The Crash of Flight 3804: A Lost Spy, a Daughter’s Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil

About this book

"Charlotte Dennett has written an excellent book summarizing the geopolitics of the Middle East historically through to current events. . . . This is an amazing piece of historical writing. . . . Students foreign affairs experts and officials should have this work as required reading."Jim Miles The Palestine Chronicle Unraveling the mystery of a master spys death by following pipelines and mapping wars in the Middle East In 1947 Daniel Dennett Americas sole master spy in the Middle East was dispatched to Saudi Arabia to study the route of the proposed Trans-Arabian Pipeline. It would be his last assignment. A plane carrying him to Ethiopia went down killing everyone on board. Today Dennett is recognized by the CIA as a Fallen Star and an important figure in US intelligence history. Yet the true cause of his death remains clouded in secrecy. In The Crash of Flight 3804 investigative journalist Charlotte Dennett digs into her fathers postwar counterintelligence work which pitted him against Americas wartime alliesthe British French and Russiansin a covert battle for geopolitical and economic influence in the Middle East. Through stories and maps she reveals how feverish competition among superpower intelligence networks military and Big Oil interests have fueled indiscriminate attacks and targeted killings that continue to this dayfrom Jamal Khashoggis murder to drone strikes. The book delivers an irrefutable indictment of these devastating forces and how the brutal violence they incite has shaped the Middle East and birthed an era of endless wars. The Crash of Flight 3804 provides important context for understanding the region while bringing new questions to the fore: To what lengths has the United States negotiated with the Taliban Al Qaeda and ISIS to secure Big Oils holdings in Syria Iraq and Yemen? Was the Pentagons goal of defeating ISIS a fraudulent pretext for Americas occupation of Syrian eastern provinces and a land grab for oil? What part does Ukraine play in the energy-dominance struggle between the US and Russia? Did the infamous double agent Kim Philby who worked for the British while secretly spying for the Russians have anything to do with Dennetts death? Why have the US and China made North Africa the next major battleground in the Great Game for Oil? Part personal pilgrimage part deft critique Dennetts insightful reportage examines what happens to international relations when oil wealth hangs in the balance and shines a glaring light on what so many have actually been dying for.