What Are You Currently Reading? 2013

[davidbfpo]

The former FBI agent and interviewer, Ali Soufan, wrote 'The Black Banners: Inside the hunt for al-Qaeda' and published in 2011, with extensive redactions, some of them a single letter or a short word. I waited till the book appeared in paperback in the UK and took time to read it last month.

I know some here have been critical of his recollections compared to others, but for the context of the LE and intelligence campaign that was aimed at AQ it is very good. Especially on working in the Yemen.

On the value of the interview -v- 'enhanced interrogation' his position is very clear - interviews got confessions, evidence and information; with arguments familiar to those who have followed the controversy and several threads. See 'One Stop Interrogation Resource', this includes pointers to all the relevant threads:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=9446

There are some references to his work in London which I shall have to read again; his comments on one person at liberty known for civil litigation are very interesting.

Link to Amazon, with many good reviews (71 on .com and 27 on UK site):http://www.amazon.com/Black-Banners-...rds=ali+soufan and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Banner...rds=ali+soufan

[ganulv]

I know some here have been critical of [Soufan's] recollections compared to others, but for the context of the LE and intelligence campaign that was aimed at AQ it is very good. Especially on working in the Yemen.

He was on The Colbert Report during his book tour for The Black Banners and I found him surprisingly engaging for someone from his line of work. (FBI agents would come around from time-to-time on the Indian reservation where I grew up and let’s just say that neither they nor we tended to part impressed with the other.)

[Backwards Observer]

You don't have to go out in the midday sun to appreciate the full-contact gentility of old-school British entrepreneurship.

Dedicated - (By Permission) - To The Honourable The Court of Directors - Of - The East India Company; Through Whose Liberality The Mission Was Provided With The Means OF Prosecuting Objects Of Science, - By Their Most Obedient Humble Servant, - Thomas Stamford Raffles.

Introduction

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In the year 1821, a mission was sent by the Governor-General of Bengal to the courts of Siam and Cochin-China, having for its object the opening of a friendly intercourse between those countries and the British possessions, and the establishment of free trade on both sides.

This mission it is well known was not attended with the success expected; little or no positive advantage was gained to our trade, but the foundation of friendly intercourse was laid by the visit, and the knowledge procured may prepare the way for a future attempt under more favourable circumstances. (from The Mission to Siam, and Hue the capital of Cochin China, in the years 1821-2. From the Journal of G. F. [Edited] with a memoir of the author, by Sir T. S. Raffles.)

The Mission to Siam, and Hue the capital of Cochin China, in the years 1821-2. From the Journal of G. F. [Edited] with a memoir of the author, by Sir T. S. Raffles.
by George Finlayson & Thomas Stamford Raffles - apple iBooks

Sir Stamford Raffles - wikipedia

Summer in Siam - The Pogues - youtube



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Also, a second copy of Rust in peace: South Pacific Battlegrounds Revisited by Bruce Adams. The first went missing after a drunken visit by an itinerant amateur frogman who was trying to offload his old SLR before departing for parts unknown.

Rust in peace: South Pacific Battlegrounds Revisited - amazon

Rust In Peace Review - pacificwrecks.com

Bruce - Monty Python - youtube