US embassy cable - 02AMMAN2649

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