U.S. Assails Hero Officer’s Slaying in Manila Ambush

The White House denounced the slaying of a U.S. Army colonel in the Philippines today as a “terrible and heinous act” that had the appearance of a planned assassination.

U.S. defense officials said Col. James Rowe, 51, was a highly decorated officer who was captured during the Vietnam War and escaped after five years in enemy hands.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the United States will work closely with the Philippine government to track down the killers of Rowe, a member of a U.S. military advisory team, and he reiterated American support for the government of President Corazon Aquino.

“President Aquino has our total support in her efforts to maintain national unity, revitalize democracy and counter the communist insurgency,” Fitzwater said.

He said the killing of Rowe, who was ambushed while driving to work in Manila this morning, “certainly had the earmarks of an intentional attack.”

But he said the United States does not know who was responsible.

A Philippine military spokesman blamed the attack on communist guerrillas of the New People’s Army, which has been waging a 20-year insurgency.

Rowe, who was on his way to work at the Joint U.S. Military Advisers Group, was shot in the head and died on his way to the hospital after his car was ambushed on a Manila street by hooded gunmen firing automatic weapons. His Filipino driver was also hit and was recovering in the hospital.

U.S. defense officials said Rowe was riding in an armored embassy sedan, but the bullet that killed him “entered through a non-hardened portion of the vehicle.”

Rowe was one of only 34 Americans to escape his captors during the Vietnam War. He was captured Oct. 29, 1963, and escaped and returned to U.S. control on Dec. 31, 1968.