Posted on 09/15/2012 7:13:31 PM PDT by RitchieAprile
J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador to Libya who was killed in an assault on a diplomatic mission there last week, was happy to gossip, but was revered for listening. A northern Californian with a toothy grin, he had a passion for the Arab world and its language, and he went out of his way to use it, whether with officials or shopkeepers, in an effort to show respect.
In his willingness to allow others to be heard, even when he had an important message to impart, Mr. Stevens was an unusual American diplomat, friends and colleagues say. He allowed himself to be governed by the habits, proprieties and slower pace of the Arab world.
With the State Department on high alert for security threats, especially since the Sept. 11 attacks, and many American diplomats consigned to embassies that resemble fortresses and armored motorcades that do not make unscheduled stops, Mr. Stevens plunged into Arab social life. He traded personal risk for personal contact.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“northern Californian explains a lot. Let me guess, Marin County.
And at the end, Arab life apparently plunged into him.
Berkley grad.
Reminds me of the frog and the scorpion..
>> He traded personal risk for personal contact.
So it was inevitable. /s
Nothing to see here, move along...
Do you s’pose he fancied himself a new T.E. Lawrence?
Not surprisingly, the evidence that he was gay is ignored by the Times, as if that fact would have no bearing on what happened to him.
Was Lawrence a flaming homo?
Possibly.
Old T.E. Lawrence would likely have been gay in todays culture.
Arab culture has a strange appeal to many people like that.
There are plenty of similar cases among British officials.
No Piedmont and later Oakland, where his 90 yrs mother still live.
You mean, Arab life plunged into him. Fatally.
Nevada, Yolo and Alameda are in there, but I am not sure he ever lived in Marin.
I think the guy was a well-intentioned individual who thought that by ingratiating himself with the Libyan populace, they would see that he was only there to help their countrymen. Apparently, he didn’t read the Koran very thoroughly or if at all. A useful martyr for the SD and Obama.
If you think these people would treat you any different if you got shot down in crowd of hundreds you're as starry-eyed as he.
does anyone suppose the lybians knew he was gay ?
Is the state dept. in their right mind by sending a gay ambassador to a muslim country ?
According to Wikipedia he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco for two years so that may be where he learned Arabic.
He had a BA in history which is a good backgroud for the foreign service. Also it helps to know an exotic language. But maybe the lesson is to pick an exotic language whose speakers are not given to attacking embassies and murdering people.
“Chris had fallen in love with Libya’s revolution. At the end, those very forces whose influence he thought would be curbed had claimed his life.”
Sounds like the guy up in Alaska who thought he could be friends with the bears.
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