John K. Cooley is an American journalist and author who specializes in terrorism and the Middle East. Based in Athens, he works as a radio and off-air television correspondent for ABC News and is a long-time contributing editor to the Christian Science Monitor.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Cooley served in the American army in postwar Germany and Austria from 1946-7. Returning to America, he undertook his postgraduate studies at the New School University in Greenwich Village, New York, then began his journalistic career at the New York Herald Tribune. He lived in North Africa from 1953 to 1964, covering the Algerian war of independence for United Press International, NBC News and The Observer, and in 1965 became Middle East correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor in Beirut.

His journalistic awards include the Council on Foreign Affairs’ Foreign Correspondent Fellowship, and the coveted George Polk Memorial Award for distinguished career achievement in international reporting. He was also involved in the ABC News documentary on the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which won an Emmy in 1990.

Cooley is one of a handful of Western journalists who are widely regarded as experts on the Middle East's history and politics. A personal friend of the late King Hussein of Jordan, Cooley has interviewed many Arab heads of states, including Saddam Hussein and Colonel Gadaffi of Libya. He also interviewed Yasser Arafat many times and is personally acquainted with the senior membership of the PLO. Cooley and his wife Vania were among 90 foreign residents of the Intercontinental and Philadelphia hotels in Amman, Jordan, who were taken hostage in June 1970 by George Habash of the PFLP and held in the basement of the Intercontinental], in order to win concessions from King Hussein.

Cooley wrote in the International Herald Tribune on May 21, 2002 and in the Christian Science Monitor on May 23, 2002 [1] that the Jordanian General Intelligence Division (GID), which reports directly to King Abdullah, intercepted an al-Qaeda communication between July 5 and August 6, 2001 deemed so important it was relayed immediately by the King's men to Washington through the CIA station in the U.S. Embassy in Amman. It was also passed through an Arab intermediary to a German intelligence agent, allegedly to make sure it reached Washington. The communication stated that a major attack was planned for inside the U.S. and that aircraft would be used. The code name of the operation, wrote Cooley, was Al Ourush al-Kabir — "The Big Wedding."

Books and articles by John K. Cooley

• Baal, Christ, and Mohammed: Religion and revolution in North Africa, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965, ASIN B0006BM8NU
• Green March Black September: The Story of the Palestinian Arabs, Frank Cass & Co., 1973, ISBN 0714629871
• Libyan Sandstorm: The Complete Account of Qaddafi's Revolution, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1982, ISBN 0030604141
• Payback: America's Long War in the Middle East, Brassey's, 1991, ISBN 0080405649
• Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism, 2001, Pluto Press, ISBN 0745319173
• With Said, Edward, CIA et Jihad, 1950-2001: Contre l'URSS, une disastreuse alliance, Autrement, 2002, ISBN 274670188X
• An Alliance against Babylon: The U.S., Israel and Iraq, Pluto Press, 2005, ISBN 0745322824
• How Hate Replaced Hope Cooley's response to 9/11, Christian Science Monitor, September 27, 2001
• Other unheeded warnings before 9/11?, Christian Science Monitor, May 23, 2002