act of crossing the street every day). I think this is a concept difficult for a lot of people in the States to understand, given the media barrage of the barbaric and violent Middle East, but life in Amman is really quite similar to life in any major US city. And I know that can change, rather quickly, and conflicts are volatile and unpredictable, but I have no doubts that I am very safe here. My concern is not for my safety here- I have the immense privilege of being a US citizen, and therefore have no doubts at being evacuated at the slightest hint of trouble. My concern is rather for those without my immense privilege, who have no such avenues provided to them.

داعش has support here- داعش has support everywhere, even inside Western countries. It is a real, legitimate threat in this region that has impacted thousands of lives through a campaign of terror. But it is those lives that I urge you to think of, rather than my own. I know I give a window to this conflict, an avenue of concern and a closeness that otherwise would not be there. Perhaps my geoproximity can act as a bridge of empathy to those who are losing everything in this conflict. As for me, I have not been impacted, nor do I expect to be impacted in any substantial way.

The bombing campaign against داعش concerns me, not because I fear it will catalyze conflict here within Jordan, but because I fear that it is another campaign in which thousands of innocent lives- women, children, AND men, who are so often criminalized simply by gender in war reporting- will be lost unnecessarily in the name of combating terror. I fear that there is no strategy beyond war, that there is no solution to the power vacuum that it will cause, and that the US is again wandering into war without thinking of the people on the ground. The coalition gives me hope, and I am glad this is a multilateral effort. Perhaps it will temper some of the consequences.