Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil [Paperback]

Michael C. Ruppert (Author), Catherine Austin Fitts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

The attacks of September 11, 2001, were accomplished through an amazing orchestration of logistics and personnel. Crossing the Rubicon discovers and identifies key suspects—finding some of them in the highest echelons of American government—by showing how they acted in concert to guarantee that the attacks produced the desired result.

Crossing the Rubicon is unique not only for its case-breaking examination of 9/11, but for the breadth and depth of its world picture—an interdisciplinary analysis of petroleum, geopolitics, narcotraffic, intelligence and militarism—without which 9/11 cannot be understood.

The US manufacturing sector has been mostly replaced by speculation on financial data whose underlying economic reality is a dark secret. Hundreds of billions of dollars in laundered drug money flow through Wall Street each year from opium and coca fields maintained by CIA-sponsored warlords and US-backed covert paramilitary violence. America’s global dominance depends on a continually turning mill of guns, drugs, oil and money. Oil and natural gas—the fuels that make economic growth possible—are subsidized by American military force and foreign lending.

In reality, 9/11 and the resulting “war on terror” are parts of a massive authoritarian response to an emerging economic crisis of unprecedented scale. Peak Oil—the beginning of the end for our industrial civilization—is driving the élites of American power to implement unthinkably draconian measures of repression, warfare and population control. Crossing the Rubicon is more than a story. It is a map of the perilous terrain through which, together and alone, we are all now making our way.

Michael C. Ruppert is the publisher and editor of From the Wilderness, a newsletter read by more than 16,000 subscribers in 40 countries. A former Los Angeles Police Department narcotics investigator, he is widely known for his groundbreaking stories on US involvement in the drug trade, Peak Oil and 9/11.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ruppert's hefty book is meant to make us think and inspire us all to be courageous against the forces that want us to live in fear" - Nexus, December 2004.

About the Author

Mike Ruppert is the Publisher/Editor of From the Wilderness, a newsletter read by more than 16,000 subscribers in 40 countries. A former LAPD narcotics investigator, he is widely known for his groundbreaking stories on US involvement in the drug trade, Peak Oil and 9/11. His video on the latter, The Truth and Lies About 9-11, has sold more than 10,000 copies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 696 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers; Softcover Ed edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865715408
• ISBN-13: 978-0865715400
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 1.7 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (213 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > Reference
  • #78 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Public Affairs & Administration

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

291 of 303 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Message from the Author -- The Mike Ruppert November 8, 2004

By Michael C. Ruppert

Format:Paperback

Regarding the review from the_mirror.

I have never considered either Timothy McVeigh or Terry Nichols to be American heroes. Pawns, patsies and not very bright, yes; Heroes, never. Further, like many who are moderately familiar with the OKC bombing, I have serious doubts as to the government's version of events there and I also seriously doubt that a truck bomb caused all that damage based upon hard science.

Neither do I advocate or even remotely endorse any form of violence against the government, especially a cowardly attack against innocent women and children. I never have.

These convenient attempts to discredit me and Rubicon with associations we have never been a part of are transparent efforts that have been easily recognized by Amazon reviewers thus far.

I am, however, humbled and personally gratified by the reviews I have seen. They prove that people are getting it!

Michael C. Ruppert
Author
"Crossing the Rubicon"

205 of 214 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars HAVE INTERVIEWED RUPPERT TWICE ON-AIR and READ BOOK TWICE March 11, 2005

By M.T. Karthik

Format:Paperback

This book is important.

[it's NOT by Catherine Austin Fitts as first-credited above (she writes the introduction). The author is Michael Ruppert]

Crossing the Rubicon is comprehensive in scope and Ruppert uses well-honed investigative procedures to reveal key missing pieces in the investigation of 9/11/01. He also uses his vast knowledge of U.S. military procedure, protocol and policy to expose the inner workings of CIA, FBI, NSA, JCS, NORAD and FAA in detail that far exceeds that of the 9/11 Commission.

Ruppert composes circumstantial evidence, eyewitness accounts, and actual testimony of participating agents and agencies from mainstream news sources, from Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies, from the 9/11 Commission's activities and Report and from on-the-record interviews of instrumental figures who reveal facts not published anywhere else.

He takes focus on the "wargames" issue and exposes the FACT of numerous exercises conducted on 9/11 that included the use of false radar blips that clearly confused FAA, NORAD and JCS personnel, that resulted in the wildly distant assignment of aircraft, and that was the result of a very specific re-organizing and restructuring of air defense long before 9/11 and he thus comes to the conclusion of complicity and awareness by high-ranking members of the Bush Administration fairly.

Ruppert conjectures from his research as to how the events could have been orchestrated but does so by composing a specific narrative of FACTS, reproducing work he conducted on his website [including revealing immense increases in "put" options that evidence foreknowledge by monied interests] and conducting original research and interviews....

Ruppert identifies players who were involved, would have had to be involved and may have been involved and clearly points out amazing ommissions by the 9/11 Commission and 9/11 Truth researchers including the FACT that the deputy director of the National Military Command Center [a position required to coordinate NORAD,FAA and JCS in both wargames and real-world events] actually asked on September 10, 2001, to be absent from duty on September 11 between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. [the exact time of the attacks], that this did occur despite the fact the the hijackings and attacks were already taking place and that no one has ever received an explanation why. [further Ruppert reveals that the Officer who replaced this important defense coordinating position was a long-time Bush Administration friend recently qualified to hold the position as the result of Bush appointment who filed the shortest testimonial in all of the 9/11 Commission's requested written depositions]

Ruppert explores some fringe pursuits like the revelations of Vreeland, but far-more of the book is about the back-story, about the relevance of Peak Oil, about intelligence factors and about the workings of the U.S. military under conditions such as those on 9/11.

Having interviewed Ruppert twice for Pacifica Radio, I can say he is clear and direct on 9/11. He is not erratic or imprudent.

I, like many, have long suffered his overwriting, his penchant for vernacular and sometimes excessive language and pop metaphor, but his research and investigation is far too good to allow such failings to be relevant.

This book is too important to miss; understanding its contents is integral to understanding the U.S.A. under Bush and the New World Order. It also confirms lingering doubts and hundreds of unanswered questions as a result of the Bush Government narrative of what happened on September 11, 2001. Read more ›

549 of 604 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A word from the book's editor, Jamey Hecht November 10, 2004

By Jamey Hecht

Format:Paperback

I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone who has reviewed Crossing The Rubicon, and to everyone who has read the book. And a special thanks to those who have done both.

Let me reply to a recent review by a Mr. Watson. "Already some of his witnesses are unravelling as in the case of Mike Vreeland." The sentence starts with the plural, but it really refers only to Vreeland -- whom the book describes as utterly unreliable EXCEPT in the special case of his 911 warning. Why? Because the warning was a physical document whose authenticity and pre-9/11 provenance have been attested by Vreeland's lawyers, court records submitted under oath, interviews with the attorneys, former Canadian federal prosecutors, and news media. At no point does Ruppert's use of Vreeland depend on the latter's personal credibility.

Then Watson refers to the exchange between a "Victor Thorn" of "Wing TV" and Mr. Ruppert. For a complete and accurate account of the matter, including Wing TV's questions and Mike Ruppert's answers, see Ruppert's website, page:

[...]

Watson continues: "The improbability of such an event [9/11] being pulled off under the noses of every uninvolved government/military official is not discussed." It is discussed at length -- see pp. 2-4; 12-18; 103; 203-224; 291-306, et al.

"Ruppert asks us to believe that Bush/Cheney could pull 9/11 off with such precision and them fumble so publically with WMDs in trying to connect 9/11 with Saddam - which he states was their main reason for 9/11 - an excuse to grab the oil." Ruppert does not say any such thing. Nobody who had read this book could possibly come away with the view that the Iraq war was the "main reason" for 9/11.

"Plenty of dots, but not many connections.... Indeed, given enough dots, one can connect any kind of picture one wants." Yes, and this applies to the official story (the conspiracy of 19 highjackers and the man in the Afghan cave), and to the 26-volume "Warren Report," and to every other text. The job of an investigator, like that of a lawyer or an historian, is to configure an accurrate interpretation whose logic is more compelling than the others. This is achieved through a combination of sound evidence gathering and valid argumentation. Mr. Ruppert has produced both in abundance. Read more ›

102 of 108 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware: Anti-Ruppert Campaign Has Started! November 10, 2004

By Jason R. Stanson

Format:Paperback

Mike Ruppert is unquestionably a great American hero. His book, Crossing the Rubicon, is the single most important book written in the last fifty years at least. The Patriot Act, Homeland Security and the lies about WMDs in Iraq have created a growing sense of unease in the collective unconscious. As a result, a growing number of intellectuals and every day citizens are begining to see the Truth and more and more people are begining to wake up every day. Crossing the Rubicon is at the forefront of this new awareness. Most reviewers here have already done a great job summarizing the content of Mike's book. The many five star reviews are well deserved.

I want to write a note about the campaign to discredit Mike Ruppert and his book, a campaign which has apparently begun full blast. Another reviewer has already correctly noted how the few one-star reviews on this site follow the standard rules of organized disinformation campaigns. Through the use of innuendo, character assasination, and classic misdirection, several reviewers make it appear that the book rests its case on a handful of issues, such as the Vreeland case. In fact, all 696 pages are saturated with enough well documented and diverse evidence to prove the 911 criminal conspiracy many times over while adhering to the highest possible journalistic standards. Mike makes a case that could actually hold up in a court of law, whereas the establishment case for 911 could not even hold up in a high school debate. Quite a pathetic comment on the state of our society but I digress.

The most comically pathetic aspect of the disinformation campaign is a new "conspiracy website TV show" which proceeds to slam Ruppert in a laughable thirty-minute video. They make such shocking claims that Ruppert is "rude...impolite......a liar, blah, blah, blah" without offering anything substantive to back up their "claims". Anyone with even a degree of clear perception can clearly see that these people are either operatives with very poor acting skills or low grade actors hired by operatives. The lack of sincerity in their eyes, their nervous body language and laughable "faux-left-wing" wardrobe and demeanor betray an obvious Wag the Dog operation. A little research into their website and published books indicate that the entire operation has been slapped together in the last few months, no doubt to coincide with the publication of Crossing the Rubicon. This type of thing might fool the sheeple who think CNN is their friend. But those of us who have already seen the underbelly of the Propaganda Beast can only shake our heads in sad amusement. What a joke. Ruppert is wise to simply briefly address their libel on his own site but otherwise ignore them.

As Crossing the Rubicon gains ground, one can only imagine what new lows the disinformation campaign will hit. What's next? Websites that scream: Mike Ruppert Married Satan and Gave Birth to a Pink Alien Octopuss who Molested your Mother!! Don't TRUST HIM!!

Hang in there Mr. Ruppert. Heroes are rarely recognized in their own time. You may or may not get the adulation you deserve in this lifetime but your work will help many people survive the coming storm.

Generations will owe you. Read more ›