****US Diplomat gunned down in Amman, Jordan

KFWB AM 980 Los Angeles

[BurbankKarl]

Just heard a breaking news story, a US Diplomat was gunned down outside of his house in Amman, Jordan Monday morning local time. They gave a name, but I didn't write it down.

[seeker41]

US Diplomatic Official Assassinated in Jordan (IsraelNN.com) A US diplomatic official in Jordan was shot to death earlier outside his Amman home. Additional confirmed details will be published as they become available.

[BurbankKarl]

Jordan Official: US Diplomat Killed
3 minutes ago

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Gunmen killed an American diplomat outside his home Monday in the Jordanian capital, Jordan's information minister said.



The diplomat, identified by security officials as Lawrence Foley, was killed at 7:30 a.m. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not know his position at the U.S. Embassy.


"Gunmen sprayed the diplomat with several shots, killing him instantly," Information Minister Mohammed Affash Adwan told The Associated Press

[twntaipan]

Religion of Piece bump.

[seeker41]

MMAN (Reuters) - A senior U.S. diplomat was shot dead by an unknown assailant in front of his Amman home as he was heading to work, diplomats and officials said on Monday.

The assailant fled, a security official said.

A Western diplomat told Reuters the assailant fired a few shots before escaping after the shooting in an affluent part of Amman.

"There were a number of shots," one diplomat said.

Jordan is a major U.S. ally in the Middle East, supporting Washington's policies in the region.

[twntaipan]

Surprised that Reuters didn't call them "alledged assailants".

[BurbankKarl]

they refuse to say terrorist, dont they?

[BurbankKarl]

AMMAN, Jordan -- An American diplomat has been shot dead by an unknown assailant near his home in Amman, Jordanian officials have told news agencies.

The Associated Press said security officials had identified the diplomat as Lawrence Foley, but they did not know his position at the U.S. embassy.

He was killed at 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Monday as he was heading to work, agencies reported. The assailant fled, a security official told Reuters.

"Gunmen sprayed the diplomat with several shots, killing him instantly," Information Minister Mohammed Affash Adwan told The Associated Press. He said he did not know if the attack was a terrorist incident, adding: "I do not want to speculate."

Jordan is a major Middle Eastern ally of the United States, supporting Washington's policies in the region.

Security is tight in Jordan but Israelis have been attacked in the capital and along the country's border with Israel. Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab states that have peace treaties with Israel.

[kcvl]

THE OFFICIAL, identified by security officials as Lawrence Foley, was killed at 7:30 a.m. The officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, did not know his position at the U.S. Embassy.
“Gunmen sprayed the diplomat with several shots, killing him instantly,” Information Minister Mohammed Affash Adwan said.
A Western diplomat told Reuters the assailant fired a few shots before escaping after the shooting in an affluent part of Amman.
Adwan said he did not know if the attack on Foley was a terrorist incident.
The security officials said Foley’s wife called police after the attack.

MORE...

http://www.msnbc.com/news/826985.asp?0na=x2101110-

[Cindy]

LINKS OF INTEREST:

YAHOO! NEWS(AP): "JORDAN OFFICIAL: U.S. DIPLOMAT KILLED" (ARTICLE NOTE: The diplomat who was gunned down has been identified as Lawrence Foley.) (102802)

U.S. EMBASSY - Amman, Jordan (online)

US STATE DEPARTMENT: "JORDAN Consular Information Sheet"

[kcvl]

US citizen assassinated in Jordan: Minister
Agence France-Presse
Amman, October 28

A US embassy employee was "assassinated" on Monday by a gunman in the Jordanian capital, Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Adwan told AFP.

"The American citizen has been identified as Lawrence Foley, an employee of USAID," the United States Agency for International Development, Adwan said.

"An unidentified gunman fired at him, killing him on the spot as he prepared to leave his home (in western Amman) early this morning to go to work," the minister added.

Describing it as a "criminal and treacherous assassination", Adwan said the killing "regardless of its motives is an attack against Jordan and its national security".

He said that the authorities had immediately launched an investigation, and pledged that the perpetrator "will get his fair punishment".


HindustanTimes.com

[spycatcher]

Iraq, Arafat, bin Laden coalition formed? Terrorism expert reports joint offensive against West planned

[Red Jones]

do they understand that this only makes us more likely to topple hussein? No, they don't. Do they even care? No.

[joonbug]

Wonder if he was a diplomat or a spook? "Foley" is the name of the spooks in the Tom Clancy novels (not that that's related, only interesting).

[kcvl]

Jordan is the third largest USAID program in the world, and has received nearly $2 billion in economic assistance to date.

http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:XfSwp3CPDVsC:www.usembassy-amman.org.jo/+united+states+embassy+in+jordan&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[kcvl]

I can't find anything on Lawrence Foley, so who knows?!

[BlackVeil]

Spook names do run in series. The Clancy novel is not necessarily a comic source. There have been a whole lot of incidents in 20th c history which no one could write about, as straight history, so they have appeared as fiction. (I am flagging you Jeff, as you might have a comment on that.)

Those intelligence people live in a world of their own. Unbelievably, in Kim Philby's generation, there were lots of operators who used "Kim" as a codename. Maybe because of the influence of Kipling's novel. However it was Philby's real name, given to him by his father StJohn Philby, (Arabist and Islamic convert) who also was involved in Brit intelligence.

[expatguy]

It's WAY past time to start killing ragheads wholesale.

/yawn

Simply put, these terrorists know that we as a country are unable to fight their kind of battle.

Six months from now people will be saying the same thing, on "how it is high time we do something".

Ask yourself the question. "Do What??"

We damn near near a friggin act of congress to tie our own damn shoes!

[John W]

U.S. diplomat killed in Jordan
Monday, October 28, 2002 Posted: 5:23 AM EST (1023 GMT)

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- An American diplomat has been shot dead by an unknown assailant near his home in Amman, Jordan's information minister has said.

Mohammed al-Adwan told CNN the diplomat, who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was shot several times as 7.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Monday as he was leaving to go to the embassy. "Unfortunately he died immediately."

The unknown assailant, who had his face covered, escaped after the attack, which was witnessed by the victim's wife, the minister said.

"I believe the wife of the diplomat informed the authorities," al-Adwan said. "Unfortunately, she is under shock right now. Authorities have not been able to talk to her in detail about this."

No information was immediately available from the U.S. Embassy in Amman. In Washington, a State Department spokesperson told Reuters a duty officer had been briefed on the killing but would not comment for several hours.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States, according to its Web site.

"Amman is usually a very secure city," al-Adwan said. "We give priority to all diplomatic missions, especially the United States mission in Jordan.

"We are fairly certain that we will catch the perpetrators and will [bring] them to justice," he said.

Al-Adwan said he did not know if the attack was a terrorist incident, telling The Associated Press: "I do not want to speculate."

Jordan is a major Middle Eastern ally of the United States, supporting Washington's policies in the region.

Security is tight in Jordan but Reuters reported that Israelis have often been attacked in the capital and along the country's border with Israel, with which Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994.