The John Batchelor Show

Australian Ashes Team Struggles with Injuries Ahead of Cricket Series Jeremy Zakis The conversation revolves around the upcoming Ashes cricket contest in Perth between Australia and England. Jeremy Zakis expresses anxiety over the increasing injury list plaguing the Australian side, noting that key all-rounder Cameron Green sustained a back injury and may miss the first Test. Captain Pat Cummins is also likely to miss the first, and possibly the second, game due to shoulder injuries. John Batchelor suggests the Australian team might be "too old" and relying on a conservative style of cricket, contrasting with England's aggressive "Bazball" approach. Although early betting suggested England was favored, updated odds now show Australia as the clear favorite (1.71 odds) due to the advantage of hosting the games in their familiar hot summer environment. 1858 NSW

Meteorology Bureau Abandons Cyclone Forecasts Amidst Extreme Australian Weather Jeremy Zakis Jeremy Zakis reports that the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has stopped issuing cyclone forecasts for Western Australia for the first time in 50 years. The BOM admitted its models are failing due to unexpected ocean temperatures and upper atmosphere warming, resulting in unpredictable forecasts. New South Wales has experienced highly erratic weather, including the "hottest October ever" and three seasons—winter's end, spring, and the start of summer—in just two days. The warm temperatures are driving residents to the beaches and pools. Although recent rain has provided abundant food for wildlife, Jeremy warns that the currently lush grass will quickly become tinder dry, creating a severe bushfire hazard if lightning storms arrive before more rain. 1952 QUEENSLAND

Vet Antivenom Saves Child After Hospital Stock Depleted; Venomous Sea Snake Causes Wildlife Sanctuary Evacuation Jeremy Zakis The segment covers two significant snake-related incidents. A venomous sea snake, rescued from the coastline by a Good Samaritan, was dropped off at the Coffs Wildlife Sanctuary. Because sea snakes panic and become aggressive and unpredictable on land, the sanctuary had to be evacuated for two hours while specialized snake catchers were called in. Separately, an 11-year-old girl bitten by a tiger snake in South Australia was rushed to Port Augusta Hospital, which had run out of antivenom. A quick-thinking doctor secured a vial of antivenom from a local veterinarian, confirming that the antivenom used for animals is effective for treating humans in emergencies, saving the girl's life.

8. The Triumph, the Skepticism, and the Legacy of the Sisterhood Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA Even with high-level attention on the bin Laden compound, the targeters faced continued doubt and hesitation from senior operational leadership, a symptom of the CIA's humiliation over 9/11 and the bad intelligence regarding WMDs in the Iraq War. Nevertheless, the "ground-level targeters" were "very close to 100% confident" in their precision, using detailed aerial imagery analysis, including counting the laundry on the line, to determine the number of people and families inside the compound. When the SEALs raided the compound, they were astonished by the precision of the targeters' intelligence. In retirement, key figures like Barbara Sude and Heidi August continued their lives. The women later gathered at a writers' retreat for a cathartic moment, drinking wine and reading aloud the memoirs of the men they had worked for, often "shouting with frustration." The book also notes that the character of Maya (from Zero Dark Thirty) was based on a single woman who left the agency unpromoted.

7. Targeting and Tragedy: The Death of Jennifer Matthews and the Courier Hunt Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA In the post-9/11 era, finding bin Laden became the CIA's primary targeting task. Jennifer Matthews, a dedicated member of Alec Station since the mid-1990s, was chief of station at Khost, Afghanistan, providing targeting information for drone attacks. In 2009, Matthews and several other CIA officers were tragically killed when a source they believed would lead them to bin Laden revealed himself to be a suicide bomber (sent directly from bin Laden). This galvanized the hunt. Since bin Laden avoided 21st-century technology, targeters like Rachel and Maya (pseudonyms) had to develop methods to trace him indirectly. This involved sifting old data, using new technology, and tracing the human relationships of his couriers—the people who used technology and communicated with the inner circle. They ultimately identified Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, bin Laden's courier and bodyguard, and began tracking his movements.

6. The 9/11 Failure and the Cold War Mindset Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA Leading up to 9/11, the women of Alec Station had been repeatedly warning that al-Qaeda had the capability to attack the United States. On 9/11, the CIA learned of the attacks via CNN, confirming the women's "sick inevitability." While CIA Director George Tenet evacuated the headquarters due to the threat of a plane attack, the Counterterrorism Center staff remained at their posts, working 24/7 to prevent a second wave. The women faced a reckoning afterward, being blamed for failing to connect the dots, despite previous internal struggles to get their analysis published. Adding to the difficulty, the incoming Bush administration, composed largely of "Cold Warriors," struggled to recognize a stateless terror organization as a legitimate, existential threat, focusing instead on traditional state adversaries with armies and capitals. Furthermore, historical failures like the Waco incident made the Clinton administration hesitant to approve operations against bin Laden due to fears of collateral damage.

3. Learning Tradecraft on the Job: Heidi August's Rise from Clerk to Operative Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA Heidi August proved her competence in Africa, learning tradecraft such as making dead drops. While working in Europe for David Whipple—an eccentric and anti-feminist mentor—she continued to develop her logistical skills, often running operations and handling people being exfiltrated from Soviet-occupied countries. Although Whipple preached against "women's lib," he recognized Heidi's capabilities. Unlike male case officers (the "fighter pilots of the CIA") who received prestigious training at "the farm," Heidi, hired as a clerk, learned her skills on the job. She eventually demonstrated the skills of a recruiter when she initiated a recruitment against Whipple's initial rejection, targeting a woman clerk from another country. She used elicitation skills to identify the target's vulnerability—a desire for revenge against her bosses—and successfully obtained critical communications technology, cementing her reputation as a capable officer.

4. The Birth of the Counterterrorism Center and Early Warnings of Bin Laden Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA Following the Cold War, the CIA lacked a clear mission. However, a terrifying series of terrorist incidents in the mid-1980s, including the 1985 Malta hijacking handled by Heidi August, led to the formation of the small, low-prestige Counterterrorism Center (CTC). Heidi, traumatized after calling the mother of a dead civilian victim, chose to devote her career to fighting terrorism. The CTC, located in an undesirable office, attracted an odd assortment of people, including future key figures like analysts Cindy Storer and Barbara Sude. Cindy Storer, initially relegated to the Afghanistan desk, was the first to recognize the threat posed by Arab jihadist fighters dispersing globally and being funded by a mysterious financier: Osama bin Laden. Despite gathering critical intelligence, the CTC's analysts (Directorate of Intelligence—DI) struggled to be heard, facing contempt from the clandestine spies (Directorate of Operations—DO) and difficulty publishing their findings due to required corporate buy-in.

3. Learning Tradecraft on the Job: Heidi August's Rise from Clerk to Operative Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA Heidi August proved her competence in Africa, learning tradecraft such as making dead drops. While working in Europe for David Whipple—an eccentric and anti-feminist mentor—she continued to develop her logistical skills, often running operations and handling people being exfiltrated from Soviet-occupied countries. Although Whipple preached against "women's lib," he recognized Heidi's capabilities. Unlike male case officers (the "fighter pilots of the CIA") who received prestigious training at "the farm," Heidi, hired as a clerk, learned her skills on the job. She eventually demonstrated the skills of a recruiter when she initiated a recruitment against Whipple's initial rejection, targeting a woman clerk from another country. She used elicitation skills to identify the target's vulnerability—a desire for revenge against her bosses—and successfully obtained critical communications technology, cementing her reputation as a capable officer.

2. Heidi August Witnesses the Gaddafi Coup and CIA Restrictions on Marriage Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA The story moves to Heidi August, a college graduate and political science major hired by the CIA in 1969 as a GS-3 or GS-4 clerk-secretary. On her first posting in Tripoli, Libya, she displayed the necessary characteristic of a spy—the willingness to go out when hearing something dangerous. Heidi was the first American officer to recognize that Muammar Gaddafi was fomenting a coup, catching the male leadership of the station completely flatfooted. She, along with a friend, drove through gunfire to successfully "burn out" the station (opening safes and destroying classified files) using techniques learned only from a training video. Despite this bravery and competence, she remained a clerk. The agency culture at the time (before EEOC laws) explicitly required women serving overseas in a clandestine capacity not to marry or have children; they would be forced to resign if they did.

1. The OSS Origins and the "Get the Food, Mary" Moment Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA Liza Mundy's book explores the history of women in US intelligence, beginning with Mary Bancroft during World War II, a time when the US needed to rapidly build intelligence capabilities (in 1941, the US had no spy agencies). Bancroft, a college-educated woman who spoke German and French, was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). She began by writing vital open-source reports from neutral Switzerland. She was later recruited by Allen Dulles to be his right-hand woman, assisting with intelligence analysis and collection. Bancroft also handled a key German double agent plotting Hitler's assassination. Despite her critical role, she often faced dismissive treatment; in one meeting, Dulles famously ordered her, "get the food, Mary." This exemplified the common experience where OSS women—who were often highly educated and high-earning—were relegated to secretarial work and denied credit for their substantial contributions. 1894

8. The Tishreen Uprising and Call for Accountability By 2019, kleptocratic party bosses and militia commanders siphoned $20 billion annually, causing unemployment despite oil wealth, with youth seeing corruption as biggest threat. Tishreen Uprising was rare trans-sectarian moment protesting elite corruption, including poor Shia denouncing Shia clergy, with women playing major roles. Though brutally suppressed with hundreds dead, "spirit of Tishreen" remains, but fundamental problem after 20 years is lack of accountability for those who perpetrated war and invasion. Retry

7. Battle for Mosul and Post-War Corruption ISIS with 20,000 foreigners established brutal caliphate but alienated local Sunnis within two months, leading to defeat through house-to-house warfare causing massive PTSD among Iraqi forces and civilians. Post-battle Mosul suffers not from war damage but widespread corruption and militia control over economic sectors and smuggling, with survivors later losing relatives to corruption-caused tragedies like ferry sinkings.

6. Ramadi's Infighting and ISIS Infiltration Ramadi saw tragic infighting among Sunni tribal elders utilizing outside powers to increase influence, unable to form coherent political project while US treated them monolithically. Market scenes devolved into chaos with 14 factions fighting simultaneously. After Al-Qaeda's defeat, no one expected jihadis' return, but Maliki's sectarianism and security forces' corruption created societal crack that disciplined ISIS forces infiltrated, while Iran's influence existed since Americans entered Baghdad.

5. Maliki's Corruption and Road to ISIS During 2011-2013, Baghdad was unrecognizable, divided by concrete walls into sectarian neighborhoods, with Maliki pursuing sectarian policies targeting Sunni figures while building government on corruption and patronage. Military became money-making machine with "ghost soldiers," weakening army before ISIS emerged. Al-Qaeda resurrected amid Syrian chaos while Sunni leaders aligning with jihadis during 2012 "Friday of Anger" demonstrations proved disastrous as Maliki's forces collapsed, allowing ISIS to present as "liberator."

4. Saddam's Trial and Maliki's Revenge Abdullahad saw Saddam twice—as powerful youth icon then frail defendant in a trial that became "parody of justice," allowing Saddam to re-dignify himself in Arab consciousness. After December 2006 execution, Saddam's body went to Maliki's house, revealing "petty sectarian mentality." Civil war ended with Sunni defeat, former resistance figures like Hamid who opposed Al-Qaeda disappeared, and hundreds of thousands of educated Iraqis fled.

3. Return of Exiles and Rise of Sectarian War American blunders included disbanding the army and Ba'ath party while returning exiles "frozen in time" whom Iraqis distrusted but Americans relied upon. Resistance began with nationalists like Hamid fighting to restore honor, recognizing danger from foreign jihadis flooding borders seeking Islamic state rather than preserving Iraq. Zarqawi facilitated sectarian quagmire but conditions were created by Americans, exiles, and jihadis, with Mahdi Army becoming death squads dumping hundreds of Sunni bodies at Sada dam.

2. Saddam's Evolution and Imposed Sectarianism Abdullahad's first war memory was 1980's Iran-Iraq conflict, leading to bankruptcy and Kuwait invasion amid pervasive militarization. Saddam, initially a pan-Arab revolutionary called "leader of necessity," shifted after Kuwait defeat to pious tribal leader leveraging religion to extend authority. Iraqi society in the 1980s-90s was defined by class and birthplace, not sect—destructive Sunni-Shia conflict was imposed after 2003, created in exile to market regime change.

1. The American Invasion and Start of Chaos The April 2003 American arrival in Baghdad saw Saddam's statue toppled before foreign journalists rather than Iraqi crowds, with contradiction between heavily armed US presence and citywide looting while the Iraqi Museum was ransacked but Ministry of Oil secured. Iraqis initially believed Americans would bring prosperity, leading to disappointment over "criminal negligence," with Abdullahad becoming an accidental journalist after bribing his way out of detention.

1. The American Invasion and Start of Chaos The April 2003 American arrival in Baghdad saw Saddam's statue toppled before foreign journalists rather than Iraqi crowds, with contradiction between heavily armed US presence and citywide looting while the Iraqi Museum was ransacked but Ministry of Oil secured. Iraqis initially believed Americans would bring prosperity, leading to disappointment over "criminal negligence," with Abdullahad becoming an accidental journalist after bribing his way out of detention. 1600