Robert Ames (CIA official)
Robert C. (Bob) Ames, (born 6 March 1934, died 18 April 1983). Raised in Philadelphia, graduate of La Salle University, married with six children. In 1956 he joined the US Army from which he switched to the CIA specializing in the Middle East. He rose to become the CIA's chief analyst for the area and was killed in the suicide bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, 18 April 1983.
Working for the CIA's Middle East Directorate of Operations Ames is reputed to have made the first high level penetration of the PLO. It is claimed one of two senior contacts he made was Hassan Salameh.
A total of 63 people were killed in the explosion including Ames, the CIA Lebanon station chief and his deputy, as well as an additional six CIA officers and eight other Americans.[1][2][3][4]
Ames was a graduate of LaSalle College in Philadelphia in 1956. While at LaSalle, he was a member of the LaSalle basketball team which won the NCAA championship in 1954 and was runner-up in 1955.[5]
References
- ^ Woodward, Bob (1987) Veil. The secret wars of the CIA. 1981-87. Headline. ISBN 0-7472-3168-0. pp. 288,289.
- ^ Hirst, David (2010) Beware of Small States. Lebanon, battleground of the Middle East. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978 0 571 23741 p.192
- ^ http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rcames.htm
- ^ Phyliss Faraci, Kenneth E. Haas, Deborah M. Hixon, Frank J. Johnston, James Lewis, Monique Lewis and William Richard Sheil - Died in the 1983 Beirut embassy bombing. Haas was the station chief
- ^ http://articles.philly.com/2004-01-23/news/25366581_1_cia-agent-tom-gola-yasir-arafat