Former British Foreign Office official Chris Merritt joins us to discuss his time as a diplomat in Iraq, Gaza, and Jerusalem, including Basra’s deteriorating security situation, Iranian-backed militias, Hamas, the Fatah split, and the realities of doing diplomacy in war zones. He also breaks down how those experiences shaped his later work as a trauma psychologist and spy novelist, including Committed and his new book Octagon.
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"Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio"
00:00 — Start / Chris Merritt joins The Team House
01:02 — Growing up near London, languages, and the road toward foreign service
05:03 — Learning Arabic and getting drawn into Middle East geopolitics
06:08 — Applying to the British Foreign Office and surviving the assessment process
10:10 — First Foreign Office job and wanting something more active
12:18 — Volunteering for Iraq and deploying to Basra in 2005
17:04 — Britain’s role in southern Iraq and the worsening IED threat
19:03 — Diplomatic work in a war zone: gathering ground truth in Basra
23:47 — Iranian-backed militias, helicopter shootdowns, and the badger conspiracy
27:41 — “Aggressive diplomacy” and working alongside the British military
30:05 — Rockets, mortars, and watching Basra deteriorate
32:53 — SAS contacts, close protection, and hostile-environment training
39:15 — Jerusalem, Gaza, and working the Palestinian side of the conflict
43:53 — Hamas wins elections, the Fatah split, and Gaza’s power struggle
47:26 — Trying to understand Hamas without being allowed to talk to them
50:07 — The Alan Johnston kidnapping and negotiating through Gaza intermediaries
51:40 — Why the Israel-Palestine conflict felt increasingly impossible to solve
57:17 — Israel’s rightward shift, Gaza after October 7, and the future of the region
01:01:37 — Returning to London, Gulf policy, and shifting toward psychology
01:05:25 — Leaving the Foreign Office and retraining as a trauma psychologist
01:17:15 — From diplomacy and trauma work to writing novels
01:22:29 — Octagon: MI6, SAS, terror plots, and writing authentic spy fiction
01:24:21 — Why spy thrillers are having a resurgence
01:27:53 — Committed, Octagon, where to find Chris, and closing thoughts
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