CIA

The CIA is presented as a powerful but uncertain presence in the characters’ explanations of war and political violence. Thomas Birdsey associates it with profit and the bloodshed he believes underlies American policy; later, he accuses it of targeting him during his confinement. The novel reports these as Thomas’s claims, not as verified CIA actions.

War and Political Power

During Thomas’s address to the Security Board, he links the CIA to George Bush and argues that war is profitable. His account ranges across the Trail of Tears, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the conditions faced by children in urban ghettos, connecting historical and contemporary injustices to profit and the price of crude oil. The CIA enters this sweeping argument as part of Thomas’s indictment of the political and economic forces he believes sustain violence.

Thomas’s Accusations

Thomas also tells the Board that the CIA pays men to wake him at night and make him impure in order to demoralize him. He insists that the effort has failed and casts himself as chosen to oppose an unholy war. These accusations belong to his persecutory and religiously charged understanding of events; the cited scenes do not establish that the CIA is actually involved in his treatment.

Rumor and Dominick’s Perspective

Later, while listening to news about Saddam setting oil wells on fire, Dominick hears speculation that the CIA, the Israelis, or someone within Saddam’s own ranks might kill him. The range of proposed actors leaves the threat unresolved. Dominick’s bitter response to the report—connecting military success with money and power—echoes the political logic Thomas had attributed to the CIA, while remaining distinct from Thomas’s claims about a personal campaign against him.

Narrative Significance

Across these scenes, the CIA is less a directly observed organization than a name through which the characters interpret hidden power. Thomas folds it into a comprehensive theory of war, profit, and persecution; the broadcast presents it as one possibility among several in a political rumor. That difference preserves uncertainty: the novel shows how the institution figures in the characters’ explanations without confirming their suspicions.