(Part 2) Best intelligence & espionage history books according to redditors

The link for the lazy:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/65-Years-Secrecy-John-Cardinalli-ebook/dp/B00ODQ82OS

The ISA was actually an amazing organisation, that is super worth reading about. The developments in intelligence gathering that were pushed through during the Pablo operation still have echoes within the intel community to this day.

I can not over-recommend this book about the ISA: Killer Elite by Michael Smith.
https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Elite-Americas-Special-Operations/dp/0312362722

Here's a long post I saw on another forum about some of the very little known details about the Iran Contra affair, specifically about the never-launched rescue missions to rescue the hostages. The whole thing shows how much of a traitor and piece of shit Oliver North is.

Most of it is painstakingly re-typed stuff from The Killer Elite a book about the Intelligence Support Activity. The ISA is a special mission unit that infiltrates an area and gathers intelligence for other units, such as the SEALs, or Delta Force, before they go on a mission. 

The following passage basically shows that during the Lebanon hostage crisis Oliver North inadvertently prolonged the torture of the (original) seven American hostages (as well as the three subsequent hostages), and allowed CIA Chief of Station in Lebanon, Bill Buckley to die - all because Oliver North wanted the weapons-for-hostages deal (Iran-Contra) to go on. 

There were plans from Joint Special Operations command to go in and get the hostages, and at several times the ISA and JSOC had good intel about the whereabouts of the hostages – at one point, their source had a man on the inside in the same damn building. They even drew up plans where Delta Force and the ISA would assault the entire compound they were being held in, and rescue the hostages. They never went ahead with the rescue plans. Here's the backstory, and why:

[quote]
By September 1985, seven US citizens were thought to be held by Lebanese-based terrorist groups in either the Southern suburbs of Beruit or the Beka'a Valley. In fact, there were only six. Unbeknownst to the outside world, Bill Buckley [the CIA Chief of Station in Lebanon who was captured by Hezbollah, who was brutally tortured for his CIA secrets] was already dead. Those who remained at that stage were [names of the people]. Early in September, a Special Operations Task Force, commanded by General Carl Stiner and almost certainly including members of the ISA, deployed to the British base at Akrotiri in Cyprus in readiness for a possible hostage rescue. "We had intelligence information indicating that there might be a release of all the hostages," Stiner later recalled. "My orders were to set up a mechanism for their pickup and return to the US. We were also prepared for a rescue operation in case something went wrong." (Smith, 2010, pg. 131-132)

There was no real intelligence. The information that the hostages might be released came from National Security Council where Lt. Colonel Oliver North was directing a complex scheme to supply arms to Iran in exchange for the release of the seven hostages held by Lebanese terrorist groups linked to the regime in Tehran... For the Reagan administration, it removed its biggest problem - the seeming impotence in the face of the terrorists who had kidnapped the so-called "forgotten seven" - while at the same time improving its poor relations with a poor country that was seen as vital in holding back Soviet expansionism [Nicaragua]. " (Smith, 2010 pg 132)

The death of Buckley sparked anger within the American covert operations community. “We at one point were very close to running a rescue operation to get Bill Buckley back,” said Bill Cowan, then a member of the Activity. “I was told by people who would know that we had a very good fix on where he was. We had somebody inside that building who was providing good, credible information. We in fact moved forces into Europe, maybe further, in preparation to rescue Bill Buckley and the operation was cancelled by the White House. Some say by Oliver North. It was canceled shortly before it was going to happen. Those who I’ve spoken with who were in the know say it was canceled because we had a very active program going on, out of the White House, [exchanging] arms for hostages, and the rescue of Bill Buckley might have impacted negatively on that.” (Smith, 2010, pg. 133) 

[…] Robert McFarlane, Reagan’s former national security advisor and a key figure in the so-called “Concept,” the arms for hostages program, secretly visited Tehran with Oliver North for talks with Iranian officials. North’s operations plan for the trip defined the objective as “to secure the return of the four American hostages who continue to be held by Hezbollah elements in Lebanon.” These were now [names of remaining hostages], [Peter] Killburn having been executed in April in retaliation for US air attacks on Libya, which were themselves sparked by the bombing of a Berlin disco in which two American servicemen were killed. (Smith, 2010, pg. 135)

North defined the purpose of “the Concept” as being to “provide incentives for the Government of Iran to intervene with those who hold the American hostages and secure their safe release.” But the talks foundered on Iranian demands that more spare parts and missiles be produced before they release any more hostages. Although there was agreement to continue talking, Admiral John Poindexter, the new national security advisor, and other members of the NSC now believed that the arms-for-hostages negotiations had reached a stalemate. On 31 May, Poindexter wrote a memo to North in which he said “I am beginning to think that we need to seriously think about a rescue effort for the hostages.” North wrote back saying that the Joint Chiefs had “steadfastly refused to go behind the initial thinking stage unless we can develop hard evidence on their whereabouts.” There was already an ISA officer in Beirut preparing the ground for a hostage rescue should it be ordered, North said [to Poindexter]. [Some details about who was there, and their history] The following day, President Reagan approved military planning for a special operations hostage rescue mission and revived the previous plans put together by the Activity. (Smith, 2010, pg. 135)

[Several pages outlining the proposed rescue mission – codenamed Operation/Project Round Bottle]
[/quote]


They (the ISA) were getting their intel from a member of the Christian Mlitia’s (Phalangists) intelligence branch, codenamed Felix. The information was highly reliable and proved accurate hundreds of times over – this information was passed onto the NSA, CIA, etc. It was good stuff. 

A former Activity member said, “They [the Christian Militia] provided us with the exact location of every hostage. They told us where they were being moved to, every location. We were able to verify this by other means. We could have launched the operation and freed the hostages.”

[quote]
Meanwhile, the deep flaws in the whole arms-for-hostages operation were being exposed. Having handed over two American hostages, Hezbollah simply kidnapped two more. [Details about those kidnappings, and a subsequent third one]. But astonishingly, Poindexter and North continued with the policy of talking to the Iranians, deciding that a different back channel… would produce better results. The Activity was told to put the hostage rescue mission back on the shelf and to “cease and desist” contacts with the Lebanese Forces. 
[Paragraph about the Israeli’s pushes to keep supplying the Contras, because they wanted Iran stronger against Iraq, whom they feared more.]

But within two weeks, with the arms-for-hostages program falling apartand about to leak to the press, the National Security Council changed its mind yet again and the DCSINT, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, ordered the Activity to reactive the plans for Project Round Bottle. The Felix network had reported that three US hostages were being held in tents and caves in the Beka’a and this appeared to be confirmed by aerial reconnasance. (Smith, 2010, pg. 143-44)

Two ISA operatives had just been sent into Lebanon for the mission when the the order came down once again to pull the plug. “Project Round Bottle was terminated without evaluation of information even though the DCSINT personally requested same,” the secret history of the unit [ISA] for 1986 said. The reason for the second cancelation was that North had visited Frankfurt for talks with [an Iranian official’s nephew], who “assures us he will get two of the three hostages freed within the next few days.”< span> The Iranians insisted that neither [of the two hostages] had been kidnapped by groups under their control, despite all of the intelligence suggesting otherwise. But the whole enterprise was already unraveling. The use of the second back channel through [Iranian official] had left the earlier negotiators furious and they leaked the story out through a small Hezbollah newspaper in Baalbek. Another American hostage, David Jacobsen, was released on 2 November 1986 in exchange for 500 TOW missiles. [Details about the whole affair being aired out] (Smith, 2010, pg. 144)

One senior ISA officer ridiculed the North plan to swap hostages for weapons. “That policy was a great deal for the Iranians. ‘We’ll give you two hostages and we’ll go pick up two more.’< span> It’s an endless source of money. I’d be happy to run an operation like that. You keep paying me something, and I’ll make sure I’ve got plenty of it. Unbelievable. People in the State Department, clearly in the CIA, certainly people who understand terrorism and counterterrorism operations were aghast at the whole thing. It was amateurish at best, absolutely amateurish. It undermined the whole thing. When you are trying to run undercover operations and suddenly you’ve got some crazy operations, by any standards, being run, you’ve lost all credibility with those with whom you’re dealing with.” (Smith, 2010, pg. 144-145)
[/quote]

That's not even getting into the fact that it was illegal and arguably unconstitutional. It was dumb as fuck.

Funny enough a Delta commander wrote a book called... Kill Bin Laden.

The soviet union dedicated an extreme part of it's economy to weapons, not just nuclear arms and missiles but also conventional weapons.

So I'd say the answer is that they did it by prioritizing it highly and sacrificing the general living standard of their citizens.

As for the space race, the Soviets actually de-prioritized their moon program in order to build nuclear missiles instead. This was done to make up for a large gap in the US's favor in nuclear arms and delivery systems that existed in the 60ties.

In fact one of the main drivers of Gorbachevs disarmament initiatives in the 80ties were a wish to reorient the economy away from arms production.

There's quite a bit on all of this in Richard Rhodes book "Arsenals of Folly" which tracks the arms race from WW2 to the 1980ties.

http://www.amazon.com/Arsenals-Folly-Making-Nuclear-Vintage/dp/0375713948

While they are not active duty soldiers, reserve Special Forces soldiers train and deploy just like their active duty counterparts.

The Ranger Tab (“short tab”) does not necessarily imply service in the Ranger Regiment (generating controversy over who may be called “Ranger”), while the Special Forces Tab (“long tab”) generally (though not necessarily) implies service in a Special Forces group. Those completing SFAS and the “Q” course will generally serve in a Special Forces group immediately thereafter, and both Reserve and Active Special Forces soldiers go through this same initial training.
Special Forces, unlike the Rangers, don’t have a separate tab and scroll. Thusly, no such controversy has arisen over the “long tab,” at least not that we have heard of. It would seem that Special Forces is Special Forces—as I said, Reserve units train and deploy just like their active duty counterparts.
“Hanmerhead Six” is a well-written book detailing the deployment of a Reserve Special Forces ODA.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/75th_Ranger_Regiment_(United_States)#The_term_%22Ranger%22

https://www.amazon.com/Hammerhead-Six-Unconventional-Against-Afghanistans/dp/0316341444

Without knowing you, I would highly suggest Michael Stephenson's The Last Full Measure: How Soldiers Die in Battle.

The short answer is yes, history is replete with mass murders using clubbing instruments, often with creative embellishments designed to pierce, pummel, and bludgeon. It's a tremendously good book full of somewhat-morbid facts: for example, knights were very frequently mortally wounded by being stabbed in the taint.

Check out First Seals its all about them.

https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Improvised-Munitions-Handbook-Survival-ebook/dp/B01LR7TP64

You can go on amazon and order books like this how to make improvised explosives and other weapons. No one is going to jail for that.

Take it from a pro -- I've failed many, many times -- just keep on keepin on. I once read that success can simply mean getting up one more time than you fall.

Another valuable adage i recently came across was in a Special Forces book: If you fail to prepare, then you prepare to fail.

Currently in our group my character (old human soldier turned Paladin) in-character is training the rest of the adventurers in basic tactics, admittedly Bronze Age to Late Renaissance combat tactics (with some sneaky hand signals and modern terminology thrown in)

It has helped a great deal with teaching them to:
A) Be bloody quiet in character
B) Think before acting
C) Develop environmental and situational awareness
and most importantly
D) Work as a team

Which means the healer is protected, our ranged / magic users identify and eliminate threats using assessments based on risk not proximity, fighters and disruption/types work in conjunction to force multiply. Which in turn has meant more successful combat sessions, less casualties and some very interesting noises from the DM. :)

Admittedly I have had the dubious pleasure of serving in my nation state's uniformed Peace Keeping forces (no I never saw the elephant) and received modern training but we covered a lot of theory in class, mostly historic. And two decades of table top games, historic and other hasn't hurt either.

Depending on the level of understanding you seek, a quick glance to deep plunge into this wouldn't hurt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_tactics

Also a good read if you cut out all the governmental / middle management buzz words and concepts at the start.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/33693/20110519ADP_Army_Doctrine_Primerpdf.pdf

Tragically a bit up it's own arse and American centrist, but a solid amount of info:
https://www.amazon.ca/Special-Forces-Small-Tactics-Handbook/dp/098955130X

If you don't want to read all of Rommel's Infantry Attacks, there is an abridged version for training Officers called ATTACK! but I can't find a good link to it off hand.

Also I second Othniel2005's recommendation, The Art of War, but it is about over all strategy (which does in turn become the bedrock of tactical thinking)

The books is A Matter of Risk. It was the very first book describing the CIA operation. Because of that, it gets some things right, and some things wrong, allegedly. Still hard to tell what actually happened with this project. Still a great read.

Did you read the book that the series was based on?

Its amazing. The story about the guy who literally walked his feet OFF during selection was worth the price of admission:

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Delta-Force-Americas-Counterterrorist/dp/0385339364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348258584&sr=8-1&keywords=inside+delta+force

I'm not going to name names, but my mates dad is in the album you linked, along with his brother.

EDIT: It's Tony Ey, he has a couple of books and they are great reads about his tours in Vietnam with CDT3 and RAN Clearance Divers.

Some from my shelf

Arsenals of Folly

The Cold War

On China

The Tragedy of Great Power Politics

NATO's Return to Europe

On War

Bonus: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

I own pretty much the entirety of that pile. ;)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TDTR5ZW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#

https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Bin-Laden-Commanders-Account-ebook/dp/B0017T09N6/ref=pd_sim_351_14?ie=UTF8&dpID=513yrUu%2BlcL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_OU01_AC_UL160_SR106%2C160_&refRID=1BQ6XPQT4RSA0Z9Y36YW

https://www.amazon.com/Sog-Secret-Americas-Commandos-Vietnam/dp/0451195086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466604388&sr=8-1&keywords=SOG+book

A few more good ones.

There are also two really good books on this topic that I've found. The first is a really intricate look at the British medical corps, The Medical War. The second is an easier read that breaks down the causes of death and measures taken to save soldiers, The Last Full Measure.

No need to be an ass. First off, no one got rich off the program. They only spent $20 million over the 20 years that it existed and most were paid their normal wage as a soldier (afew were contractors at SRI, but also didnt get paid well).

And I fully admit there is a lot of junk science out there, which makes this kind of research all the more difficult for people with good intentions. I have also interviewed prominent skeptics, and frankly, they often don't have good arguments and haven't looked at the data either.

I can get back to you with more journal articles once I find out where they are located, but here is one study I have easily on hand for now. This experiment I know something about because I conducted it. We did it at the University of Colorado in the Department of Engineering and it was published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration (https://www.scientificexploration.org/journal): http://psiphen.colorado.edu/Pubs/Smith14.pdf

The TLDR of it is that using a type of remote viewing we predicted the stock market DJIA correctly 7 out of 7 trials giving a p value of < .01. Granted this result barely surpasses statistical significance, but we were limited in the time to do more trials. It IS still a statistically significant result. Moreover, if you evaluate the individual RV sessions, 61(ish) of 73(ish) (from memory) predicted it correctly, which would be a p value of < .00006 or something like that (also from memory). The protocol is sort of complicated so you'll have to read the paper to understand it because I don't feel like typing it all out right now.

And here are some first hand sample sessions that my pops did during his training in the military program: http://rviewer.com/SG_Sessions.html

You could also read a number of books (sorry about links to Amazon):

Like this one from my father about his experience in the program and the history of it (he was the offical unit historian):
https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Enemys-Mind-Americas-Espionage/dp/0312875150?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

Or this one from the original SRI scientists:
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Reach-Scientists-Psychic-Abilities-Consciousness/dp/1571744142?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

Or this one that was just released by a Pulitzer Prize finalist Journalist:
https://www.amazon.com/Phenomena-Governments-Investigations-Extrasensory-Psychokinesis/dp/0316349364?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0


EDIT: corrected the p value to reflect the study

I am listening to "Blind Man's Bluff", 1998, non-fiction, by Sontag, and Drew. Narrated by George Wilson. Length is 15 hours. Writing and narration is very good! Link here

It's about US submarine operations (post WWII) conducting espionage mainly against Soviet and Russian Naval elements. It started slow, but got much better!

It's an exciting account of tactics, secret observation, chases, collisions, accidents, tragedy, sinkings, and the challenges of men separated from home and family faced with constant danger. For some incidents, I found coverage of Russian comments/perspective very interesting. Huge new respect for both Russian and American sailors. The CIA, not so much. :-)

Very exciting reading and highly recommended!

This is a quote from a fictional book from a fictional Delta Force Operator, however, the author was the commander who led 90 Delta Force assaulters at the Battle of Tora Bora and he wrote the non-fiction book, Kill Bin Laden What do you think:

> "Years of combat action in Afghanistan and Iraq had convinced him of the absolute requirement to be wary of the Muslim mind. Sure, they weren’t all Islamic extremists with a death wish for all infidels. But without any obvious markings, who could tell the difference until it was too late?"

The War of the World is his big work on the world wars (although he does have another specifically related to WWI). The main focus is actually not on the inevitability of German defeat, but an economic explanation for why a WWI and WWII like conflict would arise. In it he supports the idea that with Germany failing an early knockout blow against any of the allies, it could not compete in a drawn out conflict against much more powerful economies. He also goes on to present the thesis that the world wars have doomed the West to decline.

I generally don't agree with most of his opinions regarding East-West conflict, especially since he tends toward Eurocentrism and the writing style is not very compelling, so I don't think I'd necessarily recommend reading the book. So I want to make clear that Niall does not have some kind of monopoly (no pun) on economic analysis of the WWII powers, he is just one of the people that supports the view.

Edit: A cool analysis along the same lines is here.

Lucky for you, I made a sticky at my sub:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ActiveMeasures/comments/6gne0u/sources_about_active_measures_you_should_follow/

Those are, IMO, the best sources to follow.

If you want specific authors like Pomerantsev, I'm afraid there are very few who talk about this stuff. Actually, I seem to have forgotten a few people in my sticky, so I'll mention them here:

• A pair of Russian journalists have written an excellent book about the Russian internet and its loud inhabitants - paid bloggers/trolls. A must read, one of the few books that discusses the Russian internet in the early 2000s, when this activity first began:
  
  
• The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia’s Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries
  
  
  
• Ion Mihai Pacepa, the single highest defector from the Eastern Bloc. This man may be the most knowledgable person in the world regarding Active Measures, considering he was intimately involved in disseminating them.
  
  
• He is the author of several must-read (IMO) books. But the one that stands out above all is this one: Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism
  
  
• He's also written several articles about the KGB's disinformation campaign to spread conspiracy theories about JFK's assassination, code name Operation Dragon.
  
  
  
  
• Finally, for some historical stuff, the Mitrokhin Archives, smuggled out by former KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin. Most of the archives are accessible in person, but there are some on the internet pertaining to Active Measures: KGB Active Measures In Southwest Asia in 1980-82. A book was also co-written by Mr. Mitrokhin and a historian.
  

Edit: Really? Down votes for providing links to the interview, info about the event and books about the event? Ok reddit...

Video interview with the GRS agents. Very clearly state that 2 "wait" and 1 "stand down" order was given by the CIA station Chief, "Bob".

CIA/DS/Obama Administration has all the reasons in the world to cover their ass on this. These guys have 0 reasons to lie. 2 of them died while saving those trapped. Only other GRS agents (including Glen Doherty who died during the attack) and a few JSOC guys came to their aid, who happened to be located in Tripoli at the time. Glen Doherty had to pay off a pilot with $30k in cash to fly them to Benghazi to help his other GRS agents out. They received 0 help from anyone else despite their repeated calls for help.

Haven't seen the movie yet, but their book 13 Hours gives an incredibly detailed first hand account authored by the 3 guys who survived

So does Eyes On Target

So does Benghazi: The Definitive Report

They also outline the complete bullshit the administration and DS stated as reasons that a greater rescue attempt was not attempted. If anyone is interested I can lay out the scenarios.

I really like the Special Forces Small Unit Tactics Handbook by Paul LeFavor.

All the tactical knowledge is compressed to the back half, the front half is SF history. It is less dry than 3-21.8, and provides a lot of wisdom.

This article was published after he released his book, Programmed to Kill. It contains new information.

The primary sources referenced are the Mitrokhin archives and former Russian President Yeltin's own memoirs.

Some of the Mitrokhin archives are open to the public, and a book about them was written by the only historian allowed to see them. The book is The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB.

There have been several books written on the Mitrokhin archives, but the archives have never been completely publicly revealed.

However, take a look at this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrokhin_Archive#Disinformation_campaign_against_the_United_States

The first two claims (the KGB's promotion of false JFK assassination theories, using writer Mark Lane and a creating a forged letter from Oswald to E. Howard Hunt, attempting to incriminate Hunt in JFK assassination) reference this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Mitrokhin-Archive-Kgb-Europe-West/dp/0140284877

They reference pages 296-298.

Google Books has a generous free preview and I just tracked down the portions which discuss KGB disinformation about JFK:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=tiNqCAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PT391#v=onepage&q&f=false

Unfortunately, some of the pages about this are omitted, but start from that page and read the next six or so pages.

By the way, the above book is one of 5 or so written jointly by the original leaker of the Mitrokhin archives and Christopher Andrew, the only historian allowed to see the archives. Thus, the above book is basically a primary source.

Could I get some links to the involvement in the 90's?

In my opinion, we didn't do enough in the 90's. The country was a wreck and we stopped sending them aid money, left them out to dry. Remember, there were a lot of countries/factions meddling there.

The story of Ali Mohamed is definitely interesting. That link you gave is a massive page, so after skimming through it I google'd him to see if the wiki page was more concise, but it was disappointingly small. However, one of the sources linked was to a book by a former Delta Force member that I had lying around. He had a chapter dedicated to Mohamed. He described what was known about Mohamed, and was skeptical about the stories told. So he actually went to the prison where Mohamed is being held, and talked to him. For over 3 hours he let the guy pour his heart out, enthusiastically describing his ambitions and knowledge of the conflict in Afghanistan.

He described Mohamed as a guy who deeply desired being a covert soldier/intelligence officer for the US. He was given the cold shoulder by the CIA & FBI, besides small translating jobs and gathering information. After being in the Egyptian military, which through a soldier exchange program he earned a Green Beret, he enlisted in the US Army(noting a goal of expediting citizenship). He was given the role of an instructor, due to his knowledge and linguistic skills, but was denied the role of an infantryman. He saved his vacation time and supposedly went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. A month later he returns with a belt buckle he claims was from a dead Soviet. The author thinks he may have been trying to prove himself worthy of a combat role. He described Mohamed as 'morally flexible,' someone who would rationalize his actions based on the situation, rather than an ideology... someone who had no concept of good vs evil. He mentioned that some al Qaeda members didn't trust him for his lack of religious fundamentalism. I'm not doing a good job paraphrasing but the author basically summed up Mohamed's intentions by stating that he wanted to be involved with the conflict, and since the FBI/CIA/Military wouldn't put him in the fight, that he'd just go to the other side. He was addicted to the thrill of a hunt & chase, and wasn't so much concerned which side he fought for. He even went so far as to assume that by working with higher echelons of al Qaeda, that Mohamed increased his value to the US. I'll admit this theory conveniently dismisses his actions, puts it into a nice little package, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Either way, regardless of his intentions, to assume that his actions were condoned or perpetrated by the US Government/Military is a stretch. Yeah, he used the knowledge he gained in training to teach our enemies, but he wasn't given that knowledge for that purpose. Reading through the timeline you linked, specifically some of the sources they cite;
>It is not known whether Mr. Mohamed had a relationship with any terrorist organization while in the Army. In retrospect, some of his colleagues say, he had an unusual interest in classified matters.

...as damning evidence of the US involvement, where it's merely speculation. I don't want to dismiss the fact that shady things surround Ali Mohamed and his story, but I don't think there's enough evidence to claim he was a proof of US government/military involvement the Afghan/Taliban civil war in the 90's.

Also recommended reading on this subject:

Project Azorian

The Silent War

All Hands Down

Red November

Scorpion Down

Silent Steel

Spy Sub

A Matter of Risk

Red Star Rogue

Inside Delta Force

If You Survive

Helmet for My Pillow

In the Company of Heroes

If you like Clancy, I highly recommend the entire John Ryan series, starting with Without Remorse and moving in chronoligical (which differs from publication) order.

I read Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit it was a great read. Not sure how much is true, but either way it's a great story told in a great way.

In Phenomena you have a complete history of the US Gov involvement with the weird.

https://www.amazon.com/Phenomena-Governments-Investigations-Extrasensory-Psychokinesis/dp/0316349364

the Moon and Jupiter exploration was performed by Ingo Swan. Ingo was able to describe features of the planet weeks before the first probe confirmed them

Counter-argument: be nice enough to the locals in a culturally relevant way so as to convince them to do most of the killing. The winning hearts and minds approach is not mutually exclusive to being a cold blooded killer. See below.

https://www.amazon.com/Hammerhead-Six-Unconventional-Against-Afghanistans/dp/0316341444

I had a similar experience a month ago, and it reminds me of a story about the holocaust. Obligatory disclaimer: I have Jewish blood. I have every right to come to terms with the holocaust in whatever way makes the most sense to me.

In The War of the World, the author (Niall Ferguson) describes a particular scene that happened during the the German advance across the countries between Germany and modern-day Russia, all the while killing Jews ever more ruthlessly. An aspect of this advance that I feel is under-appreciated these days is exactly how popular this extermination policy really was. The Nazis often could stand aside while the populations of the towns they conquered killed their Jews themselves.

Ferguson tells the story of one little town in Lithuania. One German soldier wrote of a festival day in which one well-built man clubbed Jews to death one by one. He killed over fifty Jews this way, with a great crowd looking on. There was laughing and cheering. Parents put their children on their shoulders so the kids could see the fun. The Lithuanian national anthem was playing. The man with the club was seen as a great patriot.

The thing that chills me so much about this story is that the participants were normal people. Evil isn't committed by monsters, it's committed by ordinary people.

What you were seeing was the immense human capacity for evil. You are not the only one to recognize it. Unfortunately, that's the only support I can really offer.

Good book that touches on the CIA/Delta in Central America.

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Delta-Force-Americas-Counterterrorist/dp/0385336039