Edinburgh University Press The Arab World and Western Intelligence: Analysing the Middle East, 1956-1981 (Intelligence, Surveillance and Secret Warfare)

Have Western experts fundamentally failed to understand the dynamics, leaders and culture of the Middle East? Dina Rezk analyses 8 case studies, culminating in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar el Sadat on live television on 6 October 1981, Drawing on declassified documents, interviews and multi-archival research, she explores how the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world have been so notoriously caught off guard in post-WWII Middle East. Review Dina Rezk's book is an interesting and important study that presents the manner in which Egyptian presidents Nasser and Sadat were read in the West, based upon archival material recently declassified and opened for the scholars' eyes.--Eyal Zisser "Bustan: The Middle East Book Review " From the Inside Flap The untold story of Western intelligence in the Middle East This book addresses a critical question embedded within a heated debate about the failure of American intelligence in a post 9/11 age: have Western experts failed in some fundamental way to understand the dynamics, leaders and culture of the Middle East? Using the most recently declassified documents, interviews and Arabic sources, the book examines seminal case studies culminating in Sadats dramatic assassination and explores whether, how and why the most knowledgeable and powerful intelligence agencies in the world have been so notoriously caught off guard in this region.Dina Rezk is a lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Reading. She was previously a Teaching Fellow in Intelligence and Security at the University of Warwick and completed her doctorate at the University of Cambridge. From the Back Cover The untold story of Western intelligence in the Middle East This book addresses a critical question embedded within a heated debate about the 'failure' of American intelligence in a post 9/11 age: have Western experts failed in some fundamental way to understand the dynamics, leaders and culture of the Middle East? Using the most recently declassified documents, interviews and Arabic sources, the book examines seminal case studies culminating in Sadat's dramatic assassination and explores whether, how and why the most knowledgeable and powerful intelligence agencies in the world have been so notoriously caught off guard in this region. Dina Rezk is a lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Reading. She was previously a Teaching Fellow in Intelligence and Security at the University of Warwick and completed her doctorate at the University of Cambridge. About the Author Dina Rezk is Teaching Fellow in Intelligence and Security in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick.