Who was the US ambassador killed in 1979?
I keep reading references to the last time a US ambassador was killed: 1979. But nothing about who it was.
So let me fill that gap. The man was Adolph Dubs, then-ambassador to Afghanistan (no surprise there, right?). Here’s what happened:
In 1978 Dubs was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan following a coup d’etat which brought the Soviet-aligned Khalq faction to power. On February 14, 1979, he was kidnapped by four armed militants belonging to the Setami Milli party posing as police. The kidnappers demanded the release of Badruddin Bahes, the imprisoned leader of their party. The government of Hafizullah Amin denied holding Bahes, and refused categorically to negotiate with the militants, in spite of the US embassy’s demands. Dubs was held in Room 117 of the Kabul Hotel (now called Kabul Serena Hotel). Afghan security forces and Soviet advisers swarmed the hallway and surrounding rooftops, but negotiations stalled. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., an exchange of gunfire started between the terrorists and the Afghan security forces, and the ambassador was killed. Afterwards the U.S. government formally expressed to Moscow its disapproval of the assault by the security forces.
Ambassador Dubs was not replaced by the US government and the embassy was finally closed in 1989 as security in Kabul deteriorated. The position of US ambassador in Afghanistan was not filled until 2002.
The death of ambassador Dubs is currently considered a “Significant Terrorist Incident” by the US State Department.
Documents released from the Soviet KGB archives by Vasily Mitrokhin in the 1990s showed that the Afghan government clearly authorized the assault despite forceful demands for peaceful negotiations by the U.S., and that the KGB adviser on scene, Sergei Batrukhin, may have recommended the assault, as well as the execution of a kidnapper before U.S. experts could interrogate him. Other questions remain unanswered.
Unanswered, indeed.
Thats the first time you included the information of Mitrokhin… which i have been pushing for a while, along with many others… (the books that are out now, and more coming are quite eye opening, but boring, and if you dont know the prior history, harder to follow)
similar incidents and stories are behind Arafat and the Munich massacres, and some PLO stuff…
called names so much and not wanting others to believe the names, we have spend inordinate time looking at ourselves to find proof. but that assumes that the lie is valid and a misunderstanding, not something calculated to make is turn inwards, and ignore the outside…
Mitrokhin also told us of weapons caches in many countries, and the nuclear war in Europe that almost happened… (but R Reagan stuff stopped that).
There were several other ambassadors killed, and even a congressman once…
Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was killed on Tuesday
Adolph Dubs (looked a bit like LBJ) The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan in the Carter administration from 1978 to 1979, Dubs was killed in an exchange of gunfire after a kidnapping attempt by Islamic extremists in Kabul in 1979.
Francis E. Meloy, Jr. The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Meloy was kidnapped by a Palestinian separatist group and shot along with U.S. economic counselor Robert O. Waring as both diplomats headed to present their credentials to the new Lebanese president in 1976.
Rodger P. Davies The U.S. ambassador to Cyprus under the Ford administration, Davies was killed by sniper fire during a demonstration against American policy by Greek Cypriots at the embassy in Nicosia on Aug. 19, 1974. Davies’ secretary, Antoinette Varnava, was also killed.
Cleo A. Noel, Jr. – The U.S. ambassador to Sudan for the Nixon administration, Cleo A. Noel, Jr., was killed in 1973 after members of a faction of the PLO, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, specifically called ‘Black September,’ stormed the Saudi embassy in Khartoum during a party for Noel’s outgoing deputy. The faction demanded the release of Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian assassin of Robert Kennedy
the above was the incident that mitrokhin and other pacepa talked about with Arafat and Romanian die… and how, it too, caused problems – you can read about it in the article “the Arafat i knew’ which i have linked to before.
John Gordon Mein The U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, Mein was appointed ambassador in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was the first U.S. ambassador to be assassinated while serving in office. Mein was gunned down by Guatemalan rebels in 1968 after leaving a State Department lunch. His car was stopped in the middle of a road where soon after he was shot trying to flee.
Two other U.S. ambassadors have died in plane crashes: Arnold L. Raphel in Pakistan in 1988, and Laurence A. Steinhardt in Canada in 1950.
anyone remember the congressman?
Leo Ryan: the only Congressman assassinated in the line of duty as a Congressman in the history of the United States
he was killed by the “rainbow family”.. trying to flee when he was unlucky enough to be there the day that Jim Jones was serving look aid, and leaving his property to the communists…
In fact.. go through the list there, and figure out how many were indirectly caused by the fight with communism. (and i have no idea about the plane crashes)…
Ambassador Noel was killed at the order of Arafat
I’ve never been able to forgive any administration pandering to that utterly dispicable, evil parasite on the rump of the Middle East. For letting him live in his dark web to a fat old age, without taking appropriate action.
Pah.
My guess is the administration and media will push this down the memory hole so that it is remembered as the time Romney showed how erratic and unprepared for foreign policy. No one will remember Stevens a month from now, because this was about Romney, Romney, Romney.
For all their caring BS, it comes down to this: Democrats are not fit to govern. Owing to their characteristic fecklessness and incompetence, if one is in office, the risk to diplomats and service members jumps dramatically.