Customer Reviews

Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta

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Gore Vidal speaks truth bluntly and clearly. He addresses points that need to be addresses by every voter, for the people of America are losing their birthrights--their freedoms, their power over their own fate, their control of the resources of the nation that have been--quite literally--hijacked by a mandarin wealthy elite that would sooner cut deals with terrorists and their oil-field sponsors, than look after the best interests of the American public.

Interestingly, this book emphasizes something I had not considered that bears emphasis: although there were numerous intelligence failures in detail, Vidal suggests that the Director of Central Intelligence is correct when he claims that 9-11 was not (at root) an intelligence failure--but then leaves unsaid what Vidal says explicitly: it was a policy failure in that Bush-Cheney decided not to alarm the people and not to share the warning information, in part to avoid turbulence and in part because such an attack would be welcome--as Pearl Harbor was welcome--as a means to remilitarize foreign policy.

Indeed, Vidal focuses relentless on the fact that all of the terrorist planes were allowed to run their course, without being intercepted and shot down by any of the military aircraft in the area. Although it would have taken a "strip alert" aircraft to be really effective, and it may not have been possible to load and launch aircraft on standby status in a hanger, it does appear that both the civilian and military chains of command avoided any active efforts to stop the airplanes from hitting their intended targets.

There are some extraordinary truths in this book that bear public discussion during the forthcoming Presidential campaign. I list just a few:

1) It is the US, in its obsessive anti-communism (perhaps aided by the desire of those in power to accummulate wealth and extend their power) which really kicked off the Cold War and were willing to support any dictator, commit any crime, violate any oath, in pursuit of anti-communism. The number of US attacks within an *undeclared* war status is over 250--and this does not count the secret bombing runs into the Soviet Union in the early years when we were just testing their vulnerability.

2) Japan was trying to sue for peace, and the US not only refused to receive their emissaries, but chose to drop the atomic bombs (two of them) to intimate the Russians rather than finalize the Japanese. He also addresses measures the US undertook to force the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor.

3) Vidal talks about the number of covert wars that have been fought using taxpayer dollars, but without the knowledge or the approval of the taxpayer-voter. This is really a vital point--the people, and their elected representatives in Congress, have lost both the power of the purse and the power over war.

3) Coming further forward, Vidal addresses some stark truths about the current American condition that include the incredible percentage of the population that is either in prison or on parole; the continuing abuse of black citizens, especially in Florida; the continuing censorship of the media in relation to the interests of its advertisers--to include the deceptive and manipulated findings of the polls sponsored by the media; the erosion of individual rights; and the continuing gutting of the US economy by the combined emphasis on arms sales (including to ourselves) and cheap oil that the elite managers of the commonwealth persist in pursuing.

Vidal ends with two notes: first, that a Constitutional Convention, demanded by the people, would allow a complete overhaul of the system--once "we the people" are assembled, they have all the power and can recast the system as they wish--what an exciting idea; and second, that the logical direction for a free people is toward a Swiss like confederation of cantons or city-states (or, as Joel Garreau suggested, "Nine Nations of North America").

In my view, Vidal stands alone, with Chomsky, in terms of speaking truth to power. Others, like Joe Nye, Jeffrey Garten, Max Manwaring, and Howard Rheingold dance around the issues of policy, credibility, and survivability in capable ways, but Vidal cuts to the heart of the matter: do the people wish to think for themselves and take back the power, or cower as slaves in the gutter? This is very refreshing reading.

Before opening this book it is obvious where Gore is going in this collection of essays. However, for those of us seeking solace as we witness the ongoing depradations of the Bush Administration the few opinions in print that seem to validate our opinions are needed and reassuring.

What I didn't expect in this collection of essays was Vidal's stunning, but intuitively obvious expose of the apparent decision to allow the attacks of September 11. While most complacent, sheep-like Americans will dismiss this as more "radical left conspiracy theory blather", how else can one explain that fact that 4 commercial aircraft were hijacked simultaneously, lost control with air traffic controllers for one half hour and allowed to attack the nation's largest city, and its capital, also simultaneously, without any response from the most powerful military on the planet? To assume Vidal is incorrect would assume that the entire eastern seaboard remained entirely vulnerable to attack prior to September 11. This is hardly likely, and Vidal points out the incentives and historical precedents. That his assertions aren't far fetched is being supported by the Bush Administration's ongoing stonewalling of investigations of the events of September 11.

A few of the essays are revelatory, and have insight and bite. Others are mired in Vidal's pedantic rehashing of WWII, and memories of a fictional, idealistic republic, which he is clearly reflecting upon with rose colored glasses. While America's imperialism and quest for empire have been bold and unattractive for the past 110 years, our history under the "republic" was hardly unblemished with its legacy of slavery, racism, disenfranchisement of women, and extermination of native Americans. One is prompted to observe that hindsight is always 20/20. A number of these essays reveal that Vidal is losing his focus, and waxing nostaglic as he gets older -- his mind, however, remains strong as a beartrap, and his integrity and courage are light years beyond that of most writers.

This collection will rightfully make you cynical, angry, depressed, and frightened. It is important, however, that Vidal's observations not be dismissed -- he is not to be underestimated and far from half baked. The operative question is why haven't, and aren't, more Americans asking the same questions about the attacks of September 11.

Let's get this straight from the beginning: Gore Vidal is not anti-American, and in fact, he is a true patriot that loves his country enough to ask the difficult questions in the face of the current wave of false patriotism that is taking over since the 9/11 tragedies.

_Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta_ is a bold and maginficent look at the Bushian chronicles leading up to 9/11, and the consequences thereafter. Two things that are important to dwell on: Both the attack on Afghanistan and the Patriot Act were well entrenched and ready to go before 9/11 ever came about. 9/11 was merely an open door to the growth of State meddling in the lives of U.S. citizens.

Vidal looks at all the "interests" that are served by Bushian Imperial ambitions. As Vidal says, Osama is merely a poster boy for greater U.S. interestes, that being Empire, oil, and the corporatist State. Gore gives us decades worth of examples on how the U.S has come to this position.

Perhaps the one thing that is missing is an in-depth analysis of why the State loved that 9/11 happened, and how it keeps that from the American people while shedding its false tears of sorrow, and suckering folks into buying the State moral code concerning the tragedies.

Vidal's essays are compelling, truthful, and unapologetic. A fantastic read.

This excellent selection of essays details not only our imperialistic intentions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but several fine examples from the past 50 years. He shows that a plan was already in place for invading Afghanistan before the september 11th attacks, and that the patriot bill was also conveniently ready as well. To distill this book down to one fact would be to say that it definitely reiterates my inability to place any trust whatsoever in this administration.

In the first segment of this collection of his essays, Gore Vidal puts forward the one question everyone should consider asking about this administration, and then he gives his answer. The rest is or will be history ... an unanswered multitude of questions.

After being put into office by corrupt officials, did the Bush administration on 9/11 "let it happen on purpose"? Or, did they orchestrate it to bring the people around to the plans for wars in Eurasia and world domination? - Questions few Americans dare to consider for fear of public censure. The author asks the question, "Transparency?" and answers with the word "Complicity."

A quote from page 29: " ... who and what kept the Air Force from following its normal procedure instead of waiting an hour and twenty minutes until the damage was done and only then launching fighters. Obviously, somebody had ordered the Air Force to make no move to intercept those hijackings ... "
From page 32: "Certainly, the hour-twenty-minute failure to put fighter planes in the air could not have been due to a breakdown thoughout the entire Air Force along the East Coast. Mandatory standard operating procedure had been told to cease and desist."

(This review was censored by Amazon twice, taking out the word "corrupt". It took two weeks to show up as censored the first time. And when I added the word again, it was again censored. So I changed it to say "junta" instead, and that is why there are two reviews, I guess. I only edited and didn't write another report.)

...with free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich.


The label "conspiracy theorist" holds a powerful stigma. For the most part, the conspiracy theorists themselves are to blame for that. For the most part the people I've run across who propagate and perpetuate these wild schemes are not the most critical thinkers out there. The evidence of this is the way conspiracies run in packs. Once they're talking about secret societies, secret connections and plots, more and more unfold, running off in tangents. It might start with the Kennedy assassination but soon area 51 and Roswell are evoked, the moon landing is a hoax, the Loch Ness monster and the inner Earth people. Not to mention the Catholics, the Masons, and the Jewish-communists.

But that shouldn't dissuade us from investigating anything. The fact that conspiracy theorists are nuts doesn't mean conspiracies never happen. People who believe everything that's slightly exciting to believe are no less critical thinkers than those who dismiss outright anything that threatens the veneer of civility and order.

In reality, a conspiracy doesn't have to be an intricate web of deception, some brilliant design everyone but you is in on. A conspiracy can be lots of powerful people acting in a similar way, through sneaky means and propaganda, for the sake of strengthening and securing their own power. Hillary Clinton was lambasted for speaking of a vast right-wing conspiracy, but as the story unfolds, we see a small handful of very powerful, rich people using their influence to try and drag down a President and his administration by any means necessary. She was right.

This book is a collection of essays unified by the assertion Gore Vidal is making that American is an empire, and that American military action and behavior, since before world war 2, has been an imperial attempt to control as much of the world as possible. If one looks at the whole of human history, none of this should come as a surprise. But in the modern debate, where Neo-con imperialism is compared to Nazism, Mr. Vidal is telling us that a better analogy would be the ancient Roman Empire, and that this has been going on a whole lot longer than since the neo-cons have been in power. The primary difference today is near-transparency of the current administrations goals, and the deplorable depths of depravity to which they'll sink to accomplish it. The unprovoked, unilateral invasion of Iraq was just one of hundreds of unprovoked, unilateral military actions the American empire has engaged in post-WW2. But in the past, America had the self-awareness, pride and patience to do things in a deceptive manner, exercising domination economically (the Marshall plan), or through low-key military presences (like NATO in Western Europe) and by meddling around the world with an alphabet soup of secret police (CIA, FBI, DEA, DIA...). So, there's nothing new going on in the Bush-Cheney Junta. It is a matter of degrees, but previous presidents and previous administrations don't get off the hook unscathed.

And the media, owned by powerful, rich, well-connected corporations, don't get off unscathed. Vidal discusses the role of the media, paid off to keep two major characteristics of the America off the radar off the people, the first being the existence- not to mention the pervasiveness- of a class system, and the second being the nature of the U.S. Empire. Outside of the United States, these are not secrets. When the twin towers fell, Americans turned to each other and asked in genuine bewilderment how anyone could hate us. When the answer was supplied for us, "they hate us because they hate freedom," enough people could actually get themselves to believe this to accomplish the re-election of the worst, most venal bunch of ganefs in American history. American people could accept the premise that people around the world want to attack us with suicidal acts simply because they envy our goodness. That's not just us being stupid, that's us being uneducated and misinformed. (And distracted! Was that really a partial breast seen during a football half-time show? Heaven forfend! Let's have congressional hearings about it.)

Drawbacks? Because this is a collection of essays written for different sources at different times, you get a lot of redundancy if you read this book cover to cover. Also, while I'm not a knee-jerk pro-Israel kind of guy (I have plenty of criticism for the way Israel has acted and I see a lot more complexity in the situation than people on either side ever acknowledge), I do cringe a little bit when Mr. Vidal gets on the subject of Israel's role in today's geopolitical scene. He hints at Israel's mistakes, but then, in his wonderfully droll, mischievous style, declares that one can't criticize Israel without being accused of anti-Semitism, complete with a sarcastic tone that says `gosh, what could be worse than being an anti-Semite?' I know he's making an important point but, as someone who grew up being taught that they will eventually get around to blaming everything on the Jews again, I can't help but feel a touch queasy.

All that being said, this is an important book, it offers an alternate take on the modern situation that needs to be heard. And Gore Vidal, as opposed to someone like Noam Chomsky, reports in his inimitable sassy style, which turns a painful topic into pleasurable reading. That takes some talent. Thumbs up.

First of all, this is a "pamphlet", in the classic sense, so its length and the fact that much of it was already published in his "Essays: 1992 - 2000" doesn't bother me one bit. If anybody deserves to be re-read, it is Vidal. However; a whole lot has transpired since the last essay in 2000, so Vidal chooses carefully the previously published ones in order to both prove the points which he made then were valid, and to dovetail with the newer scathing indictments (nobody does 'scathing' as well, or with as much wicked wit, as Vidal) of the transparant hypocricy that passes for American policy - both foreign and domestic. His logic is forceful and inescapable. He is passionate about what he sees (some would say about himself as well), and manages to take his beloved America to task (yes, he loves his country, still) without sounding 'righteous' (like the 'right'), or 'whiny' (like the 'left'). This he does by injecting his laser wit into everything he writes. Sure to cause a stir, as always...

DREAMING WAR: BLOOD FOR OIL AND THE CHENEY-BUSH JUNTA is an eye-opening account of how corporate interests now fuel our country and are the leading causes for our war with Iraq. Gore Vidal is an excellent writer who exposes many of the lies perpetrated by the Bush administration (he calls Bush a cheerleader, saying this high school activity was the only thing of note he's done with his life), including the likely falsification of poll statistics to make it appear that the US citizens support war. Vidal writes that we are typically an isolationist country who need to be manipulated by our politicians into thinking entry into foreign war is necessary. The attacks of September 11th, writes Vidal, were just such a manipulation (read the book to understand what he means).

DREAMING WAR: BLOOD FOR OIL AND THE CHENEY-BUSH JUNTA is the first book I have ever read by Gore Vidal, and it's one of the best books I've ever read! He really is one of the best writers I've ever come across. My favorite chapter is "Mickey Mouse, Historian" where Vidal lampoons the difficulty of teaching history in an atmosphere where obeisance must be paid to the cheerful dictates of imaginary rodents.

....

The more layers that are pulled away from this oncoming war with Iraq regarding its genesis (what ever happened to Osama bin Laden?), the more does it make me question the state of our nation as a whole the way Jewish and Gentile Germans must have begun questioning the state of their Fatherland in the late 1920's and early 1930's.

A significant chunk of DREAMING WAR is Vidal firing back at his critics of the past several years. People have called him any number of names and epithets because of his inability to just accept things that don't make any sense in American politics, or avoid the truth no matter how disturbed it makes others, for decades. You would never guess from his detractors that he is one of the most erudite, prolific, brilliant, insightful and passionately patriotic authors of the 20th and 21st century. Vidal speaks at length in one part about the *Satan/Satan decaf* dichotomy that his critics have been trying to construct for him for decades, regarding a comfortingly inaccurate perspective on both Noam Chomsky (Satan) and him (decaf), such that he reveals the inherent hypocrisy in both their mutual critics' opinions and agendas.

Another part of DREAMING WAR (this part also threads through the narrative as a whole, as opposed to it being purely sectional) reads like a commercial/promotional for his historical novel THE GOLDEN AGE. He charts the psycho-political metamorphosis of America the Republic into America the Empire with the Truman years after World War Two, referring to his previously published work quite often. Critiques of him and this new book are inevitable because of this. Only hard core fans of his who have already read THE GOLDEN AGE, however, could be annoyed by this important context--psychological, historic, economic and political--in which he puts his critique/expose of the Bush/Cheney Administration, as well as that of his father Bush the First and, though not skipping Clinton entirely, Ronald Reagan's.

Every great artist and writer develops intellectual groupies, the undeclared members of which create love-critiques of their hero's latest work as a way of declaring their "in-crowd" status. Critiques of Vidal's work in the current political climate, given the controversial and deeply important nature of what he brings to light, always sound comical when coming form his more politically agenda-ed detractors. But the style-over-content centered critiques coming from those who have actually read his books sound more and more like the nerds at the STAR TREK conventions who can tell you the script inconsistencies of their favorite Kirk/Spock episode the more I hear them. Suffice it to say DREAMING WAR was not written for high school English teachers to assign to their students and talk about the poor sentence structure of chapter three before the bell. Vidal's work over the decades has gone from being a passionate love letter to America, to an objective diagnosis of its illnesses-to a sincere pleading for us to wake up and get out of the burning house that our leaders' imperialism has set on fire. If any six or seven pages about the current Bush administration of the nearly two hundred that make up DREAMING WAR were to be proven accurate, then guess what America? we are long overdue for impeachment hearings. There are dead Americans in graves across New York City that shouldn't be there. Should Vidal really be crucified for making us ask this question: what kind of a country do we live in if Clinton can be crucified over a hoax about a land deal in Arkansas and a sexual affair, while the Media, Congress, the justice department and the American public would rather shut their eyes to the allegations in this book (and others!) and open them only to the television slaughtering of Afghani and Iraqi civilians? And if Vidal should be crucified for asking such a question, do we really still live in a democracy?

Gore Vidal's greatest gift to America is his returning sanity and thinking to our quasi-Orwellian culture by reintroducing three ideas to our minds we'd rather not consider: 1) that maybe common sense is another word for the mental programming of the masses, 2) that the term "Just War" has been proven by modern history to be, more often than anything, an oxymoron, and 3) that one's patriotism can often best be measured by the degree to which you question the character, motivations and actual agendas of your leaders.

Look on Amazon.co.uk (Britain) at the "alternate" cover of this paperback, to see how the rest of the world currently perceives us.

The only thing better than Vidal's books, particularly this one, is living an authentic life itself.

In this collection Gore Vidal delivers what his fans had hoped his last book, Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace, was going to be. Namely, an in-depth look at the Bush administration's agenda concerning war in the Middle East, oil, and the deterioration of American civil liberties.

In a time when Bush is using tragedies such as 9-11 and disasasters such as the forest fires in the West to further his own money-driven agenda, Gore Vidal is a voice of reason within the chaos that contemporary America has become.

Buy this book. It is wonderfully researched and extremely well-written (a rarity among political books, both liberal and conservative).