Ghosts of Beirut

Good acting although the Middle East topic was and still is very very complicated, I feel that there was not enough data about mugniyeh, his background, his extreme ruthlessness that is not depicted enough, for example there is a story about him burning alive a three year old child of a south Lebanese Israeli collaborator.

Where he grew up, how he met Hassan nasserallah. So the series is good acting is good but they could've added two episodes at least for a more gripping intriguing story.

The amount of stories about the Middle East can be made to an entire season, Meir Dagan R. I. P the head of mossad then was quite a fascinating man himself.

Sitting in 2024 while the 10/7 war is still unfolding, this is a good reminder of the original events that led to the disaster we are facing today. "Radwan" is today the name of the Hezbollah unit that most threatens Israel. USA and the world allowed this monster to grow into a powerful Iranian proxy that threatens the region with hundreds of thousands of missiles (not a typo). A few quibbles: the English subtitles of Arabic spoken language are overlaid by the "regular" subtitles when turned on, making this tough to watch. The journalist interviews while informative, aren't really necessary for the educated viewer. Last words: God how could we have been so dumb?

So I just started watching this and finished episode 1. I will continue watching the story and will update my comment when I finish.

So far I am impressed with the story telling, the acting and production.

The story interests me and I recall watching this unfold in the news and having discussions with friends and others in my community. It was quite scary to learn about even though we didn't have the information speedway that is available now...but I like to think that there was a little more integrity in journalism. I'm interested to see how this story unfolds and compare it to what we were told at the time.

But I just had to comment now because one thing that has stood out for me so far is the relationship and dialogue between young Imad and his wife Saada. It resembles and reminds me so much of Michael and Kay (the Godfather). I can't help but think...same crap, same lies, broken promises, insincere reassurances and terms of endearment, same hell bent vendettas, hatreds that go on for thousands of years, "this Sicilian thing", everyone at the helm is guilty and responsible, different people, different place, different time. Nothing changes. Wives, mothers and innocent children pay the price and bear the pain.

Well, it seems that some people can't grasp that this is a dramatisation, based on real events, that took place in Beirut in the mid-80s. The facts that the some of the actual people involved in the incidents are talking about them at various points in each episode seems to have also passed them by.

The characters are well-drawn by the actors and it soon becomes clear that, at this time, many in the CIA were thoroughly incompetent when it came to understanding what was happening with the development of many radical Muslim groups in the Middle East. Most of them were completely clueless about what was going on Iran and how that was fomenting radicalism in Lebanon.

This is a very interesting miniseries that demonstrates the level of incompetence in the upper levels of the CIA.

As "Ghosts of Beirut" (2023 release; 4 Episodes of about 50-55 min each) opens, we are reminded that this mini-series is a "Fictional Account of Deeply Researched Events". We are in "Southern Iraq, January 20, 2007" and four SUV's brazenly enter a US base and kidnap several US military. We switch to the "CIA Tactical Headquarters" when a CIA agent claims that the kidnapping has all of the hallmarks of being orchestrated by Imad, the long sought after terrorist. We then switch to "Beirut 1982" where we get to know the young Imad. At this point we are less than 15 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: I can't recall ever having seen a movie or TV series with the disclaimer of being a "fictional account of deeply researched events". Do you? Of course, plenty of "based on" or "inspired by" or some such, but this particular wording? No. I have no idea how closely to the actual facts this mini-series sticks, As Episode 1 played out, it took me quite a while to figure out exactly what was going on. Many, many characters to sort out. Also what role exactly the US was playing in Lebanon in the early/mid 80s. By the end of Episode 1, though, things were much clearer, at least as far as figuring out the plot. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out from here.

"Ghosts of Beirut" started streaming on the Showtime app yesterday (Friday), and Episode 1 will actually be shown on SHO TV tomorrow (Sunday). The remaining 3 episodes will be released over the next 3 weekends. If you have any interest on geopolitical events in general, or in the Middle East in particular, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.