John Kent Cooley (November 25, 1927 – August 6, 2008) was an American journalist and author who specialized in islamist groups and the Middle East. Based in Athens, he worked as a radio and off-air television correspondent for ABC News and was a long-time contributing editor to the Christian Science Monitor.
Cooley was one of only a handful of Western journalists widely regarded and trusted in the Middle East as an expert on the area's history and politics. He interviewed several of the region's heads of state and was personally acquainted with the senior leadership of the PLO. His many awards include the Council on Foreign Relations' Fellowship for American Foreign Correspondents,[1] and the coveted George Polk Award for distinguished career achievement in international reporting. He was a key part of the ABC NewsPrime Time Live team that won an Emmy in 1990 for its investigation into the December 21, 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.[citation needed]
Cooley wrote in the Christian Science Monitor on May 23, 2002, that Jordan's General Intelligence Division (GID), which since the early 1990s has been tracking CIA and Pakistani-trained Arab guerrillas, intercepted an al-Qaeda communication between July 5 and August 6, 2001, deemed so important that it was relayed immediately by King Abdullah'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 Ourus al-Kabir — "The Big Wedding."[4]
