****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.

[ChadGore]

ROPMA

[gridlock]

U.S. Diplomat Shot Dead Outside Jordan Home
Updated 5:27 AM ET October 28, 2002
REUTERS

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - A senior U.S. diplomat was shot dead by an unknown assailant in front of his Amman home while heading for work on Monday, the first-ever assassination of a Western diplomat in Jordan, diplomats and officials said.

The official, named by diplomats as Lawrence Foley, a senior administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, was killed at 7:30 am (00:30 a.m. EST) by an assailant who then fled, a security official said.

A Jordanian security source said Foley, aged 62, was shot at close range with three bullets in the chest before the assailant and his possible accomplices fled the scene of the shooting in an affluent area of the capital Amman.

"One assailant or more was behind the criminal shooting and investigations are ongoing to reveal the culprits," the security official told Reuters.

A Western diplomat earlier told Reuters the assailant fired a few shots before escaping from the scene.

Foley's wife immediately notified security officials who rushed to the scene.

Witnesses said Foley was shot in the garage of his two-story villa in a neighborhood close to the bustling commercial Mecca Street in the capital.

"There was blood near the Mercedes car that was parked in his indoor garage," said a witness close to the site of the shooting, where anti-terrorist experts and senior officials in the presence of U.S. security personnel were gathering information. The area was put under a security cordon.

FIRST EVER KILLING OF WESTERN DIPLOMAT

Jordan's Information Minister Mohammad Adwan condemned the assassination, the first ever killing of a Western diplomat in the country according to security officials.

"This attack, regardless of its motives, is an attack on the country and its national security," Petra state news agency quoted the minister as saying.

Security was tightened further at the fortress-like U.S. embassy in the Abdoun district of the capital, the largest American embassy complex in the region, according to diplomats.

Since a landmark peace treaty with Israel in 1994, there have been various attempts in Jordan to kill Israeli diplomats, but with no reported deaths.

An Israeli businessman was killed last year, and the most serious incident was a shooting spree by a Jordanian soldier in a northern border strip in 1997 that killed a number if Israeli schoolgirls.

Official records show no Western diplomat in Jordan has ever been harmed in the country, even at the height of anti-Western feelings when the kingdom opposed the U.S.-led coalition that drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in 1991.

Diplomats said other Western embassies were put on a high alert as Monday's killing sent shock waves among Western expatriates in a country where political assassinations are rare and security is normally tight.

U.S. ALLY IN THE REGION

Jordan, a major U.S. ally in the Middle East, has been rewarded this year by extra military assistance as a reward for its strong backing for President Bush's "war on terrorism" and for restraining criticism of U.S. policy in the region.

U.S. media reports in recent months have quoted military planners as saying Washington was considering Jordan as a base for staging air and commando raids against Iraq.

But eyeing popular sympathy with Iraq's plight and rising anti-U.S. sentiment mainly over Washington's support of Israel, the government has sought to quell rising public concern.

It has vehemently denied the country was involved in any secret plans to use its territory in an assault on Iraq or that it would allow U.S. troops any ground facilities.

In Washington, a State Department emergency operations dispatcher said a duty officer had been briefed on the death of a diplomat in Jordan but would not take calls about it for several hours.

USAID is the chief U.S. agency for providing disaster relief abroad, helping impoverished countries and promoting democratic reforms.

[Blackyce]

They killed a USAID official, a guy who's only mission in life was to give them money. Religion of Peace rolls on.

[American in Israel]

Loosing a statesman is the worst thing that can happen to a country. Having lost our close contact with Jordan will hurt us badly.

We need to respond very strongly. But in a country that is half Palestinian, and the other half is our ally, Gee, I wonder who killed him?

[nicmarlo]

Jordan Official: US Diplomat Killed
54 minutes ago
By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - An American diplomat was gunned down in a hail of bullets outside his home Monday in the Jordanian capital, Jordan's information minister said.

* * *

U.S. Embassy officials were not answering telephone calls.

The security officials said Foley's wife called police after the attack outside his home in a middle-class district of Amman. Foley apparently was shot while walking toward his car.

He was hit at least seven times in the head and chest, according to a senior Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The bullets came from a 7 mm pistol, he said.

Police swarmed the scene, searching for fingerprints and other evidence.

Jordan is known for its tight security, but several attacks have been directed against Israelis in Amman and along the Jordanian-Israel border. Jordan and Egypt are the two Arab states that have peace treaties with Israel.

The slaying comes at a tense time in the Middle East, with many in the Arab world angry at the United States for its push to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and for what Arabs regard as biased U.S. support for Israel at the expense of the Palestinians.

The U.S. government said Sept. 27 it received uncorroborated information that a member of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaida terror network was considering kidnapping U.S. citizens in Jordan.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the government had no information to determine the threat's credibility or any indication of the plan's timing. But he added that the U.S. Embassy in Jordan warned American residents in the Arab kingdom.

Jordan's alliance with the United States and its 1994 peace treaty with Israel have made the kingdom a target for Muslim militants.

Two years ago, 28 Arab men plotted to use poison gas and explosives in attacks against Americans and Israelis in hotels and tourist sites during New Year celebrations in Jordan. The plot was foiled in November 1999.

NOPE, NO TERRORISTS HERE, just militants. /sarcasm

[nicmarlo]

I'm find a longer quote by Adwan, as having actually said:

Mr Adwan said he did not know if the attack was a terrorist incident but added: "This attack, regardless of its motives and reasons, is an aggression on Jordan and its national security. We will not tolerate that.

[nicmarlo]

More info on the warning about AQ kidnapping to occur in Jordan:<{> The Guardian

US diplomat shot dead in Jordan
Staff and agencies
Monday October 28, 2002

On September 27, the US government said it received uncorroborated information indicating that, as of this summer, a member of the al-Qaida organisation was considering a plan to kidnap US citizens in Jordan.

Richard Boucher, a US state department spokesman, said the government had no information to determine the threat's credibility or any indication of the timing. However, he added that the US embassy in Jordan had notified Americans resident in the Arab kingdom about the report.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Russian passenger plane hijacked! Just in FNC

[Semper911]

Wonder if he was a diplomat or a spook?

Very few "diplomats" are not associated with CIA, although some are not. I raced through this story to find the name of the victim because I know someone who "works for the State Department" (wink wink) and is currently assigned to Jordan.

Sorry about Mr. Foley, but I was relieved to find out that it was not my friend.

[Catspaw]

Al Qaeda is going on the attack--the Moscow hostage situation, the murder of our diplomat in Jordan & now the hijacking of a Russian plane.

[Thane_Banquo]

Killing diplomats is Yassir Arafat's MO.

[Illbay]

Or even "alleged American diplomat."

[Illbay]

He said he did not know if the attack was a terrorist incident, adding: "I do not want to speculate."

LOL!

[Illbay]

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

Fine. Time to end the USAID presence in Jordan, and in the entire Middle East, in fact (yes, that means you, too, Israel).

[wita]

Explain yourself. How much usaid does Israel receive vis-a-vis arab countries, how much usaid money comes back into the country via purchases. What value do we, what value does government, put on usaid dollars. There is a lot on the table and I think some action other than an attempt at threatening arab countries with a loss of usaid money might produce better results. Then again if all usaid money was in a diplomatic security pot, would it add up to enough to provide top notch security for all US diplomats overseas? Are usaid dollars and foreign aid dollars the same? Are usaid dollars and money loaned or given for purchase of war material the same dollars? Lots of unanswered questions.

[FreeTheHostages]

I pray for the family of the victim.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Not a terrorist incident? Just another angry mixed up every day garden variety palistinian venting his frustration on any American who crosses his path. It could be a hate crime, but a terrorist? No way!

[Illbay]

I really don't care. One dollar in U.S. aid to any country in the Middle East is too much. It's a huge morass, and the last thing we need to worry about is their "good will."

Hey, if it makes you feel better, there are about a dozen Arab states, not to mention non-Arab Muslim states, that will be affected.

So Israel's getting off light.

FWIW, the Likud party in Israel--you know, the folks that people here on FR like to pretend "likes" the U.S.--wants no more U.S. foreign aid to Israel. So you'd be doing your "friends" a favor.