Sunday, April 26, 2009

A Polish Spy: a record of lies

I read A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country, by Benjamin Weiser. It is really a lousy book: badly written. A former metro reporter of the Washington Post decides to write about a foreign policy story only because the former Polish spy lived in the metro area of DC. I have mentioned this before: I knew the eldest son of Kuklinki because I knew his girlfriend in the 1980s although I was not told about the true identity of the father of the family. The son was an extreme right-winger with whom I clashed as I saw them socially and his girlfriend was best friends with my 1st ex-wife (not to be confused with my 2nd ex-wife). The book here can't be trusted: it is entirely and uncritically based on the US government's account. And the portrayal of the Polish spy is so unaccurate: he is potrayed as a doting and loving father when I knew that he was a cruel and cold tryant who made everybody in his family miserable. The book does not mention that the eldest son later shot himself although the father told the press that he died in an accident. The spy was a liar all his life, and I dont think he ever was capable of telling the truth on anything.