House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties

Craig Unger has written a fantastic and shocking investigative piece that reads like a novel, but it's better than a novel, because this story is true. In "House of Bush, House of Saud," Unger not only explores the very close relationship between the Bush I, II and Reagan administrations to the Saudi royal family, he blows the lid off many myths regarding the war on terrorism. Most notable among his startling revelations is how the United States government largely created two monsters that would later come back to haunt us in a big way - Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.In the 1980s, during the Iran/Iraq war, the U.S. alternated funding both sides with weapons. During that war, the Reagan administration, while having the public stance of "not negotiating with terrorists," illegally sent 4,000 missiles to Iran, a violation of U.S. law, in order to free American hostages. Unger doesn't openly state it (he doesn't have to), but this is beyond contempt, considering Iran held 52 U.S. hostages from the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days from 1979-1981. I'd certainly call that negotiating with terrorists. But with this, Unger is just getting started.Our government was equally kind to Iraq during the war, supplying it with chemical and biological weapons. The Reagan administration was aware that Saddam was gassing both his own people and Iranians during the war. Publicly, we condemned the attacks, but privately, we winked at Saddam and looked the other way. Ironically, President George W. Bush cited these Saddam atrocities as a reason for going to war against Iraq in 2003 - that Saddam had used poison gas and chemical weapons against his own people. The hitch - he wasn't doing it in 2003, he was doing it in the 1980s and early 90s. And those mass graves that we are now finding? Many are from the same era, and our government knew about this genocide while it was occurring. Hey, Saddam may have been a brutal dictator in the 1980s, but he was OUR dictator, and he had the added attraction of having lots and lots of oil.Unger also explores the rise of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and how our government LAVISHLY funded the Afghan rebels during the Soviet invasion - almost certainly the right decision. But, we sold so many weapons to the Afghan rebels, they were selling an unneeded surplus to other buyers. We oversupplied the rebels. The main problem with our Afghanistan strategy was that the U.S. experts didn't anticipate what would happen if the rebels were successful, which they ultimately were. When the Soviets finally left Afghanistan, Osama, born in Saudi Arabia, needed a new enemy to fight. He was now flush with cash and weapons to fight with, the latter courtesy of the U.S.A. The United States became his perfect target, when our forces arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1991 to fight the Gulf War against Saddam. Our existence in the Saudi kingdom was and is unforgivable in the eyes of bin Laden.The book also covers in detail what's advertised - the very close, personal relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia. Incredibly, the highest levels of our government allowed over 100 Saudi nationals, including many members of the bin Laden family, to leave the United States just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, when private flights were still prohibited and commercial flights were just resuming. Another Unger whopper - just months prior to 9-11, the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia rolled out a "Visa Express" program, where Saudis did not even need to appear in person to get a visa to the United States. Some of the 9-11 hijackers didn't even have to wait in line to get their U.S. visa. This program remained in effect even after 9-11!My main praise for the book - it not only explores the Bush family-House of Saud intimate relationship, as advertised, but it also offers the reader an in-depth look at the U.S. government's role in supplying Osama bin Laden and Saddam before they became our sworn enemies. Other fascinating details covered, but that you'll have to get from the book and not here: the extensive PR campaign by the Kuwaiti government prior to the start of the '91 Gulf War to sway American public opinion; an extensive look at Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.; the bin Laden family history, its rise in Saudi Arabia, and the myth that the entire family has disowned Osama; how the Saudi government, despite very generous foreign aid, provided almost no assistance in helping to apprehend terrorists following attacks against U.S. citizens/soldiers in 1995, 1996 (Khobar towers) and the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole; and the right-wing, conservative myth that President Clinton turned down Sudanese offers to turn over bin Laden to the United States.Anyone wishing to gain a valuable understanding into our enemies and wars we are waging today in the name of terror should definitely read this book. Unger has a terrific writing style that flows well and is easily understood - I read the book in one day; I simply couldn't put down this compelling read. Very highly recommended.

I can only surmise that the copy of this book read by one of the reviewers below (`NO FACTS') must have had most of its pages missing - or that the reader is coming from a place where the definition of `facts' is radically different from the accepted one. Craig Unger's book is chock full of facts - he has done exhaustive research, which is meticulously annotated (there are nearly a thousand notes, some of them quite lengthy). Additionally, unlike many of his Right-leaning counterparts, he actually uses information from both sides of the `aisle' - what a concept! - which in turn leads to a straightforward look at the subject at hand. That subject is the incredibly intense and labyrinthine commingling of business, political and personal interests that tie the Bush family (and their friends and supporters) to the Saudi royal family. The ties that Unger documents so clearly go back over 30 years - and the ensuing time has done nothing to weaken them, at least up until the present. The tragic attacks of 9/11, the subsequent events and their fallout may have a different tale to tell when all is said and done.The crony capitalism and government-by-secrecy practiced by the Bush administration are laid bare here - the inside deals, the lucrative favors given and received, the about-faces in policy which have occurred when convenient, the end-justifying-the-means mentality that seems to govern everything they do. The facts laid out by Unger cannot be simply explained away as `coincidence' - and the actions of the administration to cover up their actions and their relationship with the Saudis merely demonstrate that they have something to hide. This book does a great service to America by exposing what has gone on `under the radar' - hopefully it will cause a lot of people to ask some vital questions. Who knows, maybe if enough people ask firmly enough, the questions will actually get answered - wouldn't that be refreshing?Why were dozens of Saudi citizens - including members of the bin Laden family - allowed to fly out of the US soon after the attacks on 9/11, when US air traffic was pretty much completely shut down? Why were the people on board these planes not at least interviewed by the FBI or other federal agencies who made such a show about protecting the `homeland'? Why did Bush suddenly change his position on the Middle East peace process - from a stated policy of non-involvement to one espousing a `road map for peace'? Why were so many of the high-rolling, high-contributing supporters of the Bush family given such powerful positions in his administration? Why is his administration being run with the highest level of secrecy in the modern era? Why has the administration actually WEAKENED the fights against terror by switching their focus from Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda - the actual perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks - to Saddam Hussein and Iraq, whom no less of a key player than George W. Bush now admits had `no ties with Al-Qaeda'?While Unger's opinion on these and other matters isn't hard to discern, his journalistic ethics and methods cannot be seriously questioned. He has garnered information from a variety of sources: Democrats, Republicans and Independents, dozens of present and past government officials both in the US and Saudi Arabia, friends and business associates of the Bush and Saud families, and others who are knowledgeable and expert in these matters. The result is eye-opening, and pretty scary - decisions that have affected the lives of thousands of people, military and civilian, in the US, Iraq and other countries, have been made as if they were business decisions, all the while being touted as acting the interests of `national security'. It's outrageous - and this well-written account is essential to understanding how this house of cards was built.The book deals with many serious, complex issues, and the result is surprisingly readable - it's also a vital tool that every American who plans to vote in November should read.

The book is damaged, bent & the cover has rips. Not happy at all with the quality

Good read