US ambassador has been caught up in many attacks

Source: AP

Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, has been caught up in a number of attacks over the course of his diplomatic career:

-Sept. 13, 2011: Taliban insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at the U.S. Embassy as part of a series of attacks in Kabul, the Afghan capital. No Embassy staff members were killed or wounded, and it was not immediately clear if Crocker was in the building at the time.

-March 29, 2007: Multiple suicide bombers struck in predominantly Shiite markets in Baghdad and in a town north of the capital, killing at least 104 people and wounding scores on the same day that Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, was sworn in at the heavily fortified Green Zone.

-Dec. 19, 1998: Crocker was ambassador to Syria when hundreds of protesters in Damascus attacked his residence and the U.S. Embassy, throwing stones and breaking windows as a way of denouncing U.S. air strikes on Iraq. Protesters climbed the wall surrounding the house, broke down the front door and stormed inside. The ambassador's wife, Christine Crocker, escaped unhurt.

-Jan. 19, 1991: Crocker was ambassador to Lebanon when he and his staff were helicoptered directly from the Beirut embassy compound to Cyprus because of fears the diplomats would be attacked by terrorists.

-April 18, 1983: A suicide bomber in a pickup truck loaded with explosives rammed into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing more than 60 people. Crocker, the embassy's third-ranking diplomat, escaped without major injuries.

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