The Pre-Emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom [Hardcover]

Saul Landau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2003

Saul Landau is an internationally known scholar, author, journalist, poet and activist. An Emmy-award-winning film maker, he does frequent radio and TV shows, and his work on human rights and Latin America have won him acclaim the world over.

This, his latest book, is a scathing account of George W. Bush's world before and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that will appeal to anyone who is disenchanted with the cynicism of Bush's government, and the blatant imperialism U.S. international policy -- or those who just want to learn about what's happening in US politics.

Landau covers the topical and controversial issues -- from terrorism and US foreign policy to Bush's wondrous election victory; from Enron, Chile and Pinochet to Cuba, the Middle East, the IMF, the environment and sexual and cultural politics.

He delves into the erosion of civil liberties and the proliferation of empire under the guise of pre-empting the scourge of terrorism. Landau reveals how Bush protects "his" terrorists -- those who perpetrate violence against Castro’s Cuba, and to whom he owes his presidency. He also examines how Bush has appointed former officials to high level posts in his cabinet despite their membership in a conspiracy to sell weapons of mass destruction to Iran in the 1980s.

In "declassifying" Bush’s Empire, Landau dissects a post-9/11 world where deference to patriotism obliterates debate in Congress and the media. How can the notion of empire happily co-exist with the notion of a republic? In times like these, as dissenting voices are stifled and the public are denied access to the facts about their own security, Landau shows how democracy itself is under threat. He asks whether the already fragile world economy can survive in the new "security" culture of the post-9/11 world.

This is an entertaining read from one of America's foremost cultural and political commentators. Above all, Landau makes a convincing case for the necessity of activism -- the book is not only funny but is also a ringing call for citizens to participate in making their own history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is the best and funniest book on American Politics yet." -- James Abourezk, former Democrat Senator for South Dakota

"To guide us through the three-star disasters of the Bush years I can think of no better pilot." -- Alexander Cockburn, "CounterPunch"

"You'll believe him, laugh with him, weep and get off your ass." -- John Berger

Landau perfectly describes the thugs responsible and our blinded populace with this calm, objective, wonderful book. -- Edward Asner

Saul Landau's reflections stimulate us to vindicate civilization's most positive values. -- Dr. Juan E. Garcés

About the Author

Saul Landau has produced and directed forty films on social, political and historical issues. For his work on worldwide human rights he won the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award. His articles columns have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, the International Herald Tribune, and many other papers. He has written over ten books and received the Edgar Allen Poe Award. Since 1997, Saul has hosted a TV-radio show called Hot Talk from Cal Poly on controversial issues, which is broadcast on WORLDLINK TV in the US. He is a fellow of the TNI in Amsterdam.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (October 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745321402
• ISBN-13: 978-0745321400
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,312,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspiring Call for Citizens of the World, October 13, 2003

By 

Farrah Hassen (West Covina, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pre-Emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom (Hardcover)

Landau's The Pre-Emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom, offers an incisive, bold, and witty portrait of the lingering parallels, contradictions and dramatic shifts in U.S. foreign policy under President George W. Bush before (Part I, "Leaving the Republic Behind") and after the 9/11 attacks (Part II, "The Empire Strikes Back"). Whether analyzing the U.S. war against terrorism and erosion of civil liberties at home, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, terrorism and corporate globalization in Latin America, U.S.-Cuban relations or the road to the Iraq War, Landau's journal-like entries (coupled with his experiences of directing/producing over 40 documentary films throughout the U.S., Latin America and Middle East and as a radio commentator, author and journalist) provide compelling evidence for what he identifies throughout his work as the transformation of a nation founded on Republican fabric to its current, alarming manifestation: a "pre-emptive empire."

Unlike the sheepish, flag-waving media coverage of the 9/11 events and Iraq War or the current reactionary-infused works by Ann Coulter or Daniel Pipes, The Pre-Emptive Empire offers readers a refreshing platform for analyzing the domestic and international scope of the 9/11 attacks and Bush's ensuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the context of the historical, political and economic dimensions that have helped shape the 21st Century U.S. Empire.

In particular, the chapter on "Latin America: The Imperial Economic Model, Obedience and Terrorism" relates the past and present U.S. double standards on terrorists in Chile and Cuba, respectively, in the midst of Bush's pursuit of "fighting" worldwide terror to his simultaneous promotion of the IMF-backed economic model, as Landau observes: "It is not just the culture of McDonald's, but the long-standing pattern of U.S. domination, indeed intervention, of Latin America that continues to prevail on the political as well as the economic front" (Part IV, pg .57).

Interspersed throughout Landau's chapters, such as on the long-running Middle East debacle (Part III, "Between Iraq and a Hard Place: The Oily Empire Stomps Through the Middle East") and the latest Iraq War (Part VI, "The Road to War"), are entertaining and humorous anecdotal transitions--demonstrating the book's greatest strength in helping readers cope with such dismal realities by laughing out loud while also reminding them of their humanity at stake.

Fans of progressive writers/activists Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky will find The Pre-Emptive Empire just as intellectually stimulating and thought provoking, but with a glaring difference: Landau's work is an inspiring call for citizens--from college students, blue collar workers, activists and the politically disillusioned alike--to reclaim their Republic and participate in shaping their history.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST TITLED AND WRITTEN BOOK OF YEAR, December 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pre-Emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom (Hardcover)

This collection of witty and dowright funny essays gets to the core of the US empire in the 21st Century. Landau not only covers the war against Iraq and US meddling in the Middle East in general, but provides the reader with context to understand the sometimes shocking headlines.

This well written volume takes one to Cuba as it struggles with US embargo and travel ban policy, to Mexico where the maquilas have begun to flee to China, leaving needy Mexicans unemployed and to Iraq itself, just before the war.

This is an amazing comedium of journalistic insight and political wisdom. A rare combination for a reader who wants to know without feeling the pain of wading through the turgid prose typical of some critics.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unhelpful, May 3, 2006

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pre-Emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom (Hardcover)

I don't trust Bush. And I do not trust American foreign policy. So it would be good to have a book that I could trust, even a little, to lead me in a good direction for thinking about foreign policy issues.

This one will not do.

On one issue, namely the Arab war against Israel, I know enough information to see that this book is no good. And if it flunks this test, I can't trust the book on anything else.

Landau claims that Arafat and his gang never planned to push the Jews into the Mediterranean sea. But those folks did (and still do) intend to outlaw human rights for Jews in the region. Landau calls Arab portions of the West Bank "Bantustan-like." But the truth is that Israel, whether it is a miniscule 8000 square miles or a somewhat larger 11,000 square miles looks like the Bantustan here! The Arabs have 5,500,000 square miles, the Arabs are allowed to live in Israel, and the Jews are not exactly welcome in Arab nations.

The author blames Arab aggression against Israel on the Israeli victims, and he even says, "Perhaps, I think, Israelis can save their souls and get peace in their land if they stop the war."

Perhaps. But I doubt it. I don't think they can get peace, no matter what they do. Peace will require the Arabs to call off their war (or somehow become unable to continue it). And I think that if Israelis take the Landau's advice and try to achieve peace through surrender, they will lose their, um, souls, lose their lives, lose their land, enable tyranny and destruction, and increase human misery.