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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read, September 26, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Crude Politics : How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism (Hardcover)
The general theme of the book is that practically every action that has been taken by the United States government since September 11 has been directed toward gaining access to lucrative oil and natural gas rights as opposed to seriously trying to find Osama bin Laden and eliminate the rest of Al Qaeda. This book is exceptionally well documented. The author, Paul Sperry, is a conservative Republican. In the book Sperry introduces us to Zalmay Khalilzad a native Afghan who earned a doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago and ended up working for Paul Wolfowitz at the State Department and later the Department of Defense during the Reagan administration. During the Clinton years Khalilzad worked as a consultant for Unocal and became its principal strategist in trying to facilitate the construction of an oil and natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan and other countries in Central Asia, through Afghanistan to the Pakistan coast where it could be loaded onto tankers to serve the growing East Asia market. Khalilzad ended up heading the Bush Cheney transition team for the Defense Department and later was appointed special presidential assistant and senior director for Persian Gulf, Southwest Asia, and other regional issues of the National Security Council. He reports directly to Condoleeza Rice. He essentially authored the administration strategy for dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan after September 11. He directly intervened during the loya jirga that was held after the ouster of the Taliban to ensure that Hamid Karzai was elected the new leader of Afghanistan (two other candidates dropped out of consideration after speaking with him). The strategy that Khalilzad came up with stressed the replacement of the Taliban with a stable government that would be receptive to construction and operation of the pipelines. In addition, despite considerable evidence that the madrassas in Pakistan were the most prolific incubator in the world for terrorists, that Pakistan was winking at the arrival of Osama bin Laden and other senior Al Qaeda leaders into that country after the Tora Bora battle, and had done little to aid in the war against terrorism, Pakistan was to be identified as a strong ally in the war against terrorism and showered with aid. Evidence was also presented that Osama bin Laden was being clandestinely treated for kidney problems in a Pakistani military hospital the night before September 11. The cooperation of Pakistan was also necessary to make the proposed pipelines feasible, of course. After Afghanistan was secured, arrangements for the construction of the pipelines went forward at a rapid pace, with a final deal being signed within a year. The book also quotes Dick Cheney as saying several years ago that military action against Iraq might be justifiable because of Iraq's "manipulation of world oil prices" by turning the tap on and off. Fast-forward to 2003, when Iraq, which has practically no connection to Al Qaeda, is being invaded in the name of the war against terrorism while Pakistan, the de facto headquarters for Al Qaeda, is being succored. The book makes a compelling case that is oil that is driving the war on terror, and that the destruction of Al Qaeda is not high on the priority list of the Bush administration.
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A little oil on the side never hurts., October 20, 2003
This review is from: Crude Politics : How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism (Hardcover)
Crude Politics is one of the better books I've read or heard about in this time of political unrest. I was first drawn to it because of the author's position; "Paul Sperry is the Washington bureau chief at WorldNetDaily.com, a position he previously held at Investor's Business Daily, where he wrote for 12 years. A Hoover Institution media fellow, his reports on national security issues have been picked up by virtually every major news agency in the world. Sperry's journalistic courage and integrity are backed by years of experience, including extensive reporting and editing on national affairs, economics, manufacturing, real estate, and general business coverage." - WorldNetDaily.com website. For those who haven't visited the site, WorldNetDaily.com website is usually a very right-wing news group, often posting stories that support a right-wing agenda. The position of the author is important because he says in his book that he voted republican in the last few elections and even for now President Bush. The website also reinforces how conservative this reporter is by recounting Sperry's 1999 clash with President Bill Clinton on questions over the "Chinagate" fund-raising scandal that led him to be banned from the White House for the duration of the presidency. So why then has this author written a book denouncing the Bush administration's agenda on the war on terror? Has he flipped sides? Hardly. He is just one of many who have growing concerns that the legitimate war on terror has been hijacked to serve the personal, economic interests of a few oil barons. Sperry gives a great deal of attention not to Iraq (as this book was being written at the time the US was just about to invade Iraq), but to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia; three countries that have been working to secure an oil and natural gas pipeline in the Caspian Basin for over a decade. Sperry shows how the Bush administration transformed the war on terror as an "in" to this same pipeline deal that will prove to be one of the world's most wealthy oil and natural gas sources. For those who claim that Bush and his administration are only concerned with the American public's safety, this book will enlighten them that, although they may indeed care about us, they care more about their pocket-books and long-term oil ventures. Why would people like Bush, who comes from a long line of oil men, who have many decades of strong allegiances with Saudi oil men, suddenly stop all pursuits of oil, just to serve the American public for a few years? Why would Vice President Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton, one of the biggest oil contractors in the world, suddenly ignore the prospect of buried oil treasures overseas? And why would national security advisor Condoleezza Rice trash a decade of serving the Chevron Corp (who liked her work so much they named an oil tanker after her) just to fight some terrorists? It doesn't add up. These people have oil coursing through their veins, and to suggest they've given it all up on purely moral grounds is like saying I don't need air to breathe anymore. Sperry's book is a must for those seeking a solid investigation of the war on terror and its obvious ties to oil. Unlike most of the political books littering the shelves today, Paul Sperry presents a thoughtful and non-fanatical approach that asks simple questions to subjects that have been spun by our Commander in Chief and his oil-soaked cronies.
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Informative View of Oil and Politics, October 11, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Crude Politics : How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism (Hardcover)
This book was an amazing indictment of the Bush administration's foreign policy. Basically, the book detailed numerous linkages between the oil industry and the administration's war or terror and then made conclusions that the war on terror has really been driven by oil politics rather than by national security policies. This is a fascinating inside look at the politics of power and money. When a book like this makes such an indictment against a present administration, indictments that have largely been ignored by the main-stream media, I think it is important to rigorously check the references and sources listed in the book. As such, I actually followed some of the author's (Paul Sperry) sources and came to the conclusion that he was extremely detailed in his source information and documentation. I would highly recommed this book to anyone who wants to get an inside view of money and power and special interests in the American political scene. I think its best read with a completely non-partisan viewpoint if you can.
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