The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames (64 page)

  
1
“Bob was a very complex person”:
David Long, e-mail to author, June 12, 2011.

  
2
“He was able to show empathy …”: Harry Simpson
, e-mail to author, September 19, 2011.

  
3
Their job in the Dhahran Base:
Henry Miller-Jones, e-mail to author, January 20, 2011.

  
4
“All we could see for miles …”:
Kai Bird,
Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956–1978
(New York: Scribner, 2010), p. 89.

  
5
“The oil town at Dhaharan
[sic]
…”:
Ibid., p. 90.

  
6
“He said that he had plotted out a career path”:
Ralph Oman, e-mail to author, August 10, 2011.

  
7
one of Aramco’s Saudi desert guides:
Henry Miller-Jones, “A Remembrance of Bob Ames.”

  
8
“When the Arabs did not know him well”:
Ibid.

  
9
“The house was small …”:
Ralph Oman, e-mail to author, August 10, 2011.

10
Ronald Irwin Metz:
Bird,
Crossing Mandelbaum Gate
, pp. 106–7.

11
an easygoing and fruitful relationship:
Ambassador Patrick Theros, interview, October 6, 2011.

12
“Ames’ interest in the Bedu …”:
Henry Miller-Jones, “Aden Assignment,” e-mail to author.

13
“I think we should leave”:
Ambassador Patrick Theros, interview, October 6, 2011.

14
“Bob tended to see humor …”:
Ibid.

15
Aramco told Ames he had a standing offer:
Ralph Oman, e-mail to author, August 10, 2011.

16
“I felt as if my clients were running the Middle East …”:
Said K. Aburish,
The St George Hotel Bar
(London: Bloomsbury, 1989), p. 5.

17
“Beirut is one of the liveliest centres …”:
Philby,
My Silent War
, p. 201.

18
“It was an amazing listening post”:
Aburish,
The St George Hotel Bar
, p. 8.

19
“He knew everyone”:
Loren Jenkins, interview, April 22, 2011.

20
rumors dogged him:
A retired CIA officer told the Norwegian journalist Karsten Tveit that Abu Said’s CIA cryptonym was PENTAD. Karsten Tveit, e-mail to author, May 13, 2013.

21
“It was clear to me …”:
Wilbur Crane Eveland,
Ropes of Sand: America’s Failure in the Middle East
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1980), p. 165.

22
“For those of us lucky enough …”:
Aburish,
The St George Hotel Bar
, p. 4.

  
1
“Israel could defeat …”:
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
“Why don’t you ask me …”:
Robert Hunter, interview, March 17, 2011.

  
3
“no honey to convince me …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 4, 1967, courtesy of Yvonne Ames.

  
4
“Everywhere you look …”:
Ibid.

  
5
one of only seven officers in the tiny post:
Associated Press, “South Yemen Cuts Relations with U.S. for Backing Israel,”
New York Times
, October 25, 1969.

  
6
“If they get you here”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 10, 1967.

  
7
“I saw one Brit get wounded …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 14, 1967.

  
8
“The situation in Aden …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 22, 1967.

  
9
“I was pure raw material …”:
Henry Miller-Jones, e-mail to author, September 22, 2012.

10
“It’s a good thing”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 14, 1967.

11
He preferred root beer:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, June 15, 1972.

12
“I bet you’d like to be sitting in my office now”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 5, 1967.

13
“He won’t have to worry …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 22, 1967.

14
“Except for the aura of terrorism …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 4, 1967.

15
“ugly relationship”:
Dewey Clarridge, interview, November 26, 2011.

16
“Most of them are quite friendly”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 10, 1967.

17
“Ames admonished me …”:
Henry Miller-Jones, “Aden Assignment,” e-mail to author.

18
Ames clearly didn’t care for the Brits:
Yvonne Ames, e-mail to author, March 7, 2012.

19
“The soldiers are arrogant …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 10, 1967.

20
“I really feel frustrated …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 28, 1967.

21
“American Lawrence of Arabia”:
William M. Freeman, “The American Lawrence,”
New York Times
, December 5, 1975.

22
“He fully grasped the irrationality …”:
Henry Miller-Jones, “A Remembrance of Bob Ames,” unpublished op-ed, ca. May 1983, courtesy of Miller-Jones.

23
“This is one of the most inaccessible kingdoms …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 14, 1967.

24
Qaboos was allowed only a few books:
Henry Miller-Jones, e-mail to author, September 22, 2012.

25
“The Sultan, of course, will succumb …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 1, 1967.

26
“They’ve caught the killer”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 22, 1967.

27
“A great quiet has fallen …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 3, 1967.

28
“We have a full scale civil war …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 7, 1967.

29
“Well, it looks like the NLF …”:
Ibid.

30
“I’m afraid some things must be put off …”:
Ibid.

31
he’d seen Yvonne only 20 of the past 141 days:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 22, 1967.

32
“I’m sure I’ll be a stranger to them …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 1, 1967.

33
“What good is a picture?”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 7, 1967.

34
“I love you and miss you …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 25, 1967, and November 7, 1967.

35
“Give the girls a hug …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 22, 1967.

36
“The new government appears to be quite leftist”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 2, 1967.

37
“sincere and hard working”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 11, 1967.

38
“I’ve been living and breathing the Arabic language …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 2, 1967.

39
“pathetic”:
Ibid.

40
“the whole independence bit …”:
Ibid.

41
Ames found the press people he met “interesting”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 19, 1967.

42
“My Arabic is improving …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 28, 1967.

43
the consulate was “one disorganized mess …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 25, 1967.

44
“People are cautiously sticking their heads out …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 7, 1967.

45
“I got it for under $250 …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 28, 1967.

46
“Our contacts are so restricted”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 3, 1967.

47
“So far, I haven’t made any real close Arab friends”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 9, 1967.

48
“lost in the obscurity …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 2, 1967.

49
“I have been all over Aden …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, November 28, 1967.

50
“I don’t recall a lengthy or active list …”:
Miller-Jones, “Aden Assignment.”

51
“I used to say that Bob forgot more …”:
Stephen Buck, e-mail to author, January 19, 2012.

52
“a real down to earth fellow …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, October 9, 1967.

53
“Abd’al Fatah told Bob of his experience …”:
William Casey, speech delivered at the Metropolitan Club, New York City, May 1, 1985, Digital National Security Archive, George Washington University. See also Joseph E. Persico,
Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey
(New York: Viking Penguin Books, 1990), pp. 314–15.

54
“Most of them are just about my age”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 13, 1967.

55
“Ames told me”:
Casey, speech at the Metropolitan Club.

56
Getting to know the right people:
Persico,
Casey
, p. 315.

57
“Had Ames been a public man”:
Henry Miller-Jones, “A Remembrance of Bob Ames.”

58
One day at the Gold Mohur Beach Club:
A retired Foreign Service officer who wishes to remain anonymous, interview, January 21, 2012.

59
Later, Ames casually thanked the Foreign Service officer:
Anonymous Foreign Service officer, e-mail to author, May 4, 2012.

60
His 1971 thesis:
Basil Raoud al-Kubaisi, “The Arab Nationalist Movement, 1951–1971: From Pressure Group to Socialist Party” (Ph.D. diss., American University, 1971).

61
Al-Kubaisi came from a wealthy and well-connected Sunni Muslim family:
Fadl Naqib, e-mail to author, May 23, 2012. Naqib was a friend and contemporary of Al-Kubaisi’s.

62
“Ames was good at recruitment”: Richard Zagorin
, interview, March 24, 2011.

63
a top-secret British Foreign Office memo:
Research Department Memorandum, “Iraqi Nationalist Political Parties,” Top Secret, September 26, 1963, LR6/19/G, Document Reference: FO 370/2719–0007, p. 6, Public Records Office, UK.

64
They were a natural fit:
My source for the fact that it was Al-Kubaisi who was recruited by Ames is a retired Foreign Service officer who prefers to remain anonymous. He remembers that the young man he sent to Ames from the Gold Mohur Beach Club later became a ranking PFLP member and was killed in Paris by the Mossad in 1973. Only Al-Kubaisi matches this description. Furthermore, Al-Kubaisi’s 1971 Ph.D. thesis establishes that he was interviewing ANM sources in Aden in 1967–68—which establishes that he was in Aden at the same time as Ames. Finally, it is interesting to note that Bob Woodward writes in his book
Veil
that “during the Helms era, Ames had been the first to make a real penetration into the PLO for the CIA, developing two key sources.” Bob Woodward,
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981–1987
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987), p. 230. Ali Hassan Salameh was one source; Al-Kubaisi was most probably the other one.

65
“the most depressing and un-Christmas-like Christmas …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 25, 1967.

66
“Aden was spartan”:
Yvonne Ames, interview, November 19–20, 2010.

67
“Her eyes got wide …”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 10, 1968.

68
“I think half of Aden is waiting!”:
Robert Ames to Yvonne, December 3, 1968.

69
“A female police officer arrived …”:
Yvonne Ames, interview, November 19–20, 2010; see also
New York Times
, “South Yemen Ends U.S. Ties,” October 25, 1969, and “U.S. Diplomats Quit Aden,” October 27, 1969.

70
“Most of us case officers worked at night …”:
Charles Englehart, interview, September 20, 2011.

71
“We used to try to come up with Arabic puns …”:
Sam Wyman, interview, July 27, 2010.

72
“I was in awe of Bob”: Richard Zagorin
, interview, March 24, 2011.

73
The CIA station in Beirut:
Henry Miller-Jones, e-mail to author, December 16, 2010.

74
“We case officers”: Richard Zagorin
, interview, March 24, 2011.

75
the “Green Wog”:
Duane R. Clarridge, with Digby Diehl,
A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA
(New York: Scribner, 1997), p. 105.

76
“a professional Irishman”: Charles Waverly
, interview, March 28, 2011.

77
“Henry was an aggressive, talented, street smart and gutsy officer”:
Henry Miller-Jones, e-mail to author, May 18, 2012.

78
“They really were very close”:
Betty Bretting, e-mail to author, May 16, 2012.

79
the “White Whale”:
Yvonne Ames, e-mail to author, May 21, 2012.

80
“Henry was a character”:
Loren Jenkins, interview, April 22, 2011.

81
“There was a period”: Richard Zagorin
, interview, March 24, 2011.

82
Ames met a twenty-seven-year-old Lebanese citizen:
David Ignatius, interview, July 28, 2010; Sam Wyman, interview, November 5, 2010.

83
“Bob and June Beckman …”:
Mustafa Zein, e-mail to author, June 28, 2012.

84
Zein was unfazed:
Mustafa Zein, e-mail to author, August 11, 2012.

85
“Zein was a player …”:
Sam Wyman, interview, November 5, 2010.

86
“This and many other incidents …”:
“Jordan’s Exhibit Assailed by Jews,”
New York Times
, April 25, 1964; Emily Alice Katz, “It’s the Real World After All: The American-Israel Pavilion–Jordan Pavilion Controversy at the New York World’s Fair, 1964–1965,”
American Jewish History
91 (March 2003): 129–55,
www.thefreelibrary.com/It’s+the+real+world+after+all%3A+the+American-Israel+Pavilion—Jordan…-a0119570011
.

87
“Bob opened the meeting …”:
Mustafa Zein, interview, Amman, October 4, 2012; Mustafa Zein, “Deceit with Extreme Prejudice,” unpublished memoir, ca. 2005, p. 122, courtesy of Mustafa Zein.

88
“knew who he
[
Ames
]
was …”:
Ibid., pp. 123–24.

89
Zein made a good living:
U.S. Court of Federal Claims,
Mustafa M. Zein v. United States of America
, Civil Action No. 99-244C, April 29, 1999, p. 3.

90
“He was never a ‘paid agent’ ”:
Sam Wyman, e-mail to author, August 6, 2012.

91
“When I met Bob in Beirut …”:
Mustafa Zein, e-mail to author, August 4, 2012.

92
“You recruit a principal agent …”:
Jack O’Connell, with Vernon Loeb,
King’s Counsel: A Memoir of War, Espionage, and Diplomacy in the Middle East
(New York: W. W. Norton, 2011), p. 22.

93
“I was very fond of Mustafa”:
Sam Wyman, interview, November 5, 2010.

94
“Bob really wasn’t that great …”: George Coll
, interview, March 14, 2011.

95
“He was very long on guts”:
Sam Wyman, interview, November 5.

96
“the Catalyst”:
Mustafa Zein, interview, Amman, October 7, 2012.