The Triple Agent
by Joby Warrick
New York Times bestsellernyt:hardcover_political_books=2011-08-27CounterinsurgencyPhysiciansUnited States
3.0
Open LibraryAbout this book
This work is a narrative account of the mysterious Jordanian who penetrated both the inner circle of al-Qaeda and the highest reaches of the CIA, with a devastating impact on the war on terror. In December 2009, a group of the CIA's top terrorist hunters gathered at a secret base in Khost, Afghanistan, to greet a rising superspy: Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian double agent who infiltrated the upper ranks of al-Qaeda. For months, he had sent shocking revelations from inside the terrorist network and now promised to help the CIA assassinate Osama bin Laden's top deputy. Instead, as he stepped from his car, he detonated a thirty-pound bomb strapped to his chest, instantly killing seven CIA operatives, the agency's worst loss of life in decades. In this book the author, a reporter, takes us deep inside the CIA's secret war against al-Qaeda, a war that pits robotic planes and laser guided missiles against a cunning enemy intent on unleashing carnage in American cities. Flitting precariously between the two sides was Balawi, a young man with extraordinary gifts who managed to win the confidence of hardened terrorists as well as veteran spymasters. With his breathtaking accounts from inside al-Qaeda's lair, Balawi appeared poised to become America's greatest double agent in half a century, but he was not at all what he seemed. Combining the powerful momentum of Black Hawk Down with the institutional insight of Jane Mayer's The Dark Side, the author takes the readers on a harrowing journey from the slums of Amman to the inner chambers of the White House in an untold true story…
Themes & subjects
New York Times bestsellernyt:hardcover_political_books=2011-08-27CounterinsurgencyPhysiciansUnited StatesQaida (Organization)
About the author
Joby Warrick
4 August 1960
Joby Warrick is a best-selling author and a national security correspondent for The Washington Post. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he served for 24 years with the Post’s national and investigative staffs, reporting from Washington and scores of cities around the world. He is the author of two previous two nonfiction books, including “The Triple Agent” (Doubleday, 2011), a New York Times best-seller about a CIA operation in Afghanistan; as well as “Black Flags” (Doubleday, 2015), a narrative account of the personalities and events that gave rise to the Islamic State. “Black Flags” was listed as one of the best books of 2015 by the New York Times, The Washington Post, the San Francisco…
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