America's Great Game: The CIA's Secret Arabists and the Shaping of the Modern Middle East

SpyCast

Education, News, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2014

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Intelligence historian Hugh Wilford reveals the surprising history of the CIA’s pro-Arab operations in the 1940s and 50s by tracing the work of the agency’s three most influential—and colorful—officers in the Middle East: Kermit Roosevelt, Archie Roosevelt, and Miles Copeland. With their deep knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs, the three men were heirs to an American missionary tradition that engaged Arabs and Muslims with respect and empathy. These “Arabists” propped up authoritarian regimes, attempted secretly to sway public opinion in America against support for the new state of Israel, and staged coups that destabilized the nations with which they empathized. They were fascinated by imperial intrigue, and were eager to play a modern rematch of the “Great Game,” the nineteenth century struggle between Britain and Russia for control over central Asia. This event took place January 7, 2014.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the CyberWire Network, powered by N2K. Hello and
0:24.2	welcome to Spycast from the Secret Files of the International Spy Museum in
0:27.6	Washington, DC. I'm Mark Stout historian of the museum.
0:31.2	I'm a PhD author and historian who served for 13 years as an
0:34.6	analyst in the US Intelligence Committee. Every month the museum brings you
0:38.6	interesting talks with authors, scholars, and practitioners who have something to
0:41.8	do with the world of intelligence and espionage.
0:45.0	Well, good morning and welcome to the International Spy Museum.
0:51.0	Very much appreciate your coming here on this extremely cold day. We were
0:56.4	stunned last night, we had an event, we thought no one's going to come, no one
1:00.4	will go anywhere in this weather. We had over a hundred people here and they were standing in the back.
1:07.0	Now the fact that we were serving alcoholic beverages slightly before the event may have contributed to the success.
1:14.1	I'm sorry we don't, we have not replicated that for you.
1:18.4	I'm Peter Earnest, I'm the executive director of the museum and very pleased today to welcome
1:27.0	someone from the West Coast, okay you've flown a long way in I'm sure you'd be glad
1:31.3	to get back at some point. The subject matter that
1:35.8	Hugh addresses, Hugh Wilford, is fascinating to me as a former CIA officer involved in operations abroad as well as other aspects of the
1:49.9	agency.
1:51.3	But the subjects he discusses both in this book and in his previous book, The Mighty
1:56.2	Warlitzer, are ways in which intelligence, specifically the CIA, has impacted on American culture and the way American culture has impacted on the agency.
2:07.0	And it's a fascinating subject because I think it goes beyond at times of emergency like 9-11.
2:15.0	Everybody wants all the intelligence they get at other times like the Snowden
	...

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