HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND STAGE COUPS

True Spies Episode 37: How to Make Friends and Stage Coups

NARRATOR: Welcome to True Spies. Week by week, mission by mission, you’ll hear the true stories behind the world’s greatest espionage operations. You’ll meet the people who navigate this secret world. What do they know? What are their skills? And what would you do in their position? 

This is True Spies Episode 37: How To Make Friends and Stage Coups. 

NARRATOR: February 1947. Washington, DC. A hard rain lashed against the clean lines of the Harry S. Truman building, home to the US State Department. It was a Friday afternoon, and the office was clearing out. One figure, stooped under a dark umbrella, hustled against the tide of the departing weekend crowd. He had an appointment. 

MILES COPELAND: So, at that time, there was only one man at the State Department who made a habit of staying late on a Friday. Maybe he enjoyed the peace and quiet, I don’t know. Anyway, his name was Loy Henderson and at that time he was Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and African Affairs. 

NARRATOR: Behind his desk, Henderson waited patiently. His guest, the First Secretary of the British Embassy in Washington, had phoned ahead asking to deliver a message in person. It was, in his words: “rather important”. If there’s one thing the British do well it’s understatement. In fact, the news he delivered that evening would change the face of global geopolitics forever. 

MILES COPELAND: And, what he told Henderson was that, essentially, the British were getting out of the Mediterranean. You have to remember, they were broke after the war. They needed millions of dollars in aid. And they just didn’t have the funds to keep bankrolling the anti-communists in Greece, Turkey, etc.

NARRATOR: Britain’s exit from Greece and Turkey had wider ramifications. These countries were the gateways to the Middle East - an ideal base from which to project overt and covert influence across the region. Now there would be a power vacuum, and with the great colonial powers of Western Europe depleted the communist USSR was expanding its stable of client governments nationwide. If they were allowed to establish strong footholds in the Middle East, the West risked losing access to the region’s enticing commercial opportunities.

MILES COPELAND: Now really, the oil was the thing. We needed to keep the Middle East friendly to American industrial interests in that regard but, for some crusaders back in Washington, the bigger goal was to limit communism. The CIA, or the CIG at that point in time, was full of idealistic young people who really believed in democracy - in allowing democracy to flourish.

NARRATOR: This week’s True Spy was not one of them. 

MILES COPELAND: My name is Miles Copeland. Between 1947 and 1957 I worked for the US government, the CIA, probably most notably in the Middle East. And during that time, we got pretty good at ‘nudging’ the levers of power. 

NARRATOR: If there’s one thing spies do well, it’s euphemism. Miles Copeland died in 1991. We’ve adapted excerpts from his books and personal letters to tell a story of subterfuge, manipulation, and dirty politics in one of the most unstable regions on the planet. In 1947, Miles was assigned to the US Diplomatic mission in Damascus, Syria. His mission? To establish a democratic government in the Middle East by any means necessary. But why Syria? 

MILES COPELAND: Iraq was a police state. We could have done something there. An unpopular government is easier to bring down. But the British still had some considerable pull there, and we wanted to consolidate our own influence. We thought about Saudi Arabia, but we didn’t think they were quite ready for democracy. No nicer way to put it. Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt - we dropped those for other reasons. I won’t go into that here. So Syria, by process of elimination, was left. 

NARRATOR: Syria already had a democracy of some sort. But it was relatively new and unstable - ripe for manipulation. The country had officially become independent from France just a year earlier. Now, in 1947, it was holding its first Parliamentary elections as a sovereign republic. 

MILES COPELAND: Going into the elections President Shukri al-Quwatli’s National Party was in power. In general terms, Quwatli was for the rich. They were an opposition party and other independent candidates that were going up against him. And they were for ‘the little guy’, so to speak. We had our problems with Quwatli. He was anti-Israel for one, and he’d been getting cozy with the leader of the Syrian Communist Party. That was worrying too. 

NARRATOR: The CIA saw the Syrian election as a golden opportunity to install a government that would be sympathetic to American interests. In the CIA’s opinion, leaders who were fair-minded and free from corruption would automatically align with the US on matters of international diplomacy. Such was the moral might of the US post-World War II. The Americans had faith that if the Syrian people were allowed to vote freely, without corrupting influences, they would be well on their way to becoming a liberalized, western-style democracy. But how could the CIA ensure that the elections were, in fact, free? Let’s break down the strategy. 

Step One: Clean up the system. Politicians and other powerful groups had already devised creative ways to swing votes in their favor. Now, under the watchful eye of Uncle Sam, these individuals were quietly encouraged to allow the elections to carry on unimpeded. Scribes promised that they wouldn’t steal the votes of illiterate people. Taxi drivers were paid to take voters to polling stations free of charge to ensure a high turnout on the condition that they weren’t selective in their choice of passengers. 

Step Two: Get out the vote. American oil companies in league with the CIA funded a widespread poster campaign. They asked the Syrian people to celebrate their newfound independence by voting freely, without selling their vote or succumbing to intimidation. 

Step Three: Make it tamper-proof. The Americans provided top-of-the-line voting machines to negate the unpredictable ‘human element’ involved in vote counting. 

MILES COPELAND: And our outfit in Damascus was tremendously pleased with all this. I remember the embassy’s political officer telling Washington that the 1947 election was going to be as American as apple pie. That was naive. To say that the elections did not reach those expectations would be an understatement, frankly. 

NARRATOR: In theory, the stage was set for a glorious new age in Syrian politics, with the US as its benevolent, if secretive founding father. In practice not so much. 

MILES COPELAND: I think an important thing to remember here is that Syrians of this generation had been brought up in the belief that the government was an inconvenience imposed by foreigners. The French, the Turks, whoever. It certainly wasn’t their government. Other way around. 

NARRATOR: The idealism of America’s newest intelligence agency was on course to collide with reality, and it bruised easily.

MILES COPELAND: The average voter saw an opportunity to get a good price for his vote, or to put some relative or other into a position of power. The taxi drivers formed a kind of union. They banded together as a bloc to negotiate their services with the highest bidders. And the scribes, well the scribes just broke their promise. They wrote in whoever they liked - too good an opportunity to pass up.

NARRATOR: Even those high-tech voting machines didn’t come out unscathed. In fact, most of them simply didn’t work - a mismatch in the electric current made sure of that. Of those that actually functioned, all but two were sabotaged. And those remaining machines? Well, they worked as designed and delivered the result that the Americans desired. But the losers simply refused to accept defeat, claiming that it had come at the hands of ‘imperialist technology’.

MILES COPELAND: And on top of all that, we hadn’t provided direct financial support to any candidates. We were trying to keep things above board, remember. That was a mistake. We were about the only government that didn’t bring out our checkbook.

NARRATOR: No, the Americans weren’t the only game in town. The Russians, along with the British and the French, all had their own candidates in play.

MILES COPELAND: We were new to the game. The others, the old powers, they’d been playing for centuries. Even if they weren’t what they once were. But we caught up pretty quickly. 

NARRATOR: In the end, President al-Quwatli’s National Party remained in power. In the presidential elections the following year he won a slim, but decisive majority. All the while, his relationship with the US was deteriorating. The whole exercise had proven to be a painful lesson in realpolitik but other opportunities for America to exert its influence would reveal themselves soon enough. All the CIA had to do was wait for their moment.

MILES COPELAND: So, in Syria, I was the ‘crypto-diplomat’ at the embassy. And for the uninitiated, that means I had State Department cover for my CIA work there. My official title was assistant cultural attaché’. I’m something of a musician, jazz mostly, so it was a good fit.

NARRATOR: Miles had been sent to Damascus with clear instructions. He was to make unofficial contact with the Syrian president along with other key members of the government. From there, his task was to probe for any means of persuading them to liberalize the country’s political system. After all, if you can’t change the government, you might as well try and nudge them toward your way of thinking. But if the events of the 1947 election had proven one thing, it was that there was little to no desire to liberalize anything. However, Miles had been successful in his first objective. Within six months, he’d developed a friendly personal relationship with President al-Quwatli. That coziness raised suspicions within the Syrian intelligence community. 

MILES COPELAND: Fakhri al-Barudi ran President al-Quwatli’s personal intelligence outfit and he was most interested in finding out why so many Army officers seemed to attend these cultural cocktail soirées that I held every week or so. Man to man we got on pretty well, but he knew that something was kind of amiss as far as my involvement was concerned.

NARRATOR: Fakhri al-Barudi took particular offense at the fact that Miles had been allowed to accompany one of the president’s top regimental commanders to the frontlines of the Arab-Israeli conflict which Syria entered in May of 1948. Barudi was incensed. Why would a so-called cultural attaché - an assistant cultural attaché, no less - be so keen to make powerful friends in the military? More to the point, why would these military men be so keen to speak with him? He had to know what the Americans were up to. Fortunately, he knew just the man to ask. 

MILES COPELAND: The embassy’s telephone operator Joseph was also one of Barudi’s spies. So he was asked to keep tabs on me - rifling through my desk drawers, tapping my calls, etc. And, naturally, Joseph relayed those instructions to me. 

NARRATOR: Long ago, Joseph the phone operator had realized that there was no sense in turning down a payday no matter where it came from.

MILES COPELAND: In fact, so far as we could tell, most of the native employees who were recruited to spy on us were actually working for the CIA too. Sure, the Syrians could threaten them but we had the edge when it came to cash - not to mention the retirement benefits. Last I heard of Joseph, he was growing oranges in California.

NARRATOR: Miles wasn’t overly concerned about Buradi’s interest in his activities. After all, if he got too close, Joseph would let the CIA know - for a price. For now, he had bigger fish to fry. Syria had been defeated in the war against Israel in 1948. In the aftermath of this humiliation, there was a growing appetite for a change of government, and there was one man who was willing to lead it. The same commander that Miles had accompanied to the front in 1948. His name was Husni al-Za’im. 

MILES COPELAND: Za’im was transferred back to Damascus in 1949, shortly after the business with Israel was over. His regiment had taken a licking, but he’d still been promoted to chief of staff - head of all the Syrian Armed Forces - so this is a powerful man and he was one of our closest friends in government. 

NARRATOR: During a friendly conversation with Miles and a CIA colleague, General Za’im made his ambitions clear.

MILES COPELAND: It was getting late in the evening. Me, Za’im, and Stephen Meade, the military attaché - also CIA, in reality - we were enjoying some arak, the local spirit, and as we were drinking Za’im started loosening up. So he told us: “If I had a bit of backing, I could clean up this place, take it over. I could give you that peace arrangement you want us to have with Israel.” Hmm, we thought. Very interesting.

NARRATOR: In fact, Za’im confessed that he’d already attempted to act on that ambition, barely a month previously. He’d plotted a coup with two other members of the government. But it had been a losing battle from the start. The issue, it seemed, had been one of trust. 

MILES COPELAND: And so, Za’im goes on. He said: “But, at the end of the day, the trouble is you cannot trust anybody but yourself.”

NARRATOR: It seems Za’im’s coup had been conceived during another boozy conversation. But in the cold light of day, his strong sense of self-preservation had won out against his desire for power.

MILES COPELAND: So Za’im had gone straight to President al-Quwatli and told him that these two government colleagues of his were plotting against him. He can’t have had much faith in their abilities. He wanted to protect himself when it would all inevitably head south.

NARRATOR: At this point in the retelling, the CIA men had questions. They knew for a fact that Za’im’s would-be co-conspirators were still around, still in positions of influence. If what he was saying was true, then it seemed bizarre that they were even alive, let alone employed. 

MILES COPELAND: So we asked Za’im: “Is it President al-Quwatli’s habit to forgive traitors?”

NARRATOR: Za’im’s eyes lit up. It was a good question. It had an even better answer. 

MILES COPELAND: “Ah, but you don’t understand. What traitors?” He went on: “Each of those bastards had already gone to the president to inform on me and each other!”

NARRATOR: It seemed that each of the plotters had decided that they simply had too much to lose. As a result, President al-Quwatli was satisfied that his top commanders were all deeply honorable men committed to rooting out rogue elements within the government. So then, the CIA’s fair-play electioneering had failed. An internal coup had never made it beyond the earliest stages of planning. Perhaps the solution lay in a combination of these two approaches. A military coup, aided and abetted by the experts at the CIA. Miles’ friend and colleague, Stephen Meade, spoke up. 

MILES COPELAND: And so Steve says to Za’im: “Listen, you can’t have a coup all by yourself. You’ve got to trust someone, and you’ve got to trust someone who can share your successes - not compete for them. Someone without so much skin in the game.” 

NARRATOR: Someone like the CIA, perhaps? Za’im nodded along. Just like that, the seeds of a coup had been sown. Sometimes, all it takes to bring down a government is a spy, a soldier, and a bottle of the strong stuff. But if you’re planning a coup, you need to have a pretty clear idea of how you’re going to pull it off. Sure, you could storm the government, park tanks in public squares, execute dissenters. But if you take that route - become a brutal dictator - you’ve got to be comfortable with going it alone. It’s lonely at the top - especially if you’ve shot everyone else. And if you happen to be in the middle of a region that holds political and commercial significance for the world’s biggest superpower… Well, you might find yourself on the other end of the barrel a few months down the road. No, this coup would need to have the full approval of the American government, and that meant it had to be bloodless. 

MILES COPELAND: And this is where we came in. 

NARRATOR: So, how do you solve a problem like the CIA? Here’s Miles with a step-by-step guide, a Coup 101, if you like.

MILES COPELAND: So first, with a little assistance from yours truly, there would be a series of ‘incidents’ - real or staged - that would exaggerate the unrest that was already brewing over there. And once there was a perceived threat to citizens and foreign diplomats, then we could pretty easily justify increased security measures that would never otherwise be tolerated.

NARRATOR: After the population was psychologically prepared for a restriction of their freedoms, they’d be treated to a symbolic spectacle.

MILES COPELAND: For example, maybe an important building being burned down or an attempted assassination, or even a riot. Anything that could prepare the ground, psychologically, for people to accept the need for martial law. 

NARRATOR: Then, the conspirators would move military or police units into their positions - as close to their respective targets as possible. The leaders of those units would be given sealed orders, which were not to be opened until everything was in place. They wouldn’t know exactly what they were carrying out until it was almost over, but they were known to be loyal to Za’im.

MILES COPELAND: So, that just leaves the endgame. A number of tightly coordinated moves by Za’im’s men on the ground. One unit would take the radio station, another the central power station, another the President’s office - so the vital organs of the state. And at the same time, they’d be locking up any key military leaders, policemen, or politicians who might stand a chance of resisting the coup. It all needed to be coordinated and quick. No loose ends.

NARRATOR: Two days of sober planning followed that initial conversation. Za’im was convinced by the CIA’s clarity of mind - impressed, even. But he still didn’t trust them, not exactly. The details of the coup’s definitive moments were kept from Miles and Stephen.

MILES COPELAND: As for what happened on the night, as far as Za’im was concerned, that was ‘need to know’ and we respected that. In the meantime, we got to work starting those ‘incidents’, preparing the public for martial law. 

NARRATOR: As it turned out, spooking the Syrian public was more difficult than Miles had anticipated. First, a violent student protest had been organized demanding ‘immediate action against Israel’. This plan was thwarted by a canny professor who told the protesters that a recruitment desk had been set up on university grounds and that they were free to sign up to fight if they so wished. The crowd of students dispersed quickly after that but eventually, they landed upon a winning strategy.

MILES COPELAND: We arranged for a series of threatening letters and phone calls to be sent to some senior officials, influential types. 

NARRATOR: This poison-pen campaign created an atmosphere of paranoia at the very top of Syrian society. Now, they would welcome a stronger military presence on the streets and in government. Za’im had played his part, too. He put together a fabricated ‘hit list’ of other prominent persons, which he leaked to some faithful newsmen in Damascus. He claimed that the list had come from some communist insurgents who presented an immediate threat to public safety in the country. When this hit the front pages, the average Syrian began to worry for his own safety, too. Fear gripped the country from the kitchen table to the coffee house. Miles Copeland, jazz musician, 30-something father of two, was about to bring down his first government. Now, the actual business of the coup could begin. Syria was ready for a stable hand on the tiller, ready for change.

MILES COPELAND: As I said, we wouldn’t be involved on the night but Steve and I went out scouting with Za’im, identifying likely targets. The presidential palace, for one, and the radio station. All the homes of the Army officers and politicians who might try and resist. Za’im dropped us back at my place. He thanked us for our advice. He actually said: “I may follow it.” Heavy emphasis on the ‘may’. 

NARRATOR: At the time, Miles and Stephen didn’t pick up on the ambiguity in Za’im’s parting words. In time, they wished they had. Privately, the commander was unwilling to be anyone’s puppet. More on that later. Miles had more immediate concerns. Remember Fakhri Barudi, the Syrian president’s intelligence chief? While Miles, Steve, and Za’im had been driving around Damascus plotting their next move, he’d been working on a plan of his own. Necessarily, Barudi was in the dark about the coup. But he was no fool. He knew that Miles was up to something, and this recent spate of unrest in Damascus had left him on the backfoot. He needed a win, something that he could show President al-Quwatli. No decadent, jazz-loving Americans were going to get the better of him.

MILES COPELAND: And, naturally, Joseph let us know all about Barudi’s frustrations and General Za’im, rather cleverly, spotted an opportunity. If Barudi was caught spying on a foreign diplomat, well, that would hurt the credibility of President al-Quwatli’s government even more. So we set a trap.

NARRATOR: Barudi’s spy in the American Embassy, Joseph - a man with fluid loyalties - was asked to pass on some information to his Syrian paymaster.

MILES COPELAND: He let Barudi know that I was the kind of indiscreet, careless official who took his work home with him every night and that it might be worth paying my house a visit.

NARRATOR: Almost immediately, Barudi decided to raid Miles’ address in search of any evidence that he was not, in fact, the assistant cultural attaché. Joseph passed this back to Miles and the CIA.

MILES COPELAND: When Barudi’s men came knocking, they wouldn’t find an empty house. We were going to make some noise. People were going to know what he’d tried to do.

NARRATOR: On a cold day in March 1949, Miles bundled his family into the car, and sent them off to stay with friends in Beirut, Lebanon. For all Fakhri Barudi knew, he had gone with them.

MILES COPELAND: Me, Steve, and a few other fellows - mostly US military - took up positions in the house. The others only knew that some men were going to break in and that we had to catch them - preferably without killing anyone. No need to let them in on the bigger picture here.

NARRATOR: The CIA men set about preparing themselves for the home invasion. Drawers were rigged with tear gas and bright, blinding lights - designed to disorientate - were rigged in the library where Miles kept his documents locked in a safe. And that was the gentle stuff. One of the defenders had brought along a small armory’s worth of .45 pistols in anticipation of a Wild West-style shootout.

MILES COPELAND: He called them ‘cannons’, which wasn’t too much of an exaggeration. These are big guns and I thought that was a little heavy-handed for what we were expecting. You see, we knew that Za’im had called Fakhri Barudi ahead of the raid and demanded that the men who searched my house be unarmed. This is what he told us, anyway.

NARRATOR: Barudi must have been shocked by this. He would have had no idea as to how Za’im knew anything about the raid. But he was outranked, and he had only a small window of time in which to act. And so, according to Za’im, the Syrian intelligence chief had acquiesced.

MILES COPELAND: So, based on what Za’im told us, we were expecting four men - all without weapons. 

NARRATOR: Now, the waiting game began. The first night went by without incident. Once the booby traps were set and the pistols had been polished, the men entertained themselves with books, conversation, and the modest alcoholic contents of Miles’ pantry. As the second night drew in, the men grew quiet - ears strained for any sign that the invaders had arrived.

MILES COPELAND: At eight o’clock we heard a Jeep speeding up to the front of the house, then we heard feet coming up the front steps. Somebody was toying with the lock. Anyway, he must have gotten bored of that because the next thing we heard was the glass in the front door smashing. Then they were inside.

NARRATOR: From their respective positions in the house, Miles, Stephen, and their colleagues held their breath. They heard footsteps moving across the hall and into the library where the tear gas had been rigged to explode.

MILES COPELAND: By my count, there were three of them in the library. We waited for the gas to go off and then Steve had second thoughts. If we waited for the gas it might just put us out of action too. Best to hit them now.

NARRATOR: Steven hit the switch beside him. Powerful lamps turned the darkness of the library into blinding daylight. This was the moment to strike. Put yourself in the library. You know where your men are. You think you know where the Syrians are too. Those blinding lights have startled them. You’ve got the element of surprise. Your move. Do you open fire? Remember, they’re unarmed. You don’t want to make this any more of a diplomatic incident than it has to be to serve its purpose. Or would you give them a fair warning? Declare them surrounded. March them out with their hands up. Have somebody call the police and hand them over. Maximum visibility and minimal potential for bloodshed. Miles opted for the latter. Nobody needed to get hurt, so why should they? Luckily, he’d been practicing his Arabic. 

MILES COPELAND: So, I stood up and shouted the equivalent of: “Okay you sons of bitches, come on out with your hands up!” 

NARRATOR: It’s the kind of thing you can wait a lifetime to say, especially if you’re able to say it while holding a very big gun. However, Miles’ command didn’t have the impact he’d hoped for. 

MILES COPELAND: There was a lull, maybe for a second or so, and then we saw another hand pushing through the doorway into the library. It was holding a pistol, too.

NARRATOR: The disembodied hand twitched its trigger finger. A deafening bang shook the room. The fourth Syrian was shooting at the lights.

MILES COPELAND: So, okay, we thought. I guess they’re armed. 

NARRATOR: Stephen Meade, a colonel in the US Army as well as an accomplished CIA asset, was good in a crisis. With the automatic prowess that only hours on the shooting range can bestow, he took aim and fired back at the hand. Its pistol spun away and clattered to the floor. It was joined, shortly thereafter, by half a finger. 

MILES COPELAND: And I don’t know if you know how much noise a .45 handgun can make. It’s loud enough on the range. In a big, roomy house with marble floors, it’s deafening.

NARRATOR: The exchange of fire set off a chain reaction. Soon, the air was thick with bullets. Too many bullets, in fact. 

MILES COPELAND: It sure as hell didn’t sound like four men shooting. And then we had that confirmed when one of our guys came running in from his position on the perimeter, screaming that we were surrounded.

NARRATOR: A few calculations later, Miles determined that there were at least seven men on the property, and they were all armed to the teeth. Beneath the percussive din of gunfire, a new sound wheedled into Miles’ consciousness. The telephone was ringing. 

MILES COPELAND: And, for some reason, I answered it. 

NARRATOR: A friend had heard reports of gunfire at the Copeland house. Naturally, he’d decided to check in.

MILES COPELAND: So, crawled over to the hall telephone. I picked up: “Yes, this is the Copeland house. Sorry but I’m a little busy right now. You hear shooting? Yes, it’s right here in the house. It’s a little complicated. I’ll tell you all about it when I next see you. Listen… I’d better hang up. They’re shooting at me personally.”

NARRATOR: Could you keep your cool? Let’s hope you never have to find out.

MILES COPELAND: The shootout lasted for 22 minutes. It felt longer. We had another man watching from outside, who timed it, helpfully. By now, there was quite a crowd gathering outside. We were starting to draw some real attention - more than we’d planned, anyway. 

NARRATOR: Eventually, one of the Syrians inside the house had managed to engineer an escape from the gunfight, leaving - somewhat shaken - through the library window. Realizing that this simple intelligence-gathering mission was beyond saving his compatriots followed him out. They sped away. The shooting stopped. 

MILES COPELAND: And then for a moment, everything was quiet. I had a minute to look around, check out the damage. The door into the library looked like Swiss cheese. Likewise, the carpets. I was not looking forward to explaining all this to my wife, put it that way.

NARRATOR: The quiet didn’t last. Barely a minute had passed before the roar of engine noise flared again outside. A convoy of jeeps and police vehicles descended on the house. Husni al-Za'im arrived on the scene.

MILES COPELAND: His men helped to manage the chaos. Everyone was fine. But we had questions for Za’im. For a start, we knew he’d given Barudi his marching orders. Why hadn’t he made him stick to four unarmed men?

NARRATOR: The general smiled and replied: “Well if a small incident is good, a big incident is better.”

MILES COPELAND: What if someone had been killed?

NARRATOR: Well, no one was, were they?

MILES COPELAND: “And what the hell do we do now?”

NARRATOR: Wait and see. The dust settled. Statements were taken and journalists were palmed off. There would be enough to explain to Washington as it was without local newspapers sensationalizing the events of the evening.

MILES COPELAND: So no, it didn’t go entirely to plan. But Za’im was right. We had fanned the flames of chaos, as it were. It was a very bad day for Barudi and for the president. 

NARRATOR: The stage had finally been set for Za’im’s coup and there was no sense in waiting. It happened on the following Sunday. Everything went exactly to plan. The Army took the radio station, the power station, and the palace. President al-Quwatli and Fakhri Barudi were both imprisoned, alongside several other Syrian notables. No blood was spilled. The CIA had their friendly dictator, someone who could hold the fort until free and fair elections could be properly introduced. Or so they thought. 

MILES COPELAND: So it turns out Za’im had no intention of holding free elections. We figured that out pretty quickly. We were working with him to get official recognition from the US government, but when that started to look like a sure thing his attitude changed completely. In the end, I guess he was right. You can’t trust anybody and we should have known.

NARRATOR: The first sign that the honeymoon was over, came on a hot afternoon in the summer of 1949. Miles and Stephen Meade, still basking in the glow of their triumph, were waiting for Za’im to attend a meeting. 

MILES COPELAND: We were hanging out on Za’im’s verandah, I remember. Steve was lying full-length on a sofa-swing, eating peanuts. I was slouched over in an armchair and the general walks in, an hour late, and just sort of stands there. Anyway, Steve says: “Hey Husni, we’ve been waiting almost an hour.” And he just stood there, totally still. Eventually, he spoke up. 

NARRATOR: “Most people stand up when I enter a room.”

MILES COPELAND: So sure, we stood up.

NARRATOR: “And most people address me as Excellence.”

MILES COPELAND: So he was ‘Excellence’ from that point onward. A lot of good it did him. As we left that meeting, Steve turned around to me and said: “I think we’re going to be starting all over again.” 

NARRATOR: His Excellency, President Husni al-Za'im, remained in power for less than six months.

MILES COPELAND: Four of his top commanders, men who’d helped him take over, were getting that same high-handed treatment from Za’im that we were getting and they didn’t like it either, understandably. I was woken up at 4 am one morning by gunfire coming from the presidential palace. I ran over there in my pajamas and, by the time I got there, it was over. He was dead. They dragged his body down the stairs. His head hit every step. 

NARRATOR: Over the next few years, Syria was rocked by a succession of violent military coups. The CIA’s actions had not brought democracy to the country. Far from it. In fact, it would never be the westernized foothold that the US desired in the Middle East.

MILES COPELAND: So we really didn’t learn everything we should have learned from this experience. I mean, that much is obvious. Look at the other coups that we were involved with in the Middle East. Look at Iran, for example, in ‘53. Cuba was worse, the Bay of Pigs in ‘61. But I was out by then. I think, eventually we’ve figured out that getting somebody into power is one thing but what happens next is a crapshoot.

NARRATOR: I’m Vanessa Kirby. Miles Copeland was voiced by his son, musician Stewart Copeland, who provided the materials that made this episode possible. Join us next week for another close shave with True Spies. We all have valuable spy skills, and our experts are here to help you discover yours. Get an authentic assessment of your spy skills, created by a former Head of Training at British Intelligence, now at SPYSCAPE.com.