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A review by willowsbeach
Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah's War Against America by Samuel Katz, Fred Burton
4.0
I received this book as an advanced copy from the publisher based on my reviews of Burton's previous books. As a disclaimer, I should mention that I am personally acquainted with Fred Burton, as we went to school together and grew up in the same town. We still run into each other occasionally at events that support the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad where Fred was a long time member.
This is the second collaboration between Burton, chief security officer for Stratfor (a global authority on security & terrorism) and Samuel Katz, an international expert on Middle East security and former member of the IDF. Like their first book, Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi, the duo puts together a compelling, edge of the seat accounting. In Beirut Rules we learn the story of the kidnapping, torture & murder of Beirut CIA station chief William Buckley. Detailing the political climate of the Middle East during the 1980's, Beirut Rules introduces us to a young terrorist, Imad Mughniyeh, who made a name for himself as a brutal purveyor of car bombs and other acts of terror in his late teens. Mughniyeh, in short order, launches Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization & later becomes 2nd in command of Hezbollah.
I was a young adult in the early 80's and aware of the bombings of American interests in Beirut, including the US Embassy bombing in 1982 and the bombing at the military barracks which killed 241 American peacekeepers in 1983. However, I never knew the full story of the US involvement in the Middle East during that time period or what was behind the desires of terrorists to carry out these bombings. And I certainly did not know anything about our CIA operations. Beirut Rules is redacted in several places and it's my understanding that the authors and publisher have chosen to leave the redactions in place to indicate that even 35 years later there are still many details that remain classified. We may never know much of what took place during this time.
In a nutshell, the major take aways for me were these:
1. The Middle East in the 1980's was a powder keg. Anti-Israel sentiment was high and that continues to this day.
2. The US was not prepared for the terrorist response to their presence with the UN Peacekeeping Force or their CIA station.
3. Due to both political considerations & classified intel derived from sources on the ground, our hands were tied to the extent that an all-out effort to locate and rescue Buckley was not going to happen. The inability to act on his behalf was a heartbreaking frustration to his fellow officers and friends from his days as an Army officer.
4. As civilians, the American people can't ever know the full truth of many of the actions of our government overseas. The troubling piece of this also is how unwilling they might be to locate and rescue any of us should we fall into the wrong hands outside of the US. The bottom line concern for us would depend on the interests of our government.
I am never disappointed with the stories my friend Fred Burton writes. He and Katz have once again given us an accounting that gives us at times more info than we thought we wanted; however, discover later that it is info we need as the story further unfolds. I highly recommend this book.
This is the second collaboration between Burton, chief security officer for Stratfor (a global authority on security & terrorism) and Samuel Katz, an international expert on Middle East security and former member of the IDF. Like their first book, Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi, the duo puts together a compelling, edge of the seat accounting. In Beirut Rules we learn the story of the kidnapping, torture & murder of Beirut CIA station chief William Buckley. Detailing the political climate of the Middle East during the 1980's, Beirut Rules introduces us to a young terrorist, Imad Mughniyeh, who made a name for himself as a brutal purveyor of car bombs and other acts of terror in his late teens. Mughniyeh, in short order, launches Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization & later becomes 2nd in command of Hezbollah.
I was a young adult in the early 80's and aware of the bombings of American interests in Beirut, including the US Embassy bombing in 1982 and the bombing at the military barracks which killed 241 American peacekeepers in 1983. However, I never knew the full story of the US involvement in the Middle East during that time period or what was behind the desires of terrorists to carry out these bombings. And I certainly did not know anything about our CIA operations. Beirut Rules is redacted in several places and it's my understanding that the authors and publisher have chosen to leave the redactions in place to indicate that even 35 years later there are still many details that remain classified. We may never know much of what took place during this time.
In a nutshell, the major take aways for me were these:
1. The Middle East in the 1980's was a powder keg. Anti-Israel sentiment was high and that continues to this day.
2. The US was not prepared for the terrorist response to their presence with the UN Peacekeeping Force or their CIA station.
3. Due to both political considerations & classified intel derived from sources on the ground, our hands were tied to the extent that an all-out effort to locate and rescue Buckley was not going to happen. The inability to act on his behalf was a heartbreaking frustration to his fellow officers and friends from his days as an Army officer.
4. As civilians, the American people can't ever know the full truth of many of the actions of our government overseas. The troubling piece of this also is how unwilling they might be to locate and rescue any of us should we fall into the wrong hands outside of the US. The bottom line concern for us would depend on the interests of our government.
I am never disappointed with the stories my friend Fred Burton writes. He and Katz have once again given us an accounting that gives us at times more info than we thought we wanted; however, discover later that it is info we need as the story further unfolds. I highly recommend this book.