Thank you for the Joel R. update. His writings are uncanny in their accuracy and prophecy.
I know he’s not for everyone but I do enjoy his books. He wrote this on his blog this morning, which I thought was interesting: “As part of the research process I undertook for this novel, I had the incredible opportunity to sit down with two former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency, a current Prime Minister of a key Arab country, a former head of the Mossad in Israel, and other political, military and intelligence officials and Mideast experts.
One by one, they pointed me to the real and rising threat posed by a group once known as “Al Qaeda In Iraq” (AQI), that was morphing into “ISIS,” and has more recently become known as the “Islamic State” (IS).
Though just one year ago this month, President Obama told a reporter ISIS was not a serious threat — that it was merely a “JV” team — my research and reporting suggested otherwise.
This is why I made ISIS the central focus on the novel.”