The reason that viewers get confused is the character of George Clooney. Bob Barnes, the CIA man played by Clooney, is tangential to all three of the aforementioned plots. Really, the film needs him for only two task: to lose a Stinger in Iran and to botch an assassination in Lebanon. After or during the botched assassination, he ought to have been summarily wiped off, but, since Clooney is one of the executive producers of the film, Bob, alas, stays in the picture. The director and the scriptwriter therefore had to come up with some things for Bob to do, but they couldn't produce any plausible way to work Bob back in. They have Bob investigated, they have Bob's passports taken, they have Bob threaten Whiting, and (of all things) they have Bob go all the way (why?????) to Nasir's kingdom to warn Nasir of his impending assassination. Taking Bob out early and either chucking Mussawi (who exists in the film only for the sake of providing the audience with gratuitous violence anyway) out or at least giving Mussawi some (political or religious or even just mercenary) motives for his action would have improved the picture greatly. Plus, minus Bob in the last half of the picture, the film gains not only clarity but also enough room to make Meshal smarter and therefore make the succession struggle more gripping (it will then be a contest between two different but equally coherent political visions, rather than a conflict between intelligence and stupidity).
Still and all, the film is worth seeing. Mazhar Munir, who plays Wasim, and Jeffrey Wright, who plays Bennett Holiday, are outstanding. Chris Cooper as Jimmy Pope is solid. Alexander Siddig in the role of Nasir is quite charming also.
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>