Postcards From Saddam; The True Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man

In "Postcards from SAddam: The True Confessions of an Economic Hit Man ", the author, a former international lobbyist, recounts his experiences working abroad and how, unlike so-called Economic Hit Men, he and his colleagues, most of whom were former CIA clandestine operations officers, never bribed foreign officials. Instead, they relied on CIA agents' primary tool: Tradecraft. The author shares how he used negotiation & conflict management principles - classic elements of Tradecraft - to secure contracts for U.S. companies, manage workplace conflict, and most importantly, to negotiate his way out of precarious situations. The most notable of these was a risky connecting flight through a hostile Muslim country, where purely by chance, he crosses paths with Saddam Hussein. Traveling without the Italian passport he normally used to conceal his American identity, he is unable to get to his connecting flight as the airport and his plane is surrounded by Saddam's guards. Trapped in the airport carrying only his American passport, and a briefcase with documents linking him to the U.S. intelligence community, he puts tradecraft to the ultimate test. As he weighs his options, he recalls a similar situation in Chile involving another dictator, Augusto Pinochet, and one in Argentina where his tradecraft helps him narrowly elude imprisonment by a fiercely anti-American Argentine colonel. As he draws parallels between countries and dictators on the use of power and true leadership, comparing the highly polarized political climate in Chile during Pinochet's rule to the current political climate in the U.S., he stresses the importance of fact-checking and how the Chilean media sometimes mischaracterized Pinochet's regime while downplaying the violence of extremist groups. In one of the book's most poignant accounts, he then describes how violent extremists targeted his Chilean contact, Solange - his co-worker and the young woman he'd planned to marry, who may very well have saved his life. Comparing Pinochet to Castro, the author explains how rewards and recognition are sometimes conferred on leaders with dubious accomplishments, while those with tangible accomplishments receive little to none, comparing them to business leaders. Delving into the realm of business and organizational conflict management, he then describes his experiences negotiating with global conglomerates while managing the international division of the U.S.'s biggest mobile electronics company. Coining the term "Paperclip Expediters" to describe ineffective managers who reap undeserved rewards and recognition when the net result of their leadership is ruin and the destruction of wealth, he compares these to Fidel Castro in Cuba. In a final dramatic account, he describes how tradecraft kept him from making a fatal mistake and prompted a Good Samaritan to help him. Although initially suspicious of the Good Samaritan helping him in his untimely encounter with Saddam and his guards, his suspicions are soon dispelled. As this Good Samaritan, a Muslim, is guiding him through a secret tunnel, the pair are apprehended. Realizing that his Muslim friend has just put himself in jeopardy by concealing his American identity from the soldier questioning him, the author executes a risky psychological maneuver perfectly to get himself and his friend released. However, he will later have no choice but to risk going through that same tunnel a second time. Although he will make the second attempt alone, it won't be without the help of his Muslim friend.

• | Author: Salvatore Alessandro
• | Publisher: Independently Published
• | Publication Date: Jul 05, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 140 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1976812674
• | ISBN-13: 9781976812675