by Jack O' Connell
Back cover says: "I arrived at Cairo International Airport at 11p.m. on a weeknight and went directly to my hotel. There was no one in the lobby and one reception clerk on duty. I showed him my passport and he found reservation. Then out of the blue he looked up and asked.'Did you come from CIA?' My mind went blank. I looked down at the front of my jacket to see if I'd put my agency badge on by mistake. Nothing. I thought of grabbing my only bag and running out of the hotel, but was literally too paralyzed to move or answer him. He just stood there looking at me e quizzically. How did he know? Was he tipped off by the Egyptian Security Service? If so, where were they? As my mind raced in senseless circles, I heard him repeat the question: 'Did you come from CIA?'
I paid no attention. My career was probably ruined before it had even begun. Should I finish the mission or get in touch with my emergency contact? Not if I was already a marked man. Obviously irritated that I did not respond to his question, the clerk repeated in a louder voice: 'Mister, did you come from CIA - from Cairo International Airport?' I almost fainted from the shock - and a relief - as I blurted out, 'Ofcourse! How else could I have gotten here?' " - From Introduction
A CIA station chief, later Jordan's lawyer in Washington, reveals the secret history of a lost peace.
Jack O'Connell possessed an uncanny ability to be at the center of things. On his arrival in Jordan in 1958, he unraveled a coup aimed at the young King Hussein, who would become America's most reliable Middle East ally. Over time, their bond of trust and friendship deepened.
His narrative contains secrets that will revise our understanding of the Middle East. In 1967, O'Connell tipped off Hussein that Israel would invade Egypt the next morning. Later, as Hussein's Washington counselor, O'Connell learned of Henry Kissinger's surprising role in the Yom Kippur War.
4 comments:
It is interesting book.
This book gives the light about how America protects the government that help Israel and how America topple the government that is not supporting Israel. Especially this book gives very detail work of CIA in Amman and how it protected King Hussain government.
Hussein renounced any Jordanian claim to the West Bank and signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Israel continued colonizing the occupied territory, and the Palestinians were left without a state. “For the risks the king took in this search for peace,” O’Connell writes, “he was betrayed by both the Israelis and the Americans. It was a price he paid to find out that the Israelis preferred land to peace and that the Americans didn’t care which of the two the Israelis chose.” O’Connell adds that “in the king’s mind, no good would come” from this situation. The king was right.
My target to finish this book on 31.12.2011 but I have finished this book on 01:43 AM on 30.12.2011
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