American Diplomat killed in Jordan

[Timber Loftis]

[today's NYTIMES]
CAIRO, Oct. 28 — An American diplomat in Amman, Jordan, was fatally shot this morning outside his home, Jordanian and American officials said. While no one claimed responsibility, the killing immediately raised fears that it was a terrorist act aimed at the United States.

The victim was identified as Laurence Foley, 62, an official of the United States Agency for International Development, which has a large presence in Amman.

News reports said that as Mr. Foley was leaving for work at around 7:30 a.m., a gunman shot him repeatedly at close range in the garage of his villa, in what officials called a well-planned attack. Nearby residents said they heard nothing, and the police kept reporters away from the house.

Officials in Jordan, where security is generally strict and political assassinations are rare, refused to speculate on a motive and promised to investigate vigorously.

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

Afterward, the embassy warned American citizens to "remain vigilant in view of threats to American interests," reinforcing an Oct. 13 alert to Americans abroad of possible dangers.

In September, the State Department said it had unconfirmed reports that Al Qaeda operatives were planning to kidnap American citizens in Jordan.

Political analysts also noted that the killing follows other strikes on Western interests this month, including the shooting of American soldiers in Kuwait and the attack on a French oil tanker off Yemen.

While Americans have not previously been targets in Jordan, which along with Egypt is the only Arab country to have a peace agreement with Israel, several Israelis have been victims. An Israeli businessman was slain in Mr. Foley's neighborhood last year, and two Israeli diplomats were wounded in 2000.

Anger among people in the region toward America has been rising at the prospect of an American attack on Iraq, and Jordan is no exception. Arab governments are in the delicate posture of having to demonstrate their opposition to the war for public consumption, while at the same time tacitly supporting the United States' aims.

In the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf war, Jordan supported President Saddam Hussein, its neighbor to the east. But not this time. It has sought to distance itself from the Iraqi president, and is allied with the United States. Nevertheless, Jordan is extremely wary about being seen to cooperate militarily.

"Jordan in 1990 is not Jordan 2002," Marwan al-Muasher, the foreign minister, told reporters recently. "We will not do anything to jeopardize our excellent relations with the United States."

Some in Jordan were not completely taken off guard by the killing, giving the heightened anti-American sentiment, which is also fueled by anger at the Israeli military incursion in the occupied territories of the West Bank and the stream of news reports about the killing and wounding of Palestinians.

"It's bad, but not unexpected, unfortunately," said Rami Khoury, a political analyst in Amman, of today's killing. "It's more or less what everybody's been warning about, but it's terrible when it happens to innocent people."