CBS Refers to Would-Be Terrorists as 'Martyrs'

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How strong is the word "martyr"? After the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last June, Aljazeera.net reported that a Jordanian got in trouble for using that word to describe Zarqawi, his former countryman.

Jordan's parliament has condemned an Islamist MP for calling Abu Musab al-Zarqawi a "martyr" and demanded that his party question him and three other members for attending the dead al-Qaida leader's wake.

Mohammed Abu Fares tried to ease the blow of his statement.

He said later that the term did not apply to Jordanians who died in last November's triple hotel blasts in Amman. The attacks were claimed by al-Zarqawi's group.

All this controversy over a word that CBS correspondent Jim Stewart used freely yesterday to describe the would-be plane terrorists who were stopped by the British government.

HARRY SMITH: Many flights were canceled, security was tightened dramatically, and all of that led to long, long lines. CBS News has a team of correspondents covering all the angles of this still developing story. We'll begin in Washington, where Jim Stewart has details of the plot, what it was and when it was to be carried out. Jim:
JIM STEWART:Harry, U.S. counterterrorism officials say the London plotters were as close as a matter of days and no more than two weeks away from launching their suicide attacks when Scotland Yard began rounding them up. They had also--also collected all of the essential elements for their bombs, and they had picked the targets for their transatlantic terror plot.

The attacks were planned against commercial flights on US airlines leaving within about an hour of each other for the most popular American tourist cities. Direct from Heathrow Airport in London to New York, Washington, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, investigators say, the martyrs planned to simultaneously explode small chemical bombs made from ingredients in their carry-on luggage.

HT Pretend Pundit.