American Diplomat Escapes Attack In Pakistan

Sounds like this was a pretty close call as a U.S. consulate head in NW Pakistan was ambushed in her vehicle and only the quick thinking of her driver/bodyguard saved her. Here's the details from Breitbart:

A U.S. diplomat narrowly escaped an attempt on her life Tuesday when two men with AK-47s jumped in front of her armored vehicle and sprayed it with bullets, staging a brazen attack that raised fears other foreigners could be targeted.
The attack—which the driver eluded by jamming the vehicle into reverse and speeding away—came just hours after the collapse of the governing coalition that drove Pervez Musharraf from the presidency as Pakistan grapples with escalating violence by Islamic militants.
Lynne Tracy, an Ohio native who heads the U.S. consulate in restive northwestern Pakistan, left her home in an upscale and heavily guarded area of Peshawar with a bodyguard provided by the local anti-terrorism squad about 8 a.m., police chief Arshad Khan said.

Let's face it, Pakistan has become an absolute wastelands of violence, murder and mayhem. The daily carnage and list of attacks is getting to be 3 feet long. There are days when it seems there is absolutely no control going on in this country.

Personally, I cannot believe a consulate official would risk a trip like this - hell, I'd be tucked away in the consulate with a couple of Marines at my side. Haha.

American diplomat escapes gun attack in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A U.S. diplomat narrowly escaped an attempt on her life Tuesday when two men with AK-47s jumped in front of her armored vehicle and sprayed it with bullets, staging a brazen attack that raised fears other foreigners could be targeted.
The attack—which the driver eluded by jamming the vehicle into reverse and speeding away—came just hours after the collapse of the governing coalition that drove Pervez Musharraf from the presidency as Pakistan grapples with escalating violence by Islamic militants.
Lynne Tracy, an Ohio native who heads the U.S. consulate in restive northwestern Pakistan, left her home in an upscale and heavily guarded area of Peshawar with a bodyguard provided by the local anti-terrorism squad about 8 a.m., police chief Arshad Khan said.
Moments later, the vehicle came under heavy gunfire, Khan said. He said no one was hit by bullets but a rickshaw driver was hospitalized after his three-wheeled taxi was hit by the consulate vehicle during its rapid retreat to Tracy's home.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Lou Fintor, declined to identify or describe any of three consulate employees in the vehicle, including where they were from or what role they played in what he would only refer to as a "security incident."
The attack follows a week of extremist violence and political strife in this nuclear-armed nation. There have been at least three suicide bombings, the deadliest outside the country's largest and most sensitive weapons factory, just 22 miles from the capital.
The United States and other Western nations have been nervously watching the ruling coalition unravel since close ally Musharraf resigned last week after nearly nine years in power to avoid the humiliation of impeachment.
A decision by the coalition's second largest party to quit the government Monday could concentrate power in the hands of a more-Western leaning party that says it is committed to supporting the U.S.-led war against extremist groups.
The government immediately announced a ban on the Pakistani Taliban—blamed for the wave of suicide bombings—and it rejected a cease-fire offer from militants in the Bajur tribal region, where the army has been on the offensive for several weeks. The fighting in Bajur has reportedly killed hundreds of people and caused 200,000 to abandon their homes.
Washington has pledged $750 million toward a five-year drive to develop impoverished areas along Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan, which it hopes will reduce extremism.
Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, which is a rumored hiding place for Osama bin Laden and where U.S. officials say insurgents have found havens allowing them to mount attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs deep, is considered a hardship posting for U.S. diplomats, with many coming for one-year stints without family. Attacks on Western targets do occur, but ones targeting individual diplomats are relatively unusual.