Robert Baer

I listened to the audiobook of The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower (2008) by Robert Baer and I can tell you right now that this isn't going to be a good review because this book presents such a different understanding of Iran than any other perspective I've ever encountered. Here are the highlights as I understand them:

Americans and the West in general have a distorted view of Iran and especially of what Iran wants.
Iran is a country that is trying to modernize, show more participates widely in the internet, and even watches a lot of American television. They are not like some other Islamic states trying to return to pre-modern times.
Iranians desire empire and wish to be recognized as a major player in Middle East politics, perhaps even a superpower.
We should not be scared that Iran will build and use nuclear weapons nor that they desire some nihilistic destruction of the west. What Iran actually really does do and what they're capable of is actually more unsettling if unnoticed by the West. Iran succeeds through asymetrical tactics and weapons
Through proxy wars, Iran has carried out their quest for imperialism throughout the Mid East. Baer asserts that through Hezbollah, Iran won the first military conflict against Israel in 2000. Through cunning and strategy Iran has achieved many military goals and won over the support many Muslims even Sunnis & Arabs who traditionally are at odds with the Shiite & Persian Iran.
Nations the US currently allies with are weak (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE) or not really states at all just strong armies (Pakistan). Plus the oil fields in Saudi Arabia are emptying out and Iran's hegemony has them in position to control the oil supply for the future.
In general, Shiite Iran is hierarchical, commands come only from leaders with extensive religious trading, and they carry out their campaigns with specific goals and targets in mind. Sunni Arabs are not hierarchical, leaders with no religious training give out commands (such as Osama bin Laden), and carry out attacks for slaughter's sake alone. Western governments have successfully negotiated peace with Iran because they can not only find someone to negotiate with but because they are open to negotiation.
Continuing on the present course will require a huge outlay of money and military force to either contain Iran in a 30+ year Cold War or to actually engage them in battle. In addition to losing many lives and bankrupting the country, Iran would shut off our supply of oil. Baer does not believe the US populace would stand for any of this.
In the end Baer gives several reccomendations for the US to bury it's pride and recognize Iran as a major power, grant them a role in restoring order to Iraq, and allow nations artificially created after WWI (such as Iraq and Pakistan) to be disolved into smaller states. Baer believes this realpolitik approach to Iran's de facto superpower status is are only sensible option.

I obviously know only a little about Iran and the Mid East in general, and Baer seems to be stacking the deck to support his thesis and has certain obvious prejudices (especially against Sunnis/Arabs. Yet its a compelling argument, and a very nuanced understanding of today's Iran. It's not likely that American politicians will follow any of these suggestions, and perhaps with good reason. Still it's an eye-opening account that challenges the accepted wisdom. show less

I’ve read a couple of books by Robert Baer, and liked them very much, so I was eager to read this memoir by him and his wife about their time together in the CIA, both before and after they got together. (Robert Baer is the author of Sleeping with the Devil, The Devil We Know and See No Evil, which was the basis for the George Clooney movie Syriana.)

Bob and Dayna take turns narrating as they each literally go all over the map from one hotspot to another. Before they got together, they were show more going to different places at different times, and with the alternating chapters, it was a bit confusing. But I really couldn’t think of how else they could do a book like this in both voices without that happening. More specifics on date and location would have helped, but the book had to be vetted by the CIA, and that probably accounts for the missing information, as well as the disjointedness. In light of that, one can forgive them the disorienting structure; in any event, the stories they tell are quite interesting.

Evaluation: If you want to know what it was like to be in the CIA in the 1980’s and 1990’s, this is an excellent way to find out. Both Bob and Dayna are intelligent and charming, as one might expect from the high-level nature of their jobs. I particularly enjoyed hearing about training and operations in the CIA from a woman’s point of view. show less

The book "See No Evil" by Robert Baer is a thrilling adventure story about the experiences of a young CIA case officer in Asia and the Middle East. It is written with energy and a touch of humor, making it a captivating read for those interested in espionage procedurals. The second half of the book reveals a different side of Baer, as he becomes burnt out and in need of rest. This is marked by a re-call to headquarters and an investigation into his involvement in a murder for hire plot. As show more Baer continues to operate on his own in the field, he becomes increasingly isolated and out of control, leading to his eventual return to headquarters in Washington D.C. There, he struggles to navigate the unfamiliar and seemingly unfathomable world of Washington politics. Despite these challenges, Baer is a talented writer and deserves a loyal audience for this and his other books. show less

This is book is a bit dated in that it tackles the question of U.S. withdraw from Iraq, but it is very valuable for the years of experience Baer gained on Iran from his years in the middle east. The title of this work is loaded and layers of meaning are not fully clear until the audacious (enlightened? visionary?) epilogue. Baer builds up a tale of a misunderstood Iran with astute geo-political machinations bearing success at positioning it as a regional hegemon and leader of a show more Shia-dominant, oil-rich Muslim (not Arab) world. It is easy to take this as subtle coloring of a wily adversary, but in the conclusion Baer boldly advises getting the jump on Russia and China and the U.S. directly allying with and cooperating transparently with Iran.

like Wells in "Outline of History", we see here that below the imposed political map wrestles a religio-cultural map. by disrupting Iraq, we've tipped the scales in Iran's favor. Baer suggests we run with that. show less