Bill Clintons visit bomb site in Jordan
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-14 09:11

Former US President Clinton, accompanied by his family, on Sunday visited a Jordanian hotel devastated by a suicide bomber, condemning the "destructive terror that murdered children and other innocents."

He, his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, interrupted a visit to Israel to make a brief trip to Jordan at the invitation of King Abdullah II.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton (L) and his wife U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (2nd R) visit the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman November 13, 2005.[Reuters]

The former president spoke while standing in the wrecked hall of the Radisson SAS hotel, where an attacker detonated a belt of explosives during a wedding last week.

He said the family wanted to express "solidarity with the people of Jordan and our support for doing whatever is necessary to fight against and defeat this kind of destructive terror that murdered children and other innocents."

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton (L) and his wife U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton visit the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman November 13, 2005. [Reuters]

The Clintons walked over on a bloodied carpet scattered with broken glass, silver knives and napkins.

"These people have no respect for anyone or anything," Hillary Clinton said of the bombers. "They believe in death and nihilism."

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton looks on as his wife U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (R) speaks to reporters during their visit to the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman November 13, 2005. The hotel was one of the three hotels bombed last Wednesday. Jordan has arrested an Iraqi woman who failed in her attempt to carry out a suicide bombing alongside her husband at an Amman hotel last week, officials said on Sunday.[Reuters]

Jordan says three Iraqi suicide bombers carried out the blasts that struck the Radisson, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels. On Sunday, authorities announced the arrest of the wife of the Radisson bomber, a woman who fled after her explosives belt malfunctioned.

Former President Clinton denied that Jordan's ties with the United States made it a target of al-Qaida in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

To tie the attack "to the friendship between King Abdullah and the United States, this is ridiculous," he said.