U.S. Missionary Killed in Lebanon; 2 Soldiers Hurt in Kuwait Shooting

KUWAIT CITY -- Two U.S. soldiers were shot and seriously wounded Thursday in this tiny nation bordering Iraq and an American missionary was gunned down in Lebanon, the latest in a spate of attacks that suggest it has become increasingly dangerous to be American in the Arab world.

Threats and assaults on U.S. citizens and businesses have become more frequent in recent weeks, even in countries such as Kuwait and Jordan that had long been considered among the safest and most pro-American in the region.

Some of the incidents may be spontaneous, traceable to rising anti-American sentiment fueled by the possibility of a U.S.-led war against Iraq, and by what is seen as Washington’s unquestioning support for Israel. But other attacks, observers say, may be part of an orchestrated campaign by Al Qaeda and its supporters to follow Osama bin Laden’s recent dictate to kill Americans and their allies.

Although authorities here and in Lebanon said it was too soon to identify a motive in either assault Thursday, the incidents underscore the reality that Americans were forced to confront on Sept. 11: that extremists have declared them all fair game.

As security is increased at official U.S. sites, terrorists will seek “softer” targets, the State Department warned in a worldwide alert Wednesday. These may include facilities where Americans live or visit, such as residential neighborhoods, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels, outdoor events or resorts.

Yet Americans should not draw the false conclusion that everyone hates their country, said one government spokesman in this oil-rich emirate that U.S. troops defended 11 years ago after it was invaded by Iraq.

“There is no anti-Americanism at all in Kuwait,” said Yahqoub Abdullah of the Kuwaiti Information Ministry. “A bunch of kids is ruining our relations -- doing illegal things. We in Kuwait appreciate what you have done for us. These kids doing these things don’t have Kuwaiti hearts -- they are really, really shameful.”

Bonnie Penner, 31, of Washington state, was the first victim Thursday. A nurse and Christian missionary, Penner was volunteering at a clinic for the poor in the biblical Lebanese port city of Sidon. As she opened the front door about 8:30 a.m., she was shot in the head three times.

She was found face down in a pool of blood. Nothing was stolen, and some observers said she could just as well have been targeted for her religion as for being American because of southern Lebanon’s history of sectarian violence.

The Rev. Sami Dagher, president of the Christian Missionary Church Alliance in Lebanon, said Penner had worked in the clinic for a little more than a year. “Her husband asked me to say: ‘My wife died because she loved the people of Sidon and loved Christ. I forgive them for killing my wife,’ ” he said.

In Kuwait, where the government is so jittery about attacks on Americans they have banned residents from nearly a quarter of the nation where the U.S. military operates, the two soldiers were shot by a Kuwaiti traffic police officer who then fled across the border to Saudi Arabia, authorities here said. Authorities are working to extradite the suspect.

The officer was described as a junior member of the traffic department. He opened fire about 10:30 a.m. as the soldiers drove from the U.S. military base of Camp Doha to the town of Arifjan on official business. The soldiers were dressed in military desert camouflage and driving a military vehicle, according to a Pentagon spokesman.

One soldier was hit in the face and the other in the shoulder. The soldiers, who didn’t return fire, managed to drive on to Arifjan, from where they were airlifted to a Kuwaiti military hospital. U.S. officials did not release the identities of the injured soldiers pending notification of their families. One of the soldiers is a reservist based in Lake Charles, La., his wife told Associated Press. Geraldine Thomas said an Army sergeant told her by phone that her husband, Larry Thomas, 51, had been shot in the upper chest and was in serious but stable condition after surgery.

A Pentagon spokesman said their injuries, while serious, did not appear to be life-threatening.

The attack on U.S. servicemen in Kuwait -- the third in slightly more than a month -- is particularly striking because the Pentagon is relying on the emirate as a launching point for a potential invasion of Iraq. Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops are believed to be based in Kuwait.

While Washington has largely dismissed the concerns of regional leaders that they may face trouble controlling public reaction if there is an invasion of Iraq, these incidents suggest those warnings may have merit.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, speaking in the Czech Republic where he was attending a NATO summit, played down the possibly broader significance Thursday, telling reporters that the shootings didn’t necessarily reflect anger with America’s buildup of troops in Kuwait in anticipation of a new Iraq war.

“There have been terrorist attacks in that region for my entire adult lifetime, and that’s a long time,” the 70-year-old said.

Nevertheless, the shootings have raised alarms over the prospect of increased terrorist attacks both large and small. Ominously, they coincide with an audiotape said to be of Bin Laden that was broadcast this month calling for attacks on the United States and its allies. U.S. officials have said the tape appears to be authentic and might foreshadow “spectacular” attacks soon.

The recent round of bloodletting began even before that tape surfaced. Last month, for the first time in the history of Jordan, a U.S. diplomat was assassinated. And on Oct. 8, terrorists slipped onto Kuwait’s Faylakah island and opened fire on a contingent of Marines, killing one and injuring another. The gunmen, who were killed when other Marines returned fire, later were linked to Al Qaeda.

Six days after that, the U.S. military reported that shots were fired at its troops from two civilian vehicles in Kuwait’s northwest. And then on Nov. 1, shots were fired in the vicinity of U.S. soldiers training near Arifjan. Officials downplayed the latter incident, suggesting that hunters fired the shots.

Although Lebanon was notorious for the kidnapping and assassination of Americans and other Westerners in the 1970s and ‘80s, it had become relatively safe turf in recent years, especially since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990. Penner’s death was reportedly the first killing of an American in a decade.

But there had been warnings of mounting anti-Western emotions in recent days. This month, two Pizza Hut franchises were severely damaged in bomb attacks. No one was injured in either incident, but the blasts were worrisome enough that the U.S. Embassy in Beirut issued a fresh warning to U.S. citizens to be vigilant.

Yousef Abdel Moati, a political analyst with the Center of Research and Studies on Kuwait in Al Mansouriya, said it isn’t surprising that some people have become violent. “Without a doubt,” he said, “the current situation in Palestine and the unfair stance of the world community on the issue can be the cause of such attacks.”

But he insisted that there was still a divide between those who hate all Americans and those who hate U.S. government policy. “The rise is in anger toward certain government foreign policies,” he said.

The Sidon slaying dramatically upped the level of concern for the safety of foreigners in Lebanon. The U.S. Embassy and the British Embassy each sent two representatives to the scene to gather information. Penner’s husband, Garry Whitherall, is British.

Her clinic, Unity Center, helped Palestinian refugees living in a nearby camp and needy local families. But she also wanted to spread the Christian faith in a city that has a history of sectarian violence.

Some local observers said that the missionaries had been asked to leave but refused. Still, they said, that tension had been around for years, but no one expected it could lead to killing.

“We never had any threats,” the Rev. Dagher said.

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Slackman reported from Cairo and Daniszewski from Kuwait City. Times staff writers Patrick McDonnell in Kuwait City and Esther Schrader and Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.