One congenial day in Damascus in 1994, as we shared a flask of arak, the Arab novelist Abdelrahman Munif and I got on to the topic of the pains of leading a double life under an unnatural regime. Speaking very softly, he told me about a hunting trip he had recently taken in southwestern Syria with his friend Hamza al-Barqawi, in the wild desert outside Suwayda, and how when their conversation turned to domestic politics, they found themselves moving closer to each other and speaking in near-whispers, before coming to themselves and chuckling at these insecure instincts. But even then, they did not risk raising their voices when discussing the Assad family dictatorship.
- From In Obscura Part I: Adventures in the World of Intelligence by Peter Theroux
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