Questions About See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism

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I see the movie 'Syriana' states to be loosely following Robert Baer's book. Exactly how loosely? I ask because I enjoyed the movie very much and prefer films based on fact and following the true story versus fiction.

J.M. Hushour I wouldn't use the word "loosely" so much as "hardly at all". Baer's book focuses on his long and lively career in the CIA with a focus on his work in…moreI wouldn't use the word "loosely" so much as "hardly at all". Baer's book focuses on his long and lively career in the CIA with a focus on his work in Beirut during the early 1980s and Central Asia and Iraq in the 90s. You won't find much familiar here from the movie. There are a few concluding chapters where Baer begins to dip into shady American oil politics (including some tasty bits where a Middle East oilman casually mentions shunting millions of Russian dollars into Clinton's election campaign). This was changed into a different scenario in the movie, as you can tell.
What in the movie is true? That's a difficult question to answer. Stephen Gaghan, the director of the movie met Baer and traveled to a lot of the places thinly disguised in the film, and was obviously influenced by a lot of what he learned and saw and people he met. Circling back to your original question, I don't see much of that in Baer's book. My copy says "The True Story that Suggested the major motion picture..." so maybe that's an easy way of saying it.(less)

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