In 2001, Glenn Carle was a career CIA case officer assigned to learn "on the job" how to interrogate a suspect we had kidnapped off a street in a third country, then interrogated (harsh methods Carle calls torture). Carle did his job as well as possible, but reported in detail his informed, passionate objections to the policy in general and as applied to Captus. Some years later, the matter was leaked to the press, the prisoner was freed, Carle retired and was denied a security clearance critical to a "beltway bandit" after career.
CIA censorship of this book means almost every relevant detail is redacted, and Carle's argument cannot cite facts, and perhaps got more argumentative and even redundant over time. If The Nation Books has editors, they did Carle no visible service. The CIA censors' office provides a strong blurb for the book, so we can infer mutual respect and even a bit of sympathy.
Still, Carle as a person shines out - how he tells his Mom about his job, even how he insults a junior officer who through fear cannot stop playing with his weapon.
Le Carre used "the cold" to describe the spy's refusal of ordinary human empathy, affection. It seemed a crown on the moral equivalence if not squalor he describes elegantly. Carle's moral vision is wildly different from Le Carre's, and that informed patriotism makes his moral judgments personal and powerful. If he was ever cold to the agents he rercruited and handled, he certainly was not cold to Captus, let alone projecting onto Captus the customary torturer's self-loathing projected onto the victim.
IMHO, Carle built a human relationship with a prisoner called Captus. A very odd friendship, even for a handler and agent, but the personal warmth seems to drive Carle's passion, if not his judgment, that Captus was unjustly kidnapped, tortured and then held, and then it informed Carle's patriotic, strongly loyal opposition to CIA policy. Carle denies - three times, with no cock's crow - that he leaked the Captus matter several years later, but the CIA perhaps was unpersuaded. Myself, I think I believe Carle.
This personal, agent-case officer empathy informed by 20 years experience in a tough school, informs Cale's view - and his belief he was better able to judge than any superior at CIA - that Captus was innocent of terrorism (as if he'd sold Ussama a railroad ticket), even if Captus indeed had critical intelligence about al Qaeda, some of which he withheld throughout Carle's interrogation (e.g., the ticket taker might be able to describe the agents who bought tickets, and tell us where and when they would arrive and perhaps set off a bomb). Carle's own experience of simulated torture (SERE training) is another vivid strand of his narrative, perhaps his empathy.
The argument is a bit hard to summarize, with all facts censored, once you strip out patriotism and rage at injustice and simply bad tradecraft. W W reviews this book an probably gives the flavor of it.
If Carle knows anything about international law or US habeas corpus or Congressional oversight of the CIA, he hides it. He apparently read and agreed with the Joint Congressional Intelligence Committee review of these matters - John Kerry and John Edwards each signed the unanimous report - but when praising Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame he does not mention that the report shredded Wilson's integrity.
I confess myself wondering if Carle sees a continuing "delusion" and fatally bad judgment at work today, when his colleagues select targets for Hellfire missiles. Even if they identify a guilty terrorist, not a ticket seller or mental defective, the targets are homes to extended families. There is no due process for the target, let alone his family, before or after.
Still, a memoir is about a person, and Glenn Carle shines out a quite a fellow. If it was not likely to reinforce the CIA opposition to his clearance, I'd think about using The Telegraph reporting to prepare an online "fill in the redactions" piece, then daydream about drinking coffee with him some fine day.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Flip to back Flip to front
Follow the Author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
| Price | New from | Used from |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| Free with your Audible trial | |
|
MP3 CD, Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" | $19.46 | — |
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
$26.38
Get it as soon as Monday, Aug 14
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
+
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
