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See No Evil [Paperback]

Robert Baer
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
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Book Description

3 Oct 2002

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. See No Evil is 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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Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow; New Ed edition (3 Oct 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099445549
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099445548
  • Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.9 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 114,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Revealing ... offers much eye-opening information. Baer has written a valuable, illuminating book (Houston Chronicle )

See No Evil is a real blockbuster, a revelation ... convincing and wonderfully presented ... [Baer] ties it all together like a suspense novel (National Review )

A particularly disturbing account...compelling (Washington Times )

Book Description

The controversial memoir of an American soldier, that was the inspiration behind the international box office hit Syriana - by the producers of Erin Brokovich and starring Golden Globe Winner George Clooney as Robert Baer. See No Evil is a top 10 US bestseller.

'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

(20020916)

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a clear account of the CIA's failings 29 May 2003
Format: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....

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. Read more ›

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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. Warren M. Fisher VINE™ VOICE
Format: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).
... Read more ›
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Gaurav Sharma VINE™ VOICE
Format: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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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By prisrob TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
"You dig a six-foot hole and you'll find three bodies. Dig twelve and maybe you'll find forty" This quote is from the film, 'Syriana', explaining how the CIA in DC works. Syriana evolved from Bob Baer's book, 'See No Evil'. Until you have some background, this film may seem a little too much 'inside the beltway'. But, gather your information, read this book, and it all becomes too real.

The failure of intelligence, in particular the CIA, may have led to September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon. Certainly, this author, Bob Baer, thinks so, and it digs at him. Bob Baer, a CIA field officer in its Directorate of Operations division from 1976 to 1997, knows and understands the CIA better than anyone. Along with recounting the career of a spy who would go on to recruit agents in such places as India, Lebanon, Sudan, France and Tajikistan, he gives us his opinion on the CIA's decline. The agency that we all think of as a group of like-minded professions who would do whatever was felt necessary to achieve its goal, became a politically correct organisation run by bureaucrats. An agency that became wooden, full of supercilious bureaucrats. How frightening to think that our country was left so unsecured.

Bob tells us of his dangerous experiences, his life as a Case Officer, recruiting spies from the other side to build a case. He has lived a dangerous and adventurous life since a young age when his mother divorced his father and they left for Europe. The adventures they had was a base for his life in the CIA. He went to college and without a job he applied and was accepted to the CIA. He went to 'The Farm' in Virginia for his training, and then onto his real life.
... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars OK
I must confess that I rather struggled to finish this book; it is far from being a riveting read. Baer bemoans the fact that the CIA no longer does the job properly (and this may... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dyspeptic Spirit
5.0 out of 5 stars Stranger, and more thrilling and exciting than fiction
This autobiography, which forms the basis of the film Syriana, starring George Clooney, reads like a fast-paced thriller and is all the more exciting because this is actually real. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Haavard Fonneland Pettersen
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but inessential
The book is broadly split into three sections: Baer's childhood and background; his foreign and domestic postings with the CIA; and the end of his CIA career in Washington where he... Read more
Published 21 months ago by nigeyb
5.0 out of 5 stars Arafat's role in terror
The courageous author of this book offers readers a rich supply of vital information, but I'll focus on just one aspect of great interest in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by Alyssa A. Lappen
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic eye opener
This book is simply a fantastic read and a real eye opener to boot. It's an honest appreciation of the rigours, trials, adventures and personal conflicts that the author... Read more
Published on 17 April 2009 by Crouching Soldier, Hidden Taliban
4.0 out of 5 stars A worrying view of the CIA from the inside
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. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2007 by Darren Simons
5.0 out of 5 stars an eminently enjoyable read
Baer guides us through the complex web of late Cold War international relations with the ease of an insider. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2007 by M. Dooley
5.0 out of 5 stars Can anyone fix the CIA?
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... Read more
Published on 28 July 2006 by apressello
5.0 out of 5 stars A passionate cry for human intelligence agents
This book contributes invaluable perspective for any serious student of the politics and history of terrorism, including the intelligence failures to prevent the tragic events of... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2004 by Michael Wells Glueck
5.0 out of 5 stars A passionate cry for human intelligence agents
This book contributes invaluable perspective for any serious student of the politics and history of terrorism, including the intelligence failures to prevent the tragic events of... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2004 by Michael Wells Glueck
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