Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02AMMAN2649
2002-05-23 14:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

DEATH OF SWEDISH DIPLOMAT ON ROAD FROM BAGHDAD MAY

Tags:  PREL IZ SW JO 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002649 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2007
TAGS: PREL IZ SW JO
SUBJECT: DEATH OF SWEDISH DIPLOMAT ON ROAD FROM BAGHDAD MAY
CONVINCE MORE TO FLY

Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm. Reasons 1.5 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002649

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2007
TAGS: PREL IZ SW JO
SUBJECT: DEATH OF SWEDISH DIPLOMAT ON ROAD FROM BAGHDAD MAY
CONVINCE MORE TO FLY

Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm. Reasons 1.5 (b,d).


1. (U) Jonas Weiss, Sweden's Amman-based Iraq Watcher, was
killed in a car accident on the Amman-Baghdad road on
Wednesday, May 22. Weiss was returning to Amman after
spending several days making a periodic visit to Iraq. The
accident took place at approximately 0430 in morning, about
100km west of the Jordan-Iraq border.


2. (C) Increasing numbers of Amman-based diplomats have begun
to fly to Baghdad, avoiding the 10 hour hazardous drive. Dr.
Claude Ellner, Germany's Amman-resident Charge in Baghdad
told us that Greek, French, Spanish and other diplomats have
flown of late. Mr. Mihara of the Japanese Embassy's Iraq
Section said that the UN is also considering whether to allow
its Baghdad staff to take advantage of the regular
humanitarian flights operating from Amman. We expect that
Jonas Weiss' tragic death will increase pressure to allow
diplomatic personnel to travel to Iraq by air, rather than on
the dangerous Amman-Baghdad highway.


3. (U) Bio Note: Weiss arrived in Amman in the summer of 2001
and quickly became a familiar face on the Amman diplomatic
circuit, freely sharing his observations of life in Baghdad
and other parts of Iraq. On this most recent trip he had
traveled to Basra. He spent a portion of his youth in
Washington D.C., graduated from American University, and had
served previously at the Swedish Embassies in Moscow and
Belgrade.
Gnehm