A worrying view of the CIA from the inside
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In this book, Baer talks through his career as a CIA field officer much of which is focused on the Middle East in the 80s and 90s. He describes his close contact with terrorist groups in Beirut, his communication with his agents in "enemy governments", and his involvement in history such as the US embassy bombing in Beirut and the planned coup against Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf war.
He provides what strikes me as a view honest and open view of what his feelings were at the time in the situation he was in. What also struck me about the book is that it takes the "Bond glamour" out of the world he's in... Baer describes himself very much as one of many, part of an overall engine which is the CIA. He appears proud to be part of it, and wants it to be successful (that said there is no flag waving in this book - he could in effect be a member of any major counter-terrorism organisation). Equally interesting is Baer's account of how he got in to the CIA - his recruitment process and the training that went with it.
I did feel a certain disappointment that too much time was spent using hindsight to say everyone was wrong and no-one listened to him (it occurs a lot in the latter chapters). On reflection though, given that the book was first published in 2002 so long before the strong anti-Iraq-war feelings developed, perhaps actually Baer is making a very honest and fair call for help. Hopefully someone will listen.
Very readable, highly recommended and maybe a lot closer to the truth than any of us realised.
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an eminently enjoyable read
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Baer guides us through the complex web of late Cold War international relations with the ease of an insider. Starting in Madras and ending in Washington, encompassing an entire career in the CIA along the way, one really gets the impression of chaotic ever-changing world. Very informative and well written. I had been expecting a dry account of world politics (all be it through the lens of the espionage community ), but its a real page-turner that keeps you gripped until the end.
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Gripping, Worrying, Real and Brilliantly Uncomfortable
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Yes, these are the words I really feel like describing this highly readable account by Baer, an agent on the frontline of an agency instituted to protect its citizens. As a journalist myself, very rarely, have I come across a non-fiction title which has generated such an interest in academia, press, citizenry of the world(not just US readers) and has even inspired a movie since it was first published in 2002.
The reason, in my opinion is that Baer has tried to tell (and sell) it like it is. It is not some sort of pseudo-liberal rant or a knee-jerk reaction to a Republican administration. He's equally critical of both sides of the American political divide and of the agency itself. For instance, Baer, himself fluent in Arabic, suggests in See No Evil, that in the later years of his career there, the CIA faced a shortage of Arabic speaking agents. That it had become temporarily archaic given the Cold War was over and there was no visible enemy!
I have read this book twice and appreciated it twice over. For the sake of a critical standpoint, I tried to analyse if Baer had made a slip in his narrative or made some uncustomary political rant. I feel that he has not. He put his life on the line for his country. So via this book if he has decided to have his say - he deserves to be heard.
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Can anyone fix the CIA?
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Robert Baer gives us a gripping account of his twenty-plus years with the CIA, most of it spent eyeball to eyeball with America's enemies -- studying them, co-opting them, and occasionally trying to kidnap them.
I first became aware of Baer after seeing an interview with him on the BBC, where he described how Clinton National Security Advisor Anthony Lake made a sudden, eleventh-hour attempt to ward off a coup attempt against Saddam Hussein in 1995. Incredibly, Lake had Baer brought back to Washington from Northern Iraq to answer a charge of attempted murder for his role in not discouraging the coup attempt.
The further one reads into this book, the more one understands how deeply flawed the institution of the CIA truly is, if one needed any further evidence following the fruitless search for WMD in Iraq, not to mention the ensuing chaotic occupation.
The closing section on the power of the oil industry in Washington is particularly depressing. It really is as bad as one fears.
In sum, I found this book entertaining, informative, and somewhat depressing at the same time. Highly recommended, nonetheless!
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Impassioned cry from a footsoldier in the war on terror
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A chilling, gripping read from a CIA operative who policed the deadly back-alleys of the Middle East. Like many in the intelligence and special ops world, Baer found his true enemies in Washington, amongst his politically-minded careerist bosses and corrupt and timid politicians of all colours. Whilst human intel was sidelined by hi-tech electronic intelliegnce gathering, the higher ups in DC and at Langley curtailed the best efforts of Baer and his comrades to fight the growing threat of Islamic terror. Cynically, politicians ignored Baer's work, pinning the blame for terrorist outrages on easy stooges like Libya and Iraq, while all the time ignoring the likes of Syria and Iran. Indeed it is Iran that Baer states lies behind most if not all of the terrorist attacks of the last two decades (right up to and including Bin Laden and Al Qaeda).
Perhaps the most chilling and inflammatory of Baer accustaions regard the influence of big business and the oil industry in particular. While this was present in the Republican administrations of the '80's, it was during Clinton's eight year reign in Washington that corruptiion reached its appogee. Secretary of State Warren Christopher's son and National Security Advisor Anthony Lake's wife were both given high-paying jobs with an oil company involved in a state-sponsored pipeline deal. Dirty foreign money virtually ran the Clinton election campaigns. Baer was appalled by these actions and blew the whistle. He was driven to the brink by the hounding of Lake in particular (he calls in the FBI when Baer is implicated in a plot to elimninate Saddam Hussein, and a later plotted coup to oust Saddam is shut down by Lake and the White House). Liberal propagandists choose to ignore the rampant misdeeds of the Democratic Clinton administration, propogating myths that big business corruption is the preserve of the Republicans.
A scathing expose, a gripping read, this is an indispensible book by a remarkable man.
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