See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism 
asked by rafit on November 2, 2006 11:42 AM
In his explosive New York Times bestseller, top CIA operative Robert Baer paints a chilling picture of how terrorism works on the inside and provides startling evidence of how Washington politics sabotaged the CIA’s efforts to root out the world’s deadliest terrorists, allowing for the rise of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and the continued entrenchment of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
A veteran case officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations in the Middle East, Baer witnessed the rise of terrorism first hand and the CIA’s inadequate response to it, leading to the attacks of September 11, 2001. This riveting book is both an indictment of an agency that lost its way and an unprecedented look at the roots of modern terrorism, and includes a new afterword in which Baer speaks out about the American war on terrorism and its profound implications throughout the Middle East.
“Robert Baer was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field
officer in the Middle East.”
–Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker
From The Preface
This book is a memoir of one foot soldier’s career in the other cold war, the one against terrorist networks. It’s a story about places most Americans will never travel to, about people many Americans would prefer to think we don’t need to do business with.
This memoir, I hope, will show the reader how spying is supposed to work, where the CIA lost its way, and how we can bring it back again. But I hope this book will accomplish one more purpose as well: I hope it will show why I am angry about what happened to the CIA. And I want to show why every American and everyone who cares about the preservation of this country should be angry and alarmed, too.
The CIA was systematically destroyed by political correctness, by petty Beltway wars, by careerism, and much more. At a time when terrorist threats were compounding globally, the agency that should have been monitoring them was being scrubbed clean instead. Americans were making too much money to bother. Life was good. The White House and the National Security Council became cathedrals of commerce where the interests of big business outweighed the interests of protecting American citizens at home and abroad. Defanged and dispirited, the CIA went along for the ride. And then on September 11, 2001, the reckoning for such vast carelessness was presented for all the world to see.
A veteran case officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations in the Middle East, Baer witnessed the rise of terrorism first hand and the CIA’s inadequate response to it, leading to the attacks of September 11, 2001. This riveting book is both an indictment of an agency that lost its way and an unprecedented look at the roots of modern terrorism, and includes a new afterword in which Baer speaks out about the American war on terrorism and its profound implications throughout the Middle East.
“Robert Baer was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field
officer in the Middle East.”
–Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker
From The Preface
This book is a memoir of one foot soldier’s career in the other cold war, the one against terrorist networks. It’s a story about places most Americans will never travel to, about people many Americans would prefer to think we don’t need to do business with.
This memoir, I hope, will show the reader how spying is supposed to work, where the CIA lost its way, and how we can bring it back again. But I hope this book will accomplish one more purpose as well: I hope it will show why I am angry about what happened to the CIA. And I want to show why every American and everyone who cares about the preservation of this country should be angry and alarmed, too.
The CIA was systematically destroyed by political correctness, by petty Beltway wars, by careerism, and much more. At a time when terrorist threats were compounding globally, the agency that should have been monitoring them was being scrubbed clean instead. Americans were making too much money to bother. Life was good. The White House and the National Security Council became cathedrals of commerce where the interests of big business outweighed the interests of protecting American citizens at home and abroad. Defanged and dispirited, the CIA went along for the ride. And then on September 11, 2001, the reckoning for such vast carelessness was presented for all the world to see.
Reviews
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I recently finished listening to the CD version of See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism by Rober Baer. This is a very disturbing book as it describes the evisceration of the CIA by career bureaucrats whose only interest appears to be not to rock the boat. The author, a career CIA officer, makes it abundantly clear that had the CIA been operating as it should have been in the late 1980s 1990s that 9/11 would have been detected and deflected long before it occurred. His account of inadvertently discovering the location of a kidnapped CIA station chief in Lebanon and then not having the information acted upon by brain dead superiors makes for riveting reading and listening. (That station chief later died in captivity.) Even more disturbing is the penetration of the CIA by the oil lobbies and former President Clinton turning a blind eye to funds channeled from both Russia and China to the DNC. The refusal of both liberals and conservatives to deal with Ted Kennedy and others' involvement with this scandal indicates a very deep corruption of government by private interests across the board.
reviewed by scoobie on November 19, 2006 12:56 AM
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Robert Baer was a sort of accidental CIA operative. His mom was a rich hippie who dragged him all over creation as a child, and he was a ski-bum. He applied to the CIA as a joke while taking Mandarin at U.C. Berkeley. One of the amusing things he left out about his background (or which he never explicitly stated) was the fact that he went to Georgetown University as an undergrad. Georgetown seems to be one of those "gimme" schools for CIA recruits; if you go to school there, you're pretty much a legacy.
In fact, many have criticized this aspect to CIA recruitment: as a result of this, the CIA is made up of graduates of a fairly narrow range of academic institutions, and as such have a narrower view of the world than a more catholic group would. Then again, considering the titanic idiocies and anti-american monstrosities taught by former vietnam-war protestors in the schools these days, perhaps there is a reason for it.
In any case, Baer is a sort of class clown type guy who managed to get into the CIA. He used to ride his Harley around the Georgetown Library, to give you an idea of what type of guy he is. Since he had extensive language skills and experience living abroad, he became an "on the ground" operative. Much of his work with the CIA was involving terrorist cells in places like Lebanon in the 80s, Tajekistan, and among the Kurds in Northern Iraq in the mid 90s.
He gives what appears to be a fair account of the ways in which politically correct bureaucracy have gotten in the way of the business of spying. He claims (with some supporting evidence from the Kurdish community) that a coup against Saddam was quite possible in 95, but the National Security Council at the time more or less told the plotters to call it off. His accounts of the thought processes of the whackjob islamicists and of middle east residents in general pretty much match my observations from work: that part of the world sees everything as a giant conspiracy theory. People still don't seem to have absorbed this important fact about international politics.
I was particularly entertained at his account of his adventures in Washington. Since he had more experience with dealing with terrorists and KGB agents overseas, he applied the same lines of thinking to figure out washington, with amusingly mixed results.
In fact, many have criticized this aspect to CIA recruitment: as a result of this, the CIA is made up of graduates of a fairly narrow range of academic institutions, and as such have a narrower view of the world than a more catholic group would. Then again, considering the titanic idiocies and anti-american monstrosities taught by former vietnam-war protestors in the schools these days, perhaps there is a reason for it.
In any case, Baer is a sort of class clown type guy who managed to get into the CIA. He used to ride his Harley around the Georgetown Library, to give you an idea of what type of guy he is. Since he had extensive language skills and experience living abroad, he became an "on the ground" operative. Much of his work with the CIA was involving terrorist cells in places like Lebanon in the 80s, Tajekistan, and among the Kurds in Northern Iraq in the mid 90s.
He gives what appears to be a fair account of the ways in which politically correct bureaucracy have gotten in the way of the business of spying. He claims (with some supporting evidence from the Kurdish community) that a coup against Saddam was quite possible in 95, but the National Security Council at the time more or less told the plotters to call it off. His accounts of the thought processes of the whackjob islamicists and of middle east residents in general pretty much match my observations from work: that part of the world sees everything as a giant conspiracy theory. People still don't seem to have absorbed this important fact about international politics.
I was particularly entertained at his account of his adventures in Washington. Since he had more experience with dealing with terrorists and KGB agents overseas, he applied the same lines of thinking to figure out washington, with amusingly mixed results.
reviewed by redryder on November 28, 2006 4:03 AM
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As the author relates his work in the CIA from the early seventies when the American people started challenging our government's role in world politics, to today's even more chaotic world, he's revealed an agency frought with ineptitude and inefficiency. As one of the grunts on the ground, working clandestinely, he's watched in alarm as the effectiveness of the agency has gone from a stellar one gathering behind the scenes information to being a hand-tied-behind-their-backs (dis)organization. It's a fascinating read through the eyes and ears of one who's worked some of the most dangerous parts of the world.
reviewed by guitarplayer on November 28, 2006 10:39 PM
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A well written book that helps explain why the CIA is in the shape its in today.
reviewed by localhost on November 29, 2006 2:36 AM