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A review by thomasroche
The Secret War with Iran: The 30-Year Clandestine Struggle Against the World's Most Dangerous Terrorist Power by Ronen Bergman
3.0
There are interesting aspects to this book, but too many of its anecdotes and "case studies" seem thinly documented. There might be some cases where its claims would be easier to investigate if I spoke Hebrew of Arabic, but I don't, so... bummer. As with some (but far from all) other books I've read about Israeli intelligence operations, it seems to over-emphasize the importance, intelligence and nobility of Israeli agents and bitch about those agents from other countries, particularly the U.S. I have no reason to believe any specific claims are false, but that tendency gives the whole thing a patina of bullshit. Not because the U.S. is so great (it's obvious our intelligence services have exhibited many failings to say the least) but because it's always suspect when a book gets this repetitive. The "moral of the story" seemed to be the same over and over and over again in a series of largely disconnected anecdotes. I do NOT blame this in any way on Bergman being Israeli; there have been numerous works by Israeli journalists and scholars that felt extremely objective and contained what felt like top-notch scholarship. However, such writers don't seem to gravitate toward writing about the intelligence community in any country, or worldwide. The same thing, to some degree, is true about books on the U.S. intelligence community, where U.S. case officers are portrayed heroically and Europeans are cheese-scarfing incompetent snobs.
Short version: Some of this stuff felt like garbage, and I felt like I was wasting my time reading it. It isn't even remotely in the same "bullshit territory" as "By Way of Deception," which reads like a half-drunk lunatic's slurry rant. There's enough material and research original to this book that it is definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the intelligence landscape in the Middle East and particularly in the Levant as it pertains to Iran. But take it all with a grain of salt.
Short version: Some of this stuff felt like garbage, and I felt like I was wasting my time reading it. It isn't even remotely in the same "bullshit territory" as "By Way of Deception," which reads like a half-drunk lunatic's slurry rant. There's enough material and research original to this book that it is definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the intelligence landscape in the Middle East and particularly in the Levant as it pertains to Iran. But take it all with a grain of salt.