I found this nice little story about John Cooley:
In his typical self-effacing manner, [John] Cooley prefaced Payback by recounting how Joe Alex Morris, a friend killed during the first stages of the Iranian revolution while reporting for the Los Angeles Times, cautioned him about taking his expertise too seriously.
"Never consider yourself an expert on the Middle East. If you do, you're already in deep trouble," Morris told Cooley.