76 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You can fool some of the people some of the time...", April 28, 2006
Ms Juhasz has really done her homework. The book is to be praised for giving us the nitty-gritty of what's going on with the attempt to steal Iraq's national wealth. Names are named, and the actual facts of the anatomy of the Bush Iraq policy are laid out. Notably, the fact that there was a highly detailed plan for post-invasion policy which is currently very much in place and proceeding: business as usual.
Anyone who takes the least notice of the contents of this incisive analysis can never again claim at the bottom line that we went into Iraq with any other than pure and simple profit motive (U.S. corporate profit, that is). None can again claim, in the face of the array of facts and dot-connections which Ms Juhasz has so diligently marshalled, that this war has any sort of ideological basis - other than a skewed neo-con vision of slave state capitalism - or that real concern for the "safety of the average American" was ever at its heart. What we are speaking of here is the flow of money - and Ms Juhasz has doggedly followed the money and mapped its flow. Herein, is the perspective from which future historians will adjudicate the moral justifications for this pre-emptive war. Never has the old platitude "The business of America is business" appeared as bald and as grisly in the face of the naked black and white. The must read book of the season.
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88 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A war against terror - or a quest for economic hegemony? Good discussion that gets below the rhetoric., April 25, 2006
It is quite apparent now that the signature decision of the George W Bush administration was the decision, made before any evidence was available, to invade Iraq. It was as if there was an agenda waiting for an excuse to unlock it. That's the thesis of this book: that Bush - or perhaps more correctly the Power Base behind George W - have an economic agenda that is now being rolled out relentlessly.
To quote Democracy Now! publication: "The book tracks the radical neo-liberal economic program the Bush administration has tried to impose on Iraq, which threatens to leave Iraq's economy and oil reserves largely in the hands of multinational corporations. It's an agenda, the book says, that the Bush administration is trying to bring to all corners of the globe."
I'm not completely certain of Anotinia Juhasz' argument. She has a philosophic leaning against Globalization as we know it, and meanwhile Bush seems to have been too random a President; too knee-jerk, too reactive, for this thesis to hold consistent weight. I'm not convinced that a president who scarcely had a view of foreign policy prior to entering the White House, should suddenly have developed a plan so sophisticated as we see in this book.
Between Rumsfeld, Bremer and the team however, there have been some huge dollars made from the War in Iraq. To cite the author in the LA Times:
"Although the military campaign is in chaos, the economic campaign is moving along quite nicely, at least for U.S. corporations and the Republican Party.
Halliburton, far and away the largest recipient of Iraq reconstruction dollars with about $18 billion in contracts, has seen revenues increase by 80% in the first quarter of 2004 compared with the same quarter of 2003, according to the Financial Times. These revenues reflect "steep profits from their Iraq operations."
Next in line is the Bechtel Group of San Francisco, with nearly $3 billion in Iraq reconstruction contracts. In fact, revenues generated outside the United States have increased by 158% since 2003 for Bechtel - turning around a three-year slump in that category. San Ramon-based ChevronTexaco has a contract to market Iraqi oil. Its profits have increased 90% during the first half of 2004 compared with the same period in 2003, for a total increase of more than $3 billion."
These profits are given an alarming degree of lock-in thanks to policies imposed by the Bush Presidency. There is no incentive, for example, for Bechtel or others to reinvest in Iraq. In other words war had put these enterprises in the the drivers' seat, and they are free to take their profits.
Is Iran next?
The strength of the volume is that it raises fresh ideas, fresh facts and fresh debate about America's changing role in today's uncertain world. The politics of oil are at the forefront of public concern, and so-too are the politics of globalism and employment: and the role of China. In this light, the book is a welcome read with a consistent argument, well argued facts to make it well worthy of serious debate - regardless of your own particular politics.
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clever, accessible - actually a page-turner!, April 28, 2006
"The Bush Agenda" by Antonia Juhasz is a very accessible but also rigorously scholarly book. I am fascinated by her clever, subtle wit - you'd think it would be hard to make a subject such as the dastardly story of economic globalization fun, but Juhasz does it. Interspersed with interesting bits of personal memoir (She was there at many historical moments), I have found the book very hard to put down. Her wry style is refreshing and makes for an intriguing, enlightening read.
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