Digital List Price: | $19.99 |
Kindle Price: | $10.35 Save $9.64 (48%) |
Sold by: | Amazon.com Services LLC |
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
A Time to Betray: A Gripping True Spy Story of Betrayal, Fear and Courage Kindle Edition
A TIME TO BETRAY
This exhilarating, award-winning memoir of a secret double life reveals the heart-wrenching story of a man who spied for the American government in the ranks of the notorious Revolutionary Guards of Iran, risking everything by betraying his homeland in order to save it.
Reza Kahlili grew up in Tehran surrounded by his close-knit family and friends. But the enlightened Iran of his youth vanished forever, as Reza discovered upon returning home from studying computer science in the United States, when the revolution of 1979 ushered in Ayatollah Khomeini’s dark age of religious fundamentalism. Clinging to the hope of a Persian Renaissance, Reza joined the Ayatollah’s elite Revolutionary Guards. As Khomeini’s tyrannies unfolded, as fellow countrymen turned on each other, and after the deeply personal horrors he witnessed firsthand inside Evin Prison, a shattered and disillusioned Reza returned to America to dangerously become “Wally,” a spy for the CIA.
In A Time to Betray, Reza not only relates his razor’s-edge, undercover existence from moment to heart-pounding moment as he supplies vital information from the Iran-Iraq War, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the Iran-Contra affair, and more; he also documents a chain of incredible events that culminates in a nation’s fight for freedom that continues to this very day, making this a timely and vital perspective on the future of Iran and the fate of the world.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherThreshold Editions
- Publication dateApril 1, 2010
- File size1094 KB
Customers who bought this item also bought
Editorial Reviews
Review
—David Ignatius, Washington Post Book World
“A fascinating and crucial window into a world the rest of us cannot access.”
—WorldNetDaily.com
“Astonishing and disturbing. . . . [A] gripping journey.”
—The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)
About the Author
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym to protect the authors identity. He was born, raised, and married in Tehran and now lives in California.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
“I WAS FOLLOWED,” I said.
CIA agent Steve Clark uncrossed his legs. He leaned forward, his expression stiffening. “Followed?”
I tried not to let my voice reflect my nervousness. “Yes. I thought I might be imagining it, but I took a few diversions and the tail was still there. It took me an hour to lose him.”
Agent Clark leveled his blue eyes at me. “Wally, I want you to be completely aware of the consequences if things go wrong. The United States government will deny any relationship to you. There won’t be a navy fleet coming to your rescue. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but you must understand this. Do I make myself clear?”
I swallowed hard and said, “Yes. I understand.” It was difficult to miss Agent Clark’s message: I was disposable.
It was 1981. The revolutionary Islamic government had been in power in Iran for more than two years. In that time, it had ensnared my country and my people in its brutal grip. I had seen friends executed in cold blood, their last look carved in my memory forever. But now, I was as far away from that government as I had been since the revolution, in a safe house high above California’s Malibu.
With my CIA contact.
Making plans to return to my homeland as a spy.
The world’s most powerful intelligence agency had given me the code name Wally. I never thought to ask them why they chose it. It was hard to believe that I looked like a Wally in their eyes, but maybe that was why they gave the name to me. The assignment they asked me to undertake would have been dangerous for any Iranian. But I was not just any Iranian. I was a member of the dreaded Sepah-e-Pasdaran, the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Revolutionary Guards.
Now that Agent Clark knew I understood that I was ultimately on my own, he moved forward. “We’ve arranged for you to be trained in Europe. We chose London since you mentioned your in-laws live there. This should not arouse any suspicion. In London, you’ll meet the people who will be your contacts from here on out. These are good people, Wally.”
He handed me a slip of paper with a phone number to call my new contact in London, a woman named Carol. “Under no circumstances should you use a private phone. Always make your calls from public phones.”
I stared at the number for a long time, trying to keep my feelings in check. I was terrified at the thought of where my return to Iran would lead me. The Revolutionary Guards looked everywhere for spies. No one was above suspicion. And they were likely to be especially wary of me when I got back. I hadn’t just traveled out of the country; I’d gone to the United States, a sworn enemy. They knew I’d gone to college in America and I’d given them a good reason for my being there now, but they would certainly question me when I returned. How would I hold up to their scrutiny?
If they caught me, I knew what would happen. I had seen what they did to spies and to those who opposed the government. The Guards drugged them, raped their wives and children in front of them, and gouged out their eyeballs, all in an effort to get them to talk. I thought of my wife, Somaya, and shuddered.
As they did every day, the visions came to me of what I had witnessed in the infamous Evin Prison, where the government kept political detainees. They’d paraded teenage girls in front of me as they led them to their deaths. These girls were barely out of their childhood, barely old enough to think for themselves, much less form thoughts against the state. They knew nothing about the machinations of politics. They were innocent in every sense of the word and certainly innocent of the trumped-up charges that led to their imprisonment. Yet they suffered fates too brutal for even the most vicious criminal. None of these girls would ever know the joys of romantic love. None of them would ever hold her own baby in her arms. Their few remaining moments of life had been filled with a level of abuse few can imagine.
“Wally?”
Agent Clark startled me out of my thoughts. I realized he had been watching me as I stared off into space. “Yes?”
“There is one other thing, and I don’t want you to take it personally. It’s just part of the procedure we have to go through.” He cleared his throat. “You’ll have to undergo a lie-detector test.”
I didn’t protest. This made sense, of course. Agent Clark might have been comfortable with me and confident about my motives, but if I were a professional spy on behalf of the Revolutionary Guards, they would have trained me to behave exactly as I had in the CIA’s presence. The lie-detector test was insurance.
Agent Clark arranged for the test to take place in the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo, just south of Los Angeles International Airport. I entered through the restaurant, as instructed, and walked to the back hall. This led to a bank of elevators. From there I headed to room 407, taking the stairway instead of the elevator to make sure no one was following me. At the room, I used the key Agent Clark had given me. He was already there.
The agent administering the test arrived shortly thereafter, carrying an oversized briefcase. He didn’t offer his name, only nodding instead. I noticed that he’d tied the knot on his thin tie too tight.
Though I wasn’t hiding anything from the CIA, I began to feel a hint of panic. The agent must have noticed this, because he smiled and told me to relax. Doing so was not going to be easy for me. As the agent unpacked his equipment, my heart pounded. I glanced at Agent Clark and he offered me a reassuring look. This did little to calm me.
The other agent explained the process, telling me what each of the several wires coming from the machine did. The agent would be reading my nervous system, which I had disciplined myself to control, though I wasn’t doing the best job of it right now. I eyed the door. For just a moment, I considered making a break for it. I would find some peaceful place where neither the CIA nor the Revolutionary Guards could find me.
But then I remembered the executions. The hangings. The torture. My friends. And my resolve returned as never before.
The agent asked me to sit down and roll up my sleeves. He hooked the wires from the machine to my arms, wrist, fingers, and chest. Sweat formed on my forehead.
“You can relax, Wally,” the agent said. “This isn’t going to hurt.”
Agent Clark moved into the second room of the suite, closing the door behind him. The other agent told me to look straight ahead. He sat to my right, adjusted himself a couple of times, and said he was going to ask some questions; all I needed to do was answer with a simple yes or no. He bent over, concentrating intently as a roll of paper extruded from the machine, his pen ready to make notations.
“Is your name Reza Kahlili?”
“Yes.”
“Are you twenty-seven years old?”
“Yes.”
“Were you born in Iran?”
“Yes.”
“Are you married?”
“Yes.”
“Do you work for the Revolutionary Guards?”
“Yes.”
“Did they ask you to come here?”
“No.”
“Did they help you with your travel plans?”
“Yes.”
“Did they ask you to contact us?”
“No.”
“Have you contacted the Guards since being here?”
“No.”
“Have you told them about this meeting?”
“No.”
I noticed that several of the questions seemed repetitive, with nuanced differences. I wondered if this was the agent’s attempt to trip me up.
“Does your wife know you are here?”
“She knows I am in America but she doesn’t know I am with you.”
“Stay with yes or no, please. Does anyone know about your contact with the CIA?”
“No … well, yes … Well, not really … but FBI agents …”
He did not let me finish. “Only yes or no, Wally.”
I was sweating heavily at this point. This made the places where the agent had attached the electrodes itchy. The agent watched me shift in my seat and then made a notation. I wondered how badly my obvious nervousness was hurting my chances.
The agent turned two pages in his notes, seeming to skip ahead. “Have you been inside Evin Prison?”
“Yes.”
“Do the interrogators rape virgins before they’re executed?”
“I … I didn’t realize Agent Clark would be telling you …”
“Yes or no, please, Wally.”
I swallowed as memories tumbled one after the other. Parvaneh’s last look at me. Roya’s letter. “Yes. They rape the virgins before they are executed because they believe virgins are sent straight to heaven.”
“Wally, please, just yes or no. Did you witness this?”
“No.”
“Did you witness tortures and executions at Evin Prison?”
In the hum of the air conditioning, I could hear Naser calling, “Reeezzzza.”
I exhaled slowly. “Yes.”
The agent turned back a couple of pages to where he had been.
“Do you work for the Revolutionary Guards as their chief computer engineer?”
“Yes.”
“Did you acquire this position through Kazem Aliabadi?”
“Yes.”
“Was Kazem Aliabadi a childhood friend?”
“Yes.”
“Was Naser Hushmand also a childhood friend?”
“Yes.”
“As far as you know, is Kazem loyal to the goals of the Revolutionary Guards?”
“Yes.”
“As far as you know, is Kazem aware that you do not share his beliefs?”
“No.”
“As far as you know, does Kazem consider you loyal to the goals and ideals of the Revolutionary Guards?”
“Yes.”
“Have you...
Product details
- ASIN : B003EUGFW0
- Publisher : Threshold Editions; Reprint edition (April 1, 2010)
- Publication date : April 1, 2010
- Language : English
- File size : 1094 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 356 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #230,422 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #55 in Biographies of Espionage
- #56 in Iran History
- #158 in Historical Middle East Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
REZA KAHLILI is the pseudonym of a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard member who worked undercover as a CIA agent for several years in the '80s and '90s.
He spent an idyllic childhood in Tehran, the capital of Iran, surrounded by a close-knit upper middle-class family and two spirited boyhood friends. The Iran of his youth allowed Reza to think and act freely, and even indulge a penchant for rebellious pranks in the face of the local mullahs.
His political and personal freedoms flourished while he continued his education in America during the '70s. He returned to Iran shortly after the Revolution eager to help rebuild his country, honestly believing that freedom and democracy would prevail and lead his country into a glorious future. Even though most Iranians had enjoyed varying degrees of success under the Shah, the ayatollah Khomeini's message resonated with a population weary of oppression and desperate for the political choice denied them under the Shah. To this end, Reza joined the Revolutionary Guards, an elite force that served Khomeini.
Instead of finding a new beginning for his country, he discovered a tyrannical ayatollah bent on plunging Iran into a dark age of religious fundamentalism and causing his fellow countrymen to turn on each other. Shaken to his very core after witnessing the atrocities at Evin Prison, atrocities that hit very close to home, a shattered and disillusioned Reza embarked on a mission that would change his life forever. He returned to America and emerged as "Wally," a spy for the CIA.
Counterintelligence, coded communications, escape tactics and evasion, dominated his new life. He risked exposure daily and after several close calls, he managed to leave Iran. His CIA activities continued in Europe for a few more years before he and his family finally moved to America.
After the 9/11 attack, Reza Kahlili activated a handful of sources within Iran and once again contacted the CIA. He continues as an active voice for a free Iran and works toward ending the thugocracy of the mullah's regime. He has written several articles for various media expressing his opinions and hope for a free Iran.
He now lives in California.
“A Time to Betray” was the winner of the 2010 National Best Book Award, and the 2011 International Best Book Award. The book is set to become a movie.
"A Time to Betray" is now part of JCITA's (Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy of DOD) Iranian Program's readings.
http://atimetobetray.com/
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
First of all, it's an excellent read. REALLY makes you feel like you are in Reza's head and in his actual predicaments...there's some really 'edge of your seat' type moments here. And you absolutely feel the sustained discomfort of his situation...appearing to his family as part of the problem...but secretly, being a huge patriot for the preservation of their way of life. Like someone says here...this is the story of a true hero...risking everything for a cause..everything...with absolutely no foreseeable promise of personal gain or glory.
However, what is great about the book is the story it has to tell...it's hugely eye opening in a lot of ways... quite honestly, it helped me see Iran as a nation of people rather than a nation of religious zealotry. However, although it opened my mind in a lot of ways...it, confirmed my suspicions in others. It so very effectively articulates the age old lesson (often taught, seemingly never learned), that religious fanaticism MUST be keep in check...and the MOST despicable of deeds are usually carried out in the name of religion (one of the most brutal ironies of human existence!).
Any Westerner that thinks these zealots can be reasoned with...and that peace and love will win the day is profoundly delusional ...and should be required to read this book...especially the passages about Evin Prison, the systematic brutal raping of girls to prevent their entry into heaven, etc.....
Anyway...enough of that...this is an exceptional book and if this is an accurate account of what happened...this is one of the most remarkable men of our time.
A definate plus is the history lesson about modern day Iran and the picture clear explanation of life there before and after the Revolution. I enjoyed reading about their family traditions, gatherings and how normal family life in Iran was then. How children in Iran could be as mischievous and prone to play pranks and get grounded just like any western child would. Somehow, I never thought about it before.
No need to try to express in a different way the many accolades already given by the other reviewers. I agree with all the good things that have already been said.
The only thing that bothers me is that, having read hundreds of personal stories in my life, this is the first time that I find myself wondering the veracity of some of the events described. While most of the story is completely believable and I understand that names, places and descriptions of buildings and events may need to be changed for security reasons, there are certain events about which their timing is suspicious at best and their convenience to move the story to the next necessary step almost rises to the level of a Deus ex Machina.
Perhaps you will feel the same way after reading this well-written almost novel like spy story. It was a joy reading it except for the everpresent question mark on the back of my mind about some of the events.
As for the other 98% of the book, it is definately a thumbs up!
This book wears a mask. Behind the mask there is neither Mister Phelps nor a tape that will self-destruct, but there is an almost unbelievable bundle of real flesh and blood courage and there is a real `Mission Impossible.' Without the mask there would be no book, or only a posthumous one.
So, for God's sake put aside reservations about filters and pseudonyms and fictionalized settings for this stunning first-hand account of a double agent living a double life one heartbeat away from certain death, deep inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran.
Read the book.
If it doesn't change your life, it will change your outlook.
It did mine. It changed my view of Iran, which I previously believed to be a nation of madmen. Now I know it is only ruled by madmen, but, just under the surface, it is the home of unmatched heroism.
Despite the vast gulf between our life histories, I feel a kinship with Reza, the man who lived this double life. He came to America as a young man when Shah Pahlavi was still in power and Iran lived in unbalanced prosperity without freedom. Reza drove around in a shiny red Mustang with mag wheels, enjoying his youth just like I did in my shiny red Oldsmobile 442. If we had passed each other on the highway, no doubt we would have waved.
While we were driving around in our shiny red muscle cars, Reza and I were similar in one other respect: we both had two close friends of the kind that might hand off a frog instead of shaking hands just to mock our superiors--or as easily die for each other. Like my friends, Reza's loved American Westerns and each had our favorite hero. Reza's, like mine, was Steve McQueen.
A three-legged stool is a very stable object, but a friendship composed of three souls is likely flawed by a weakness that we both experienced: At any given time, one of the three friends is a little on the outs with the other two.
My own triumvirate of friends morphed when one of us drifted off into a different life; Reza's ended suddenly and tragically. You will have to read the book to find out how.
Despite its title, "A Time to Betray" is a tale of courage and of love, not of treason. Love permeates. It is true love, a commitment that sustains Reza's relationship with his beautiful wife Somaya and their son Omid through stresses no one would willingly tolerate. Most of us would simply curl up and die, or, if we are more cowardly, walk away muttering "Who needs this?"
Aside from Somaya, my favorite character is Reza's Grandpa, Agha Joon, who admonished the young Reza to "Grow old, young man"--grow up, you child. Grandpa was a wise man, able to distinguish the similarities between the despot Shah Pahlavi, and Ayatolla Khomeini who succeeded him and mounted the infamous Iran Hostage Crisis that took Jimmy Carter's presidency down to defeat against Ronald Reagan.
Agha Joon, Grandpa, has more to tell. I know it.
I took four pages of notes as I read "A Time to Betray." The only time I take that kind of trouble is when I'm reading an extraordinarily important book, one that explains the present as well as the past by illuminating truth through veiled fictional devices.
"A Time to Betray" is such a book. It helped me to understand Iran, and villains, and heroes, and love. It changed me -- changed my outlook on Iran, the world, and the United States of America.
This book is not without flaws. It has a cliché or two, like `thugocracy', not that I could think of a better term to describe Iran's current regime. It has a few awkward sentences, the meaning of which is clear. Arranged differently, they would read easier.
These are the flaws of filters and pseudonyms and fictionalized settings, and accountants, and publishing realities - and spooks. I'm grateful that the CIA did not quash it altogether.
Get the book and read it. Then log on to Facebook and listen to some of the interviews where Reza's voice is masked to save his life and that of his family. This is not Mister Phelps' world, I assure you. Despite its flaws, this is Mission Impossible" made real.