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A review by tbr_the_unconquered
Agents of Innocence by David Ignatius
4.0
A piece of paper with a few dots on it. There is no pattern to the dots, they are random on the pristine whiteness of the sheet. Start drawing lines connecting them without a thought as to where they will go. There, that should about do it. All crisscrossed with no idea as to what goes where.
This roughly could be a very juvenile representation of how the intelligence agencies of the world work. Somebody comes across a piece of information that they do not know how to use, they send it over to someone else so that the favor can be returned some other day. Here, the bedrock is the American CIA and field of play : Lebanon in the 1960-1980's.
A CIA case officer who runs an agent in Beirut and how the relationship changes over two decades is what lies at the heart of the story. If you know the history of the world at that point, you will slowly see the signs : the escalating conflict between the Palestinians & the Israelis, the rise of Fatah in Beirut & Jordan, the advent of the Black September Organization, the bloody aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics and how the Mossad lashed out at Black September later. Ultimately it is a story of frustration and the all powerful America helplessly watching as a Country destroys itself with time.
What clearly sets this book aside is the fact that the author knows what he is talking about. Being a journalist who worked in Beirut in this time frame, the pictures he paints are vivid and fresh. Every one of the intelligence agencies of the World comes into the picture for a piece of their pie. What is most brilliant though is the portrayal of the CIA, a once mighty behemoth that is slowly losing its teeth. Many a character is a tad predictable and like I said, if you know your World history, you know where it will all end up. But this did not stop me from savoring the plot line. The environ created by the book is first class and it is going to my favorites list !
There is an interesting line I picked up : An American tells a Palestinian : No one in will harm an American in the middle east.
Oh how the world has changed my fellow American !
This roughly could be a very juvenile representation of how the intelligence agencies of the world work. Somebody comes across a piece of information that they do not know how to use, they send it over to someone else so that the favor can be returned some other day. Here, the bedrock is the American CIA and field of play : Lebanon in the 1960-1980's.
A CIA case officer who runs an agent in Beirut and how the relationship changes over two decades is what lies at the heart of the story. If you know the history of the world at that point, you will slowly see the signs : the escalating conflict between the Palestinians & the Israelis, the rise of Fatah in Beirut & Jordan, the advent of the Black September Organization, the bloody aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics and how the Mossad lashed out at Black September later. Ultimately it is a story of frustration and the all powerful America helplessly watching as a Country destroys itself with time.
What clearly sets this book aside is the fact that the author knows what he is talking about. Being a journalist who worked in Beirut in this time frame, the pictures he paints are vivid and fresh. Every one of the intelligence agencies of the World comes into the picture for a piece of their pie. What is most brilliant though is the portrayal of the CIA, a once mighty behemoth that is slowly losing its teeth. Many a character is a tad predictable and like I said, if you know your World history, you know where it will all end up. But this did not stop me from savoring the plot line. The environ created by the book is first class and it is going to my favorites list !
There is an interesting line I picked up : An American tells a Palestinian : No one in will harm an American in the middle east.
Oh how the world has changed my fellow American !