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The Gray Bird of Baghdad: An Ex-Secret Service Agent's Desperate Mission to Save an Iraqi Scientist
A missing Iraqi scientist, an ex-Secret Service agent, and the threat of another biological terrorist attack--all these elements come together in the gripping true story of the Gray Bird of Baghdad.
Iraqi Microbiologist Thamer Abdul Rahman Imran has information vital to stopping the unthinkable: a biological attack on the US. When he learns that the new Iraqi government wants to arrest him and the insurgents want to kill him, he goes into hiding.
Racing against time, ex-Secret Service agent Steve Monteiro and his team set out on a mission to find the missing scientist and learn what he knows. The journey takes Steve and his team from the White House to the Middle East as they fight bureaucrats in Washington who want them to fail. Why? And what is this vital information that Thamer possesses?
The Gray Bird of Baghdad tells the true story of one's man's quest to protect his country and another man's fight to save his family from the ravages of a country at war.
Iraqi Microbiologist Thamer Abdul Rahman Imran has information vital to stopping the unthinkable: a biological attack on the US. When he learns that the new Iraqi government wants to arrest him and the insurgents want to kill him, he goes into hiding.
Racing against time, ex-Secret Service agent Steve Monteiro and his team set out on a mission to find the missing scientist and learn what he knows. The journey takes Steve and his team from the White House to the Middle East as they fight bureaucrats in Washington who want them to fail. Why? And what is this vital information that Thamer possesses?
The Gray Bird of Baghdad tells the true story of one's man's quest to protect his country and another man's fight to save his family from the ravages of a country at war.
- GenresEspionage
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 30, 2022
19 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 19, 2024
It looks like I’m moving away from my former decision not to rate memoirs, lol. In all seriousness, though, I think what I’ve decided is that I’m open to rating some memoirs- but only after careful consideration. I do not take other people’s traumas lightly, and I believe that’s what’s made me feel averse to rating many in the past. But when a book doesn’t involve trauma, or when I’m rating it less than five stars for deliberate reasoning other than minimizing that trauma or experience, then I feel it’s fair game.
Because The Gray Bird of Baghdad was essentially a feel-good story about a recently retired Secret Service agent, given one final assignment to locate an Iraqi biochemical engineer, an agent who didn’t come to any harm in pursuit of this goal, I don’t feel like a terrible person for just giving it an average three-star rating.
Don’t get me wrong: I think it’s remarkable what Steve Monteiro and his barebones team accomplished, and it’s nice to know that there are career D.C. defense workers who care about particular individuals - rather than simply serving as cogs in a machine. Monteiro begins his story telling us how he worked rescue operations at Ground Zero, and how, like so many other Americans after 9/11, wanted to make those responsible pay for the hurt and suffering they’d inflicted on our country.
Yet with the mission of rescuing this Iraqi scientist (basically forced into doing this job under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial regime) Monteiro, after some time, stops seeing Iraqis as the enemy, especially the scientist-turned-friend in question, Thamer Imran.
Instead, he sees how Thamer and his family were simply living their normal lives (normal for them, that is) until the Americans showed up and turned not just his, but many other innocent civilians’, world(s) upside down in an utterly immoral and pointless war. Basically, he sees how closely Thamer’s own life - his career, his marriage, and kids - parallel that of his own, thousands of miles away.
As other reviewers have pointed out, it’s still a good read, and I’m happy Monteiro was able to tell not just his story, but that of an everyday Iraqi whose life was inalterably changed by our military’s actions.
Some of the scenes even managed to be funny, with Monteiro bringing Thamer, a very conservative man, to Miami’s South Beach for interviews : “Upon taking in his expression and his utter embarrassment after being caught looking at the topless women casually rollerblading by, I wondered if perhaps I’d made a mistake in choosing Miami Beach for our meetings - given its party atmosphere and rather lax laws concerning nudity.” - not verbatim, btw, but it does get the message across.
It appeared on my recommended books to read on GR, and as I’ve pretty much alluded to, it seems to be self-published; a story the author just wanted to get out there more for the sake of telling it, rather some unfulfilled journalistic dream he’d always longed to fulfill, to demonstrate his writing prowess.
It’s very to the point and unfortunately is a bit tedious (as reviewers have mentioned) when describing bureaucratic obstacles and the frustration involved in overcoming these obstacles. It could have been summed up in a lot less detail, but it’s a still a quick, lighthearted read that if you’re interested in, I don’t think you’ll regret reading.
All my gratitude and appreciation for Steve, his crew, and all American servicemen and women. Thank you for keeping our country safe; veterans are amazing and deserve all of the support in the world.
Because The Gray Bird of Baghdad was essentially a feel-good story about a recently retired Secret Service agent, given one final assignment to locate an Iraqi biochemical engineer, an agent who didn’t come to any harm in pursuit of this goal, I don’t feel like a terrible person for just giving it an average three-star rating.
Don’t get me wrong: I think it’s remarkable what Steve Monteiro and his barebones team accomplished, and it’s nice to know that there are career D.C. defense workers who care about particular individuals - rather than simply serving as cogs in a machine. Monteiro begins his story telling us how he worked rescue operations at Ground Zero, and how, like so many other Americans after 9/11, wanted to make those responsible pay for the hurt and suffering they’d inflicted on our country.
Yet with the mission of rescuing this Iraqi scientist (basically forced into doing this job under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial regime) Monteiro, after some time, stops seeing Iraqis as the enemy, especially the scientist-turned-friend in question, Thamer Imran.
Instead, he sees how Thamer and his family were simply living their normal lives (normal for them, that is) until the Americans showed up and turned not just his, but many other innocent civilians’, world(s) upside down in an utterly immoral and pointless war. Basically, he sees how closely Thamer’s own life - his career, his marriage, and kids - parallel that of his own, thousands of miles away.
As other reviewers have pointed out, it’s still a good read, and I’m happy Monteiro was able to tell not just his story, but that of an everyday Iraqi whose life was inalterably changed by our military’s actions.
Some of the scenes even managed to be funny, with Monteiro bringing Thamer, a very conservative man, to Miami’s South Beach for interviews : “Upon taking in his expression and his utter embarrassment after being caught looking at the topless women casually rollerblading by, I wondered if perhaps I’d made a mistake in choosing Miami Beach for our meetings - given its party atmosphere and rather lax laws concerning nudity.” - not verbatim, btw, but it does get the message across.
It appeared on my recommended books to read on GR, and as I’ve pretty much alluded to, it seems to be self-published; a story the author just wanted to get out there more for the sake of telling it, rather some unfulfilled journalistic dream he’d always longed to fulfill, to demonstrate his writing prowess.
It’s very to the point and unfortunately is a bit tedious (as reviewers have mentioned) when describing bureaucratic obstacles and the frustration involved in overcoming these obstacles. It could have been summed up in a lot less detail, but it’s a still a quick, lighthearted read that if you’re interested in, I don’t think you’ll regret reading.
All my gratitude and appreciation for Steve, his crew, and all American servicemen and women. Thank you for keeping our country safe; veterans are amazing and deserve all of the support in the world.
October 13, 2023
An interesting story, but not particularly well-written. Could easily have been a magazine article if all the expected governmental delays are edited out--hard to get approval from bureaucrats, hard to secure travel visas, impossible booking flights out of Iraq for a "wanted" man with no papers, and then navigating treacherous travel in a war-torn country. It is a virtuous adventure with a happy ending but the timeline is exhausting. Kudos to Monteiro and his two compadres for pulling off this extraction of an anthrax specialist.
April 19, 2023
Loved seeing hard work pay off
A great read that reminded me that it is people like my good friend Steve who make good things happen.
A great read that reminded me that it is people like my good friend Steve who make good things happen.
April 20, 2023
Compelling story, narrated ably by the person making everything happen. And, it's true! One of those behind the scenes stories honestly chronicling the nightmares of war and how ordinary people suffer, that we forget about when it's not happening in our country. This book keeps you cheering for the "good guys" throughout.
August 26, 2022
For me personally, this was the best non-fiction action and adventure book I have read. Riveting, compelling, heartbreak and heroism best describe the events which took place on this special operations mission. The author, former Secret Service Special Agent in charge Stephen Phillip Monteiro, takes you up close to Ground Zero in New York. Monteiro shares his personal accounts of sadness and bewilderment being on the ground during the events of September 11, 2001. These events would ultimately lead Special Agent Monteiro in a heart pounding pursuit for the Gray Bird of Baghdad.
October 15, 2022
Very much enjoyed this book. I was captivated from start to finish. Definitely recommend this book
May 6, 2025
My husband and I read this book together and truly enjoyed it. Before we started it, I thought it to be a “war“ story book, which is not the kind of read that I typically go for.
My husband, on the other hand, being retired army, was looking forward to hearing a good war story.
As we turned the pages, we began to find out that this was much more than a war story. The author has disclosed a side of war that we as a reader, and a civilian, very rarely get to see or hear about.
We’ve all heard from various news sources the results of the Iraqi war as far as the innocent American lives that were lost, yet little have we heard about the innocent Iraqi’s who also were fighting for, or who lost their lives in the war.
(FYI- my husband, and my son both served in the Iraqi war).
We can tell you that one should not fly through these pages, yet soak them in one by one - very slowly.
This is a very good read, not only about what goes on in an international terrorist/war (on bioterrorism) investigation, but a heartfelt and thought provoking situation which led to true friendship.
This book ultimately inspires the reader to reconsider their pre-judged prejudices & discriminations, as well as hatred, and instead to lighten their hearts as we never know when, where and how we will find a friend.
We recommend for those who have not read the book yet, wait no longer! Let this be your next book, and get your read on! You will learn much, laugh, cry, be surprised, and definitely ride the roller coaster of danger, torture, suspense & horrific events.
M&A P
My husband, on the other hand, being retired army, was looking forward to hearing a good war story.
As we turned the pages, we began to find out that this was much more than a war story. The author has disclosed a side of war that we as a reader, and a civilian, very rarely get to see or hear about.
We’ve all heard from various news sources the results of the Iraqi war as far as the innocent American lives that were lost, yet little have we heard about the innocent Iraqi’s who also were fighting for, or who lost their lives in the war.
(FYI- my husband, and my son both served in the Iraqi war).
We can tell you that one should not fly through these pages, yet soak them in one by one - very slowly.
This is a very good read, not only about what goes on in an international terrorist/war (on bioterrorism) investigation, but a heartfelt and thought provoking situation which led to true friendship.
This book ultimately inspires the reader to reconsider their pre-judged prejudices & discriminations, as well as hatred, and instead to lighten their hearts as we never know when, where and how we will find a friend.
We recommend for those who have not read the book yet, wait no longer! Let this be your next book, and get your read on! You will learn much, laugh, cry, be surprised, and definitely ride the roller coaster of danger, torture, suspense & horrific events.
M&A P
March 12, 2023
This book came up as a FB ad a few weeks ago and I was intrigued by the description. Reading it I realized it was the account of an operation I was part of. As an eyewitness to the fact there is no black and white in war and bureaucracy reigns supreme, I can say Steve does a great job of telling his story as we were able to help him. I had no idea how Imran’s story ended as I left Iraq before the book concludes. Steve’s attention to detail and realistic writing style captured the anxiety, and adrenaline.
Nice work my friend. Thanks for telling the story no one would have known about without your work.
Nice work my friend. Thanks for telling the story no one would have known about without your work.
July 23, 2024
What an amazing book. I was so intrigued that I stopped reading the book to find out more about the author. The writing full of pure and honest emotion that I was on the journey with him. I saw the good, bad, and ugly in humanity … without anyone being condemned. Some parts I read over again so I could clearly understand the emotions and reality of the moment. Well done indeed. This book will be a repeat read for me!
March 19, 2025
Very interesting to read how a scientist is removed from Iraq following the war .
Definitely a difficult task , particularly when he goes missing and has been released by the Americans.
The book certainly tells it how it was. The rage felt by the whole country following 9/11 lays bare the hatred that preceded the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
Definitely a difficult task , particularly when he goes missing and has been released by the Americans.
The book certainly tells it how it was. The rage felt by the whole country following 9/11 lays bare the hatred that preceded the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
March 12, 2023
When reading The Gray Bird of Baghdad, keep in mind the impressive mental fortitude required to compartmentalize and protect information, then show-up at your friend’s barbecue as if you had a ‘regular day at the office’.
I highly recommend this book.
Good, quick read.
I highly recommend this book.
Good, quick read.
November 19, 2022
Very engaging read!
May 3, 2023
Excellent story! Definitely recommend.
May 21, 2024
This is an excellent book that is well written and incredibly interesting. Highly recommend!!
January 14, 2023
A Secret Service agent's genuine efforts to save an Iraqi Biotechnology weapon scientist, Thamer Imran. It was never a war on WMD, miscalculations by the Americans? or the motive was Iraqi oil. Thousands dead and misplaced, a country in the worst state after the disposition of the dictator. The land was devasted on the pretext of building a nation—a good read of a non-fiction book.
October 18, 2023
Former Special Agent in Charge Stephen Monteiro’s background and experience with the U. S. Secret Service put him in a unique position to write about an appalling view of internal bureaucratic misfeasance and political hedging. His story is a must-read revelation of how a most unusual friendship evolved out of a post-9/11 hatred in the backdrop of a terrible war.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews