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To Counter Rise of Islamic State, Jordan Imposes Rules on Muslim Clerics
(Washington Post) William Booth and Taylor Luck - Stunned by the rapid advance of the Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq, Jordan has fortified its borders and put its air force and intelligence service to work in the U.S.-led alliance against the self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq. To counter the low thrum of support for extremist movements on the home front, the kingdom is not only prosecuting Islamic State recruiters and cracking down on anyone waving an Islamic State banner, but it has turned its attention to the nation's 7,000 mosques. "You clerics are our ground forces against the extremists," minister of Islamic affairs Hayel Dawood told several hundred Muslim clerics in Zarqa. Jordanian authorities have begun a campaign to coax - and, when necessary, pressure - Muslim clerics to preach messages of peaceful Islam.