BOOK REVIEW A flawed study of ‘rogue' Iran The Secret War with Iran by Ronen Bergman
Reviewed by Mahan Abedin
The geopolitical rise of Iran and the undoubted successes of its clerical
leadership in countering American influence and interests in the Middle East
have sparked an intense interest in the institutions and personalities that
underpin Iranian success on the international stage.
Specifically, there has been a concerted interest in the study of the Iranian
intelligence services, both from academic and journalistic points of view. The
Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman's The Secret War with Iran: The
30-year Covert Struggle for Control of a 'Rogue' State falls neatly
into the latter category. This politically-charged and ideological title, with
its emphasis on
"rogue" state, is a fitting description of the contents of the book. It is
often said that a book should not be judged by its cover, but in Bergman's
case, the cover sets the stage for the many assumptions and presuppositions
that inform his narrative.
Bergman sets out to "situate" a collection of anecdotal evidence and sources
(that are not referenced properly) into a meta-narrative that fits neatly into
a right-wing Israeli and American view of post-revolutionary Iran. Bergman's
work is less a serious study into the covert intelligence wars between Iran and
the West than an ideologically-driven exercise to frame Iran and its leadership
as a "terrorist" state bent on undermining the international system.
At the center of it all is Israeli security and Bergman's unstated belief that
this security (or a right-wing conception of it) should inform the
considerations and priorities of the leaders of the Western world. Bergman may
be a talented investigative journalist and a credible student of intelligence
studies, but he falls into the trap that bedevils Israeli researchers and
commentators of all political stripes; namely the simplistic narrative that
divides the world between "us" and "them" from the vantage point of Israeli
legitimacy and impunity.
First and foremost, Bergman clearly knows very little about Iran, its history,
cultures and people. He seems to be inspired by the writings of the sensational
(and widely discredited) Iranian journalist Amir Taheri. Indeed, the first two
chapters of the book (the Twilight of the Iranian Monarchy and Death to the
Infidels) are suffused with the journalistic hyperbole that is the mainstay of
Taheri's books on Iran and the Middle East.
More embarrassingly for Bergman he makes costly mistakes. For instance, he
identifies the forerunners of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as
the "Revolutionary Organization of the Masses of the Islamic Republic"; no such
awkward-sounding organization existed and the IRGC itself was formally
established in May 1979, a fact that seems to have escaped Bergman's research.
An even costlier mistake is Bergman's description of the SAVAK acronym as the
"Royal Organization for Security and Intelligence"; in fact it was the
"National Intelligence and Security Organization". These mistakes may be
dismissed as minor and insignificant, but given Bergman's role as a serious
student of intelligence and security services (he claims to have completed a
PhD on Mossad under the tutelage of Cambridge University's Christopher Andrew,
the leading scholar on intelligence history) these mistakes cast a shadow of
doubt on his knowledge and the thoroughness of his research.
Arguably the biggest factual mistake in the book is when Bergman writes that
the American commando raid on the Iranian liaison office in Erbil (northern
Iraq) took place on December 22, 2006. The raid in fact took place on January
11, 2007. In a follow-up catastrophic mistake Bergman claims that "dozens of
Revolutionary Guard members were detained, including the commander of the
al-Quds (Force) in Iraq, Hassan Abbasi ... (p 294-295). In fact, the raid
resulted in the capture of five mid-level Iranian diplomats.
Moreover, Hassan Abbasi is a university lecturer and the head of the Center for
Doctrinal Analysis, an independent Tehran-based think-tank. He has never set
foot in Erbil and contrary to misinformation spun by Iranian opposition groups
Abbasi has nothing to do with the specialized units of the IRGC. The fact that
Bergman makes such stunning mistakes, not only casts a long shadow of doubt on
the rest of his research, but once again indicates he knows next to nothing
about Iran.
To be fair to Bergman - and notwithstanding the factual mistakes that appear
all over his book - he provides interesting details and accounts of
intelligence operations. There is no doubt that he has interviewed scores of
people at length and made some attempts to check and cross-reference the
information. But his sources are not properly referenced (the book is devoid of
footnotes) and given the nature of the subject and the sheer mass of
disinformation, half-truths and/or politically and ideologically-motivated
accounts of events, Bergman can not possibly expect his readers to have an even
minimal amount of faith in the sincerity of his sources.
Equally troubling is Bergman's inability to present sources from the "other"
side. This inevitably lends the book to manipulation by highly astute and
ideologically motivated former and serving Israeli and Western intelligence
officers and politicos.
The title sets the narrative for the book, with Bergman being
overly-preoccupied with the agency of ideology at the expense of normative and
conventional accounts of international relations. Bergman's conception of Iran
as a "rogue" state bent on confrontation with the West (which is shared by not
too few Western leaders) ignores ample evidence to the contrary.
Even at the security/intelligence level, there is ample evidence that the
Iranians have formed a kind of "equilibrium", if not a normal working
relationship, with a number of West European intelligence services. While
Bergman grudgingly acknowledges such links, he tries his best to contextualize
it in the Iranians' alleged deception schemes. A more sober analysis can not
fail to identify a range of institutions and actors in the Islamic Republic of
Iran who have consistently sought rapprochement with the West over the past 30
years.
Moreover, there is no attempt to present a serious study of the Islamic
Republic's security and intelligence services, institutions which according to
Bergman are at the forefront of Iran's covert "war" with the West. His few
references to specific departments within the Iranian intelligence ministry are
superfluous and indicative of a complete lack of knowledge on the subject.
Bergman betrays his own ideological leanings when he describes the
controversial right-wing Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu (the current
prime minister of the state of Israel), as a man who has "... made Iran into
the number one issue, and who has never neglected it, or Islamic terror, for
one moment.. " (p 343). When Bergman identifies Netanyahu or Amir Taheri as
reliable sources on Iran, he inevitably inflicts grave harm on the entirety of
his field research.
In summary, Bergman's book - whilst self-consciously avoiding sensationalism
and desperately projecting a veneer of objectivity and exhaustive research -
is, in essence, a highly sensational and thoroughly flawed treatment of the
subject.
Admittedly an interesting read, the book is awash with details of the secret
world of intelligence and parapolitics. To what extent these accounts reflect
the truth, or verge on half-truths and downright disinformation rests with the
judgment of the individual reader. But Bergman does his research and reputation
a grave disservice when in many instances he appears far too eager to accept
the accounts of his sources.
The Secret War with Iran: The 30-year Covert Struggle for Control of a 'Rogue'
State by Ronen Bergman. Oneworld Publications, 2008. ISBN-10:
1851686223. 368 pages.
Mahan Abedin is a senior researcher in terrorism studies and a consultant
to independent media in Iran. He is currently based in northern Iraq, where he
is helping to develop local media capacity.
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Bergman sets out to "situate" a collection of anecdotal evidence and sources
(that are not referenced properly) into a meta-narrative that fits neatly into
a right-wing Israeli and American view of post-revolutionary Iran. Bergman's
work is less a serious study into the covert intelligence wars between Iran and
the West than an ideologically-driven exercise to frame Iran and its leadership
as a "terrorist" state bent on undermining the international system.
