TERRORISM GOES TO WAR WITH ISRAEL: #Syria: 2/4: Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. .
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad’s recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy.
But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad’s spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.
1910 DAMASCUS
Transcript
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| 0:06.7 | Well luckily, we can. A lot. |
| 0:09.1 | Because our new season of terribly famous is all about the first One Directioner to go it alone. |
| 0:14.3 | Zayn Malik. |
| 0:15.3 | We'll take you on Zayn's journey from Shylad from Bradford |
| 0:18.6 | to being in the world's biggest boy band and explore why. |
| 0:22.0 | When you reach the top, he decided to walk away. |
| 0:24.6 | Follow terribly famous wherever you get your podcast. |
| 0:30.0 | This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batch with David McCluskey, former CIA analyst for the Middle East. |
| 0:41.3 | Now a novelist, a thriller novelist. It's a spy novel. |
| 0:46.4 | It's a profile of the Middle East as we live through it these last ten years. |
| 0:51.4 | And with no clarity, many of the instances in David's book are extremely convincing. |
| 0:56.8 | Anything can happen in Damascus. |
| 1:00.3 | Our hero is named Sam Joseph. |
| 1:03.2 | David presents him as a man from Minnesota who has a talent for gambling. |
| 1:07.4 | Probably has a gambler's weaknesses. Doesn't know when to leave the table. |
| 1:12.7 | He quickly establishes himself as a man who makes a mistake as a CIA officer. |
| 1:19.2 | He falls in love with his asset. |
| 1:22.4 | David, this is such a violation of what I know to be the CIA's recommendations about how you handle assets. |
| 1:31.8 | I was charmed right away. My goodness, Sam, you don't deserve to be an officer very long. |
| 1:38.5 | What do you want the readers to know about Sam's temptation and about Miriam? |
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