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Book Description
The inspiration behind the international box office hit Syriana - by the the producers of Erin Brokovich and starring Golden Globe Winner, George Clooney, for his performance as Robert Baer.
'Syriana is light years from the standard Hollywood movie. It's meaty, intelligent and engrossing.' Time Magazine
'You see Syriana with the exhilarating feeling that a movie can make a difference. It's the kind of give-em-hell filmmaking that Hollywood left for dead, the kind that matters.' Rolling Stone
Product Description
See No Evil is the astonishing and controversial memoir from one of the CIA's top field officers of the past quarter century. Robert Baer recounts his career as a ground soldier in the CIA's war on terrorism, running agents in the back alleys of the Middle East, with blistering honesty. He paints a chilling picture of how terrorism works on the inside and provides compelling evidence about how Washington sabotaged the CIA's efforts to root out the world's deadliest terrorists. An unprecedented examination of the roots of modern terrorism and the CIA's failure to acknowledge and neutralise the growing fundamentalist threat, and an engrossing memoir of Baer's education as an intelligence operative.
See No Evil includes revelations about the strategic alliance Osama bin Laden forged with Iran in 1996 to mastermind terrorist attacks on the United States and elsewhere, about the planned coup d'etat against Saddam Hussein and how it was aborted by the National Security Council, and about the CIA's disastrous decision in 1991 to shut down its operations in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, ignoring the fundamentalists working in those countries.
An extraordinary testimony that has become even more vital and damning since the events of 9/11 and the subsequent War on Iraq.
(20020916)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, a clear account of the CIA's failings,
By N Gittings (Manchester, Lancashire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: See No Evil (Paperback)
This book provides a fascinating insight into the counter terrorism failings of the CIA, which were graphically illustrated by the events of Sept 2001. Robert Baer gives the reader a lucid account of the CIA's operations in the counter terrorism fields of the middle east from the mid 1970's to date. In particular, his writing provides an insight into how terrorist networks operate and interact and the difficulties in inflitrating such organisations from the outside, along with the CIA's reliance on technological espionage over human contacts (which effectively curtailed the quality of information available to them), and the gradual overtaking of intelligence gathering by political survival (especially oil interests). Baer spends a great deal of time analysing the 1983 US embassy bombing in Beirut to determine the true perpetrators of this crime, arriving at some interesting conclusions, whilst also giving a very good account of what it must have been like to operate in Beirut in the early 1980's at the height of the troubles there. The book also provides some great detail regarding the situation in Iraq and the proposed 1996 uprising by Kurds, defecting Iraqi generals and the INC, which was eventually vetoed by the White House at the last minute. This section has taken on a new relevance in light of the recent invasion, and raises serious questions about the need for the war in 2003 given the opportunities available in both 1991 and 1996 to overthrow Saddam. However, for me, the most interesting part of this book was its take on Iran, who according to Baer are the principal sponsors (and indeed perpetrators) of terrorism in the 1980's and 1990's. If the US is indeed keen on eradicating terrorism as we know it, and if Baer's observations are correct, then it is no doubt only a matter of time before the US will go after them in some form. Such a move could have grave consequences for people all around the world, igniting much of the animosity in the middle east towards the US even further. All in all, a fascinating book that really does give the reader an insight into the intricate web that is terrorism, espionage and global politics, whilst retaining a great deal of relevance in today's turbulent climate.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impassioned cry from a footsoldier in the war on terror,
By Mr. Warren M. Fisher (East Grinstead, West Sussex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: See No Evil (Paperback)
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.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping, Worrying, Real and Brilliantly Uncomfortable,
By
This review is from: See No Evil (Paperback)
This is a highly readable account by Robert Baer, a former CIA agent who was on the frontline of the US 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. The current geopolitical climate makes it all the more relevant.
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