by Kai Bird
96 “has fixed it up as only a Lebanese male can do”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 5, 1977.
97 solid-gold prayer beads: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 12, 1977.
98 “I think they’re trying to convert me!”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 19, 1977.
99 “Especially since she is blonde”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 26, 1977.
100 “Why he still has this thing going …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 5, 1977, and March 26, 1977.
101 “I’m doing something useful …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 5, 1977.
102 “The bottom line”: Duane R. Clarridge, e-mail to author, May 7, 2012. The German agent was a “walk-in” who volunteered to spy on Fatah. His alias was “Ganymede.” Clarridge thought he was the best penetration agent the CIA had against the PLO in 1974–75 (Assmann et al., “Munich Olympics”).
103 “It is hard to believe our friend was what he was”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 26, 1977.
104 “a homeland for Palestinian refugees”: Jimmy Carter, White House Diary (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), p. 33.
105 “I think we’re finally making some headway”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 19, 1977.
106 “a consummate liar and dissembler …”: Richard Parker, Memoirs of a Foreign Service Arabist (Washington, DC: New Academia, forthcoming, manuscript courtesy of Jeffrey Parker), p. 159.
107 “I got pretty pissed off …”: Robert D. Kaplan, The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite (New York: Free Press, 1993), p. 123.
108 “I think I’m getting on better …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 19, 1977.
109 “It makes for grim reading”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 9, 1977.
110 “After his death was announced”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 19, 1977.
111 “The fighting there is foolish …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 9, 1977.
112 “Again the Christians and Israelis started it …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 23, 1977.
113 “He reported my remarks to Begin”: Parker, Memoirs of a Foreign Service Arabist, p. 156.
114 “When this happened”: Ibid., p. 156.
115 “When I got to the usual place”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 2, 1977.
116 “No one in the CIA”: Duane R. Clarridge, e-mail to author, April 2, 2012.
117 “Had Ames met Arafat …”: Ibid.
118 “I think it was most useful”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 2, 1977.
119 “It is absolutely ridiculous”: Carter, White House Diary, p. 352.
120 Memorandum of Agreement: This September 1, 1975, memorandum is quoted by NSC officer Douglas J. Feith in an August 28, 1981, memo to Norman A. Bailey, “U.S. Policy Toward PLO,” Folder PLO 1981 (1 of 3), Box 90220, Kemp Files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
121 “The loss of innocence comes in stages”: Graham Fuller, interview, April 3, 2012.
122 “on some very sensitive stuff”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 9, 1977.
123 “Maybe my sharp cables …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 23, 1977.
124 “job pressures”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, March 12, 1977.
125 “I enjoy life too much not to get my full share”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 2, 1977.
126 “I feel I should get a promotion …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 9, 1977.
127 “If John MacGaffin …”: Ibid.
128 “I’m more and more convinced …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 2, 1977.
129 “I hear indirectly from people …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, April 16, 1977.
130 He wore a white suit: Klein, Striking Back, p. 216.
131 “She seduced Ali”: Mustafa Zein, interview, Amman, October 7, 2012.
132 diplomatic passport, No. X135101: American Vice-Consul Lisa A. Piascik, “Report of the Death of an American Citizen Abroad: Robert C. Ames,” May 10, 1983, courtesy of Yvonne Ames.
133 He hadn’t been back to Lebanon in a year: Robert Ames to Yvonne, June 25, 1978.
134 “lousy housekeepers”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, June 29, 1978.
135 killed an estimated two thousand Lebanese civilians: Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon (New York: Atheneum, 1990), p. 124.
136 “The murder was truly savage …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, June 18, 1978.
137 “there is enough hatred …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, June 25, 1978.
138 “Our friend sends his best”: Ibid.
139 “lots on my mind”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, July 2, 1978.
140 “Lebanon is still waiting”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, June 25, 1978.
141 “It’s getting nasty here in Beirut”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, July 5, 1978.
142 “Both men acknowledged …”: Henry Miller-Jones, e-mail to author, November 3, 2012.
143 “Bob had a reputation …”: Lindsay Sherwin, interview, March 22, 2011.
144 “I really haven’t enjoyed anything …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, July 2, 1978.
145 “After you have been around for a while”: Graham Fuller, interview, April 3, 2012.
146 “Well, I can’t possibly do the job …”: Kai Bird, The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998), p. 157.
147 “Perhaps,” he wrote Yvonne on June 29, 1978, “my malaise …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, June 29, 1978.
148 “I gather they’re looking hard …”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, July 5, 1978.
149 “I don’t like to be on the streets after dark”: Robert Ames to Yvonne, July 2, 1978.
150 Why, Zein wanted to know, were people surprised: Frank Reynolds, “Terror in the Promised Land,” ABC News, December 30, 1978, courtesy of Vanderbilt TV News Archive, Nashville.
151 “Despite the fact that Bob had no background …”: Harry Simpson, e-mail to author, September 19, 2011.
152 “monthly warning assessments”: Robert C. Ames, memorandum for Director of Central Intelligence, June 25, 1979, Top Secret, declassified June 5, 2007.
153 “has that unique ability …”: Copy of redacted security report, Form 1125, on Robert Clayton Ames, October 30, 1978.
154 “Possessing weapons is as important …”: Daily Star, Beirut, February 3, 1975.
155 “clarify the mystery”: Fouad Ajami, The Vanished Imam: Musa Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986), p. 192.
Chapter Eight: The Assassination
1 “The Israelis knew full well …”: Clair George, interview, March 23, 2011.
2 “No answer was an answer”: Charles Waverly, interview, March 28, 2011.
3 “We won’t answer the question …”: Bruce Riedel, interview, March 30, 2011.
4 “I am sure there was a debate”: Duane R. Clarridge, interview, November 26, 2011.
5 Ames also urged Alan Wolfe: Frank Anderson, interview, November 4, 2010.
6 “There was some talk …”: Sam Wyman, interview, November 5, 2010.
7 Mossad officers confirm this: Uri Oppenheim, interview, Tel Aviv, October 14, 2012. Oppenheim said, “It was a mistake for Kimche to ask the Americans about Salameh—because Mossad must have known that there was some kind of connection. So why ask?”
8 Ames contacted Salameh in Beirut: Mustafa Zein, e-mail to author, July 4, 2012.
9 “If Ali Hassan had agreed …”: Yoram Hessel, interview, Tel Aviv, October 10, 2012.
10 and no one else: Taylor, States of Terror, p. 76.
11 “I knew he was dead”: Mustafa Zein, interview, Amman, October 7, 2012.
12 “ticking bomb”: Aaron J. Klein, interview, Tel Aviv, October 15, 2012. Time magazine reporter Klein said, “No Mossad officer ever told me that they saw evidence that Ali Hassan was in Munich or Berlin.” Klein believes that by 1979 Salameh “was not a ticking bomb.”
13 Salameh decided to postpone his Washington visit: Mustafa Zein, e-mail to author, July 4, 2012.
14 “We followed Ali Hassan extensively”: Meir Harel, intervi
ew, Tel Aviv, October 18, 2012.
15 Ali Hassan had stashed Kalashnikovs: Klein, Striking Back, p. 216.
16 “I know that I’ll die”: Bar-Zohar and Haber, Quest for the Red Prince, pp. 212, 214.
17 “They’re the ones who should be worried …”: “Death of a Terrorist,” Time, February 5, 1979.
18 According to Peter Taylor: Taylor, States of Terror, pp. 76–77. See also Reeve, One Day in September, pp. 206–7.
19 “I think Bashir had some crise de conscience”: Taylor, States of Terror, pp. 75–76. Pakradouni was the cold, calculating political adviser to the Gemayel clan. “Pakradouni was a very sharp man,” said a former deputy chief of Mossad. “I liked him very much because he was a bastard” (Hillel Katz, interview, Tel Aviv, November 11, 2012).
20 “He told me”: Frank Anderson, interview, November 4, 2010.
21 “The last time I saw him …”: Taylor, States of Terror, p. 74.
22 “He asked me how I planned to celebrate …”: Mustafa Zein, interview, Amman, October 7, 2012.
23 Chambers held her breath: Two Mossad officers confirmed to me that it was Chambers who pushed the ignition button.
24 thirty-four-year-old British secretary named Susan Wareham: Glasgow Herald, January 24, 1979, p. 2.
25 “It was like hell”: Taylor, States of Terror, p. 78; Bar-Zohar and Haber, Quest for the Red Prince, pp. 219–20; Reeve, One Day in September, p. 208; Klein, Striking Back, pp. 221–22.
26 He died on the operating table: Reeve, One Day in September, p. 208.
27 Eight other people were killed: Ibid., p. 208; Raymond Carroll with Ron Moreau and Milan J. Kubic, “Death of a Terrorist,” Newsweek, February 5, 1979.
28 “Dear Hassan”: condolence notes by Frank Anderson, copies courtesy of Mustafa Zein.
29 twenty thousand people attended: “Funeral Held for Salameh,” Leader-Post, Associated Press, January 25, 1979.
30 “We have lost a lion”: Reeve, One Day in September, p. 208; “Death of a Terrorist,” Time.
31 “It was an unforgettable day”: Mustafa Zein, e-mail to author, July 28, 2012.
32 “Your friends could not protect my son …”: Zein, “Deceit with Extreme Prejudice,” p. 5.
33 “Reputed Planner of Munich Raid Killed in Beirut”: Newspaper headline, New York Times, January 23, 1979.
34 she’d waited for this day for years: “Israel Officially Silent on Death of Guerrilla but People Applaud It,” New York Times, January 24, 1979; Taylor, States of Terror, p. 79.
35 “The day Ali Hassan Salameh was killed …”: Lindsay Sherwin, interview, March 22, 2011.
36 “I am surprised …”: Lindsay Sherwin, interview, September 15, 2011.
37 “If Ali Hassan had lived”: Sam Wyman, interview, November 5, 2010.
38 “We lost a very important diplomatic channel …”: Frank Anderson, interview, November 4, 2010.
39 “A few weeks later”: Ibid.
40 “When Mossad killed Ali Hassan”: Charles Allen, interview, December 21, 2012.
41 “He was extraordinarily helpful …”: Nasr, Arab and Israeli Terrorism, p. 109.
42 “It is an enormous investment”: Yoram Hessel, interview, Tel Aviv, October 10, 2012.
43 “A backstage contact …”: Meir Harel, interview, Tel Aviv, October 18, 2012.
44 “close professional relations with the PLO”: Dov Zeit, interview, Tel Aviv, October 10, 2012. Brig. Gen. Amos Gilboa, a military intelligence officer, refused to believe that Ames could have been that close to the notorious Palestinian terrorist.
45 “Did it solve the Palestinian problem?”: Richard Girling, “The Real Story Behind ‘Munich’—A Thirst for Vengeance,” New York Times Magazine, January 15, 2006.
46 “The Israelis had a policy …”: Frank Anderson, interview, November 4, 2010.
47 “I want you to do this”: Mustafa Zein, interview, Amman, October 7, 2012.
48 “We want to finish the job …”: Ibid. For his part, Mustafa was worried about the safety of Bob. Mustafa was not immune to an occasional conspiratorial turn of mind. Eighteen months after Salameh’s assassination—on August 27, 1980—U.S. ambassador John Gunther Dean’s motorcade in Beirut was hit by twenty-one bullets and two bazooka missiles. Dean escaped, but he later wrote in his memoirs that he had discovered that the serial numbers on the weapons left behind in the attack showed that these were American weapons that had been shipped to Israel. Dean became convinced that the Israelis had shipped these arms to their Lebanese proxy, the Phalangists, who had carried out the assassination attempt: “Undoubtedly, using a proxy, our ally Israel had tried to kill me.” John Gunther Dean, Danger Zones: A Diplomat’s Fight for America’s Interests (Washington, DC: Vellum/New Academia Publishing, 2009), p. 134. Zein knew this story, and he says that Ames told him at the time that Dean suspected the Israelis were targeting him because he was meeting in secret with Basil Aqel, a special adviser to Arafat. That the Israelis would target an American ambassador is inconceivable. But it is entirely possible that the Phalangists could have tried to assassinate Dean, who was known for his outspoken views.
Chapter Nine: The Ayatollahs
1 “Fuck the Shah”: Kai Bird, The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the American Establishment (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), p. 648.
2 Hart pulled out his gun and shot them dead: Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, p. 270. I spent several weeks in Tehran in the spring of 1979 as a reporter and can attest to the volatile atmosphere of those days.
3 “It is not easy to sleep …”: James A. Bill, The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988), p. 1.
4 not one spoke Farsi: Mark Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War with Militant Islam (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006), p. 301.
5 Iran, Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union: Bill, Eagle and the Lion, p. 291.
6 “Bob was basically trying to convince them …”: Bruce Riedel, interview, March 30, 2011.
7 “We hope your organization will improve its ties …”: Secret cable from Tehran CIA station to director, August 23, 1979, Documents from the US Espionage Den, col. 56, http://ia600409.us.archive.org/10/items/DocumentsFromTheU.s.EspionageDen/v56_text.pdf.
8 “they had considered” the briefing: Ibid.
9 “Alarmed about the prospect of war …”: Mark Gasiorowski, “US Intelligence Assistance to Iran, May–October 1979,” Middle East Journal, Fall 2012. I wish to thank Prof. Gasiorowski for a prepublication copy of his journal essay.
10 “They wouldn’t dare”: George Cave, interview, March 14, 2011.
11 “We went to the degree of actually sitting down with them”: Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, pp. 369–70.
12 After Cave got back: George Cave, interview, March 14, 2011.
13 “We can’t get away from Iran …”: Bird, Chairman, p. 646.
14 “Khomeini probably sensed …”: Bruce Riedel, interview, March 30, 2011.
15 publicly hanged in 1982: Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah, pp. 297–99.
16 “The tragic irony”: Gasiorowski, “US Intelligence Assistance to Iran.”
17 Cave carried with him a chocolate cake: Bill, Eagle and the Lion, p. 1.
Chapter Ten: Jimmy Carter and Hostage America
1 “The attacks on our embassy in Iran”: Richard Helms, “We Believed in Our Work,” speech delivered at the Veterans of the OSS Dinner, Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC, May 24, 1983, www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/45/we_belv_wrk.pdf.
2 Beheshti had recently defended Ghotbzadeh: Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah, p. 250.
3 “This did two things”: Dr. Thomas Braman to Jack Harmer, March 10, 1995, and Thomas Braman to Kevin Ames, July 27, 2000, courtesy of Yvonne Ames.
4 “the commission would then have the moral authority …”: Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah, 328.
5 “First I would lose my job …”: Ibid., p. 361.
6 “Ham, they are crazy”: Ibid., p. 366.
7 he fired 825 clandestine officers: Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, p. 364.
8 “Bob like myself was a problem-solver …”: David Long, e-mail to author, June 14, 2011.
9 Senior Intelligence Service: Yvonne Ames, e-mail to author, April 11, 2012.
10 “assessments of both Begin and Sadat …”: Robert Earl, e-mail to author, March 18, 2013. Earl was Ames’s deputy at the time.
11 “It was one-stop shopping”: Robert Hunter, interview, March 17, 2011.
12 “In order to preserve operational security”: Robert Earl, interview, December 5, 2011.
13 “The effort relied very heavily on the CIA”: Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, p. 373.
14 “Getting everybody to agree …”: Robert Earl, interview, December 5, 2011.
15 “He always wanted to hear people’s views”: Lindsay Sherwin, interview, March 22, 2011.
16 “Bob didn’t have a hard edge to him”: Robert Hunter, interview, March 17, 2011.
17 “He was much in demand”: Fred Hitz, interview, March 24, 2011.
18 “Ames sought the company of revolutionaries”: Dov Zeit, interview, Tel Aviv, October 10, 2012.
19 “I traveled to Israel with him”: Bruce Riedel, interview, March 30, 2011.
20 “Our need was greater than yours”: Robert Hunter, interview, March 17, 2011.
21 “Bob enjoyed sparring with the Israelis”: Graham Fuller, interview, April 3, 2012.
22 “After the Camp David Accords”: Lindsay Sherwin, interview, March 22, 2011.
23 “Other than on the subject of terrorism”: John Morris, interview, March 22, 2011.
24 “Somehow the conversation turned ugly”: Bob Layton, interview, September 20, 2011.
25 “I was most certainly there”: Yoram Hessel, interview, Tel Aviv, October 10, 2012.
26 “But he understood that you do not make any inroads …”: Bob Layton, interview, September 20, 2011. Gideon Gera was another Mossad analyst who regularly interacted with Ames on his trips to Tel Aviv. Gera came out of academia, and after his long career in the Mossad he would return to academia. “I won’t say that they liked each other,” recalled Layton, “but Gera respected him. It seemed mutual.”
