Assassination in Khartoum (An Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Book)

From Publishers Weekly
In 1973, Palestinian Black September gunmen stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum where two U.S. diplomats and a Belgian colleague were attending a reception and threatened to kill them unless their demands were met. Among their demands were the releases of Sirhan Sirhan, convicted killer of Robert Kennedy, and of Palestinians imprisoned in Jordan and Israel. President Richard Nixon--establishing a policy which remains in effect--refused to negotiate. This dire decision, as Korn reveals, doomed the three captives, set off an internal furor within the State Department and caused the White House to issue preemptive statements defending Nixon against accusations that the policy was a shocking display of indifference to Americans abroad in distress. The Belgian government attempted to ransom with money the release of its diplomat, Guy Eid. Korn, a former Foreign Service officer, presents a tense, compelling, carefully researched account of the abduction, the 59-hour siege of the Saudi embassy, the assassination of the diplomats, the surrender of the gunmen and their unexpected release by the Sudanese government. Korn explores the intriguing theory that Eid was used by Black September to trap Ambassador Cleo Noel and George Moore, deputy chief of mission, and was betrayed by the Palestinians. Korn is the author of Stalemate: The War of Attrition and Great Power Diplomacy in the Middle East, 1967-1970. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Using declassified documents and personal interviews, Korn, a former Foreign Service officer and author of Stalemate: The War of Attrition and Great Power Diplomacy in the Middle East, 1967-70 ( LJ 6/1/92), chronicles the events surrounding the murders of Cleo A. Noel Jr. and George Curtis Moore, two U.S. diplomats taken hostage in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum by Black September terrorists in March 1973. The people and events are described in remarkable detail, and the reader is drawn into the history and politics of the Middle East and the U.S. State Department. The book also fills some important gaps in our understanding of the time. Korn's account of diplomatic and intelligence failures and successes will certainly appeal to specialists on Middle Eastern politics and diplomacy, while his description of the development and bungled application of America's "no negotiation, no compromise" antiterrorism policy will interest terrorism experts. Informed lay readers will find the character studies of interest.- William Waugh, Georgia State Univ., AtlantaCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Former Foreign Service officer Korn's account of the 1973 killing in Sudan of American diplomats Cleo Noel and George Moore by the radical Palestinian Black September movement. Nowhere is the new world order more apparent than in the writing of history, be it reexaminations of US cold war policy or a study like this, in which virtue and villainy seem much more ambiguous than they did a few years ago. The Khartoum setting is redolent with history (``Chinese'' Gordon vs. the Mahdi, etc.), but its implications (which ultimately have made Sudan one of today's foremost sanctuaries for terrorists) aren't part of Korn's story- -nor, apparently, of one victim's innocent remark that ``as long as I am in Sudan, I will never be in danger.'' Though we learn much here about Noel and Moore (both unquestionably capable and dedicated civil servants), the two exist at a remove, too idealized by the author to be truly sympathetic. Korn mixes engrossing chapters of on-the-spot action--detailing the kidnapping of the two officers and their murder after the Nixon Administration had refused to bargain with the kidnappers--with more disappointing background chapters (``To Be a Foreign Service Officer''; ``To Be an Arabist''). Though loaded with factual detail (of the Embassy driver's actions and loyalty to his US employers; of the background of a Marine on duty at the time of the killings; of the city's climate; of the layout of the embassy building), Korn's chronicle- -part professional report, part thriller, and part essay on the Foreign Service--lacks sufficient emphasis on the gray eminence of US foreign policy, which defined us for much of the Third World. Korn apparently wanted to write a hymn to virtue and patriotism--but his song seems old-fashioned, a tune from another era. (Photographs and maps) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


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Using declassified documents and personal interviews, Korn, a former Foreign Service officer and author of Stalemate: The War of Attrition and Great Power Diplomacy in the Middle East, 1967-70 ( LJ 6/1/92), chronicles the events surrounding the murders of Cleo A. Noel Jr. and George Curtis Moore, two U.S. diplomats taken hostage in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum by Black September terrorists in March 1973. The people and events are described in remarkable detail, and the reader is drawn into the history and politics of the Middle East and the U.S. State Department. The book also fills some important gaps in our understanding of the time. Korn's account of diplomatic and intelligence failures and successes will certainly appeal to specialists on Middle Eastern politics and diplomacy, while his description of the development and bungled application of America's ``no negotiation, no compromise'' antiterrorism policy will interest terrorism experts. Informed lay readers will find the character studies of interest.-- William Waugh, Georgia State Univ., Atlanta


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