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Well-intentioned though many people may have imagined that the CIA probably thought they were, their foreign-policy operations were confused, duplicitous failures.

I do understand the basic structure, "Well-intentioned though they were"

But, I can't parse clearly "Well-intentioned though many people may have imagined that the CIA probably thought they were".

It just doesn't seem to be a relative clause though. Could you help me to understand the parenthesis?

My parsing is as follows:

The CIA probably thought (that) many people may have imagined [that they were well-intentioned]

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Many people

May have imagined

That the CIA probably thought

They were well-intentioned.

(People are imagining (the CIA thinking (the CIA were well-intentioned)))

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  • You are a lifesaver. – JYJ Feb 17 '19 at 12:11
  • I think you meant the CIA in your third sentence. – Jason Bassford Feb 17 '19 at 15:25
  • @JasonBassford Feel free to just correct such an obvious typo on my answers. – SamBC Feb 17 '19 at 15:26

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