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195 of 208 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling Condemnation of Crude Corruption, July 29, 2003
Edit of 22 Dec to add links. Book is available in paperback. Former spy Robert Baer, author of See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism, makes the leap from intelligence reformist to national mentor with his new book, "SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude." Indeed, his last sentence has the White House laying in the moonlight with its legs spread, lustfully eyeing the Saudi wallet on the bureau. This is an extraordinary compelling work, not least because it provides detailed and documented discovery not previously available, of how the U.S. government has over the course of several administrations made a deliberate decision to a) not spy on the Arab countries, b) not collect and read open sources in Arabic, c) not attempt to understand the sub-state actors such as the Muslim brotherhood, despite a long history in which these groups commit suicide to achieve their objectives, including the murder of several heads of state. Baer's most brutal points should make every American shudder: it is America itself that is subsidizing terrorism, as well as the corruption of the Saudi royal family. Baer's documented estimate is that $1 dollar from every barrel of petroleum is spent on Saudi royal family sexual misbehavior, and $1.50 of every barrel of petroleum bought by America ultimately ends up funding extremist schools, foundations, and terrorist groups. Baer has "gone back in time" to document how all of this terrorism began in the 1970's, but despite its terrible local consequences (including the assassination of heads of state), was ignored by Washington as "a local problem." In one lovely real-life account, Baer, then duty officer at CIA while Iraq poised to invade Kuwait, found that the $35 billion per year system was useless, impotent. It came down to his calling the chief of station in Kuwait, who called a border guard, who lifted his binoculars and described the Iraqi tanks stopped for lunch. Baer says: "As I waited, I wondered: Is this what all that money for intelligence is buying us? A pair of binoculars?" Baer joins with Robert Kaplan in concluding that democracy in Arabia would be an out and out disaster. The decades of Islamic extremism and anti-Americanism run amok cannot be resolved by democratic elections because the very people who most hate America will be elected. Baer observes that "strongman tactics" such as used by Saddam Hussein and by the Syrian leadership--including a "scorched earth" campaign against the internal terrorist groups--are a more stable "rule of law". One can conclude that the US has made a mistake in destabilizing Iraq, and that the imposition of a democratic solution in Iraq will turn out to be vastly more difficult, and vastly more expensive, than the naive neo-conservatives understood when they set forth without bothering to establish who was in the majority within the population being "liberated." Saudi Arabia has bought and paid for all the White House and Congressional influence it needs. This is why the recently released 9-11 report contains no mention of the secret documentation of Saudi Arabian complicity in the terrorism that took 3,000 American lives. As Senator Shelby noted on PBS NewsHour recently (he has read the secret report), 93% of the blanked out pages, and specifically those on Saudi sponsorship of terrorism against America and other nations, is a "con man's" effort to avoid "embarrassment." As the families of the 9-11 victims have said, "we need to know." Baer is extraordinary. He was a success as a case officer (a clandestine representive of America dealing with traitors and terrorists under conditions of extreme risk), and he has now become a sort of "Patrick Henry" of the modern era, warning us in clear and compelling terms that White House corruption (a non-partisan recurring corruption) and Saudi Arabia are the twin swords upon which this great Nation may yet impale itself. Other books Americans need to read (or at least read the reviews): Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American PresidencyRunning on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About ItBreach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into InsidersLegacy of Ashes: The History of the CIAFiasco: The American Military Adventure in IraqThe Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: How the Financial System Underminded Social Ideals, Damaged Trust in the Markets, Robbed Investors of Trillions - and What to Do About ItCrossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of OilRule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling Reading!, November 11, 2003
Given his stature as a former CIA operative working extensively within the Middle East, author Robert Baer uses his unique blend of personal insight and extensive research to illustrate just how dangerous a road we Americans have embarked on by hitching our wagon to the star hovering over the House of Saud. From the opening nightmare scenario of a fragile and exposed oil delivery network that is dangerously vulnerable to terrorist attack to the final considerations of just how intertwined and interminably convoluted the geo-politics among the American government, the international oil concerns, the Saudi royal family, and the radical Islamic fundamentalists such as the Muslim Brotherhood seems to be, this is a book that all of us can profit by reading. What is most rotten within the welter of factors is the Saudi royal family itself, so large, so cumbersome, and so bedeviled by greed and corruption that it is crumbling from within. The fact of this wracking corruption and approaching demise of the House of Saud may well be catastrophic, according to Baer, yet people within the American government are so compromised by the overwhelming flood of money via bribes, payoff, and subsidies that no one dare speak an angry or critical word against the Saudis, even as the royal family provides hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorist front organizations and as it actively supports and promotes the radical anti-western Wahabbi sect within the Kingdom itself. It is a kingdom built on what is proving to be a literal time bomb built of contradictory impulses and interests. Given the fact that Saudi oil provides the lynchpin of world wide petroleum prices, instability within the regime is extremely threatening to economic stability of world markets, and the fall of the House of Saud could well be catastrophic for the west, which depends on relatively cheap and easily available oil for its economy and its very basis of life. Yet the Saudi regime tolerates thievery, ignores prostitution, and both directly and indirectly promotes both radical Muslim fundamentalism and terrorism. For Baer, it is no accident that the bulk of the hijackers involved in the 911 tragedy were dissident Saudis. Nor is it an accident that both the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Quaida are so well financed, since the royal family has been sponsoring their activities for more than a decade. Given this, the stage is set, argues the author, for a potentially catastrophic event, one that might require American military intervention and result in the triggering of an economic meltdown the likes of which have not been seen since the great Depression. Amazingly, though, the American government continues to maintain the idea that the situation is stable, that the Saudis are our friends and allies, and that the Kingdom is moving down the road toward a more egalitarian form of self-government. Unless we adopt a more enlightened policy and work toward the end of protecting American interests for the long term, we are likely to find ourselves on the wrong end of a losing proposition. This is an important and quite informative book, and one I highly recommend. Enjoy!
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60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
With friends like these, who needs enemies?, January 8, 2004
Welcome to the Magic Kingdom: Saudi Arabia. Former Middle East CIA operative Robert Baer, author of the critically acclaimed memoir 'See No Evil' follows up that work with a brilliant expose at the world's best funded breeding ground for terrorists, our allies (?) The Saudis. " We had hardwired in our brains that the stereotype of young , oil-rich brats screaming at their Filipino servants to take the wrappers off their candy . . .Sept 11 undid that stereotype for me " By 'we' he means CIA and other official Mid-East think tanks. If they were so far off, what did the average American know? The Saudis were our buddies, they had never gone to war against Israel and they probably celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks. . . An image that Baer contends was sold to the American people, because half of Washington was bribed and the other had their heads buried in the sand. ----------------------------------------------------------------- A few items: 1. Osama, as we all know is a Suadi. In fact, to many opposing the royal family (about every Saudi that's not a millionare) he's a national hero. Fifteen of the 9/11 hijakers were Saudi nationals. Ditto for aprox 75% of the al Qaeda prisoners subsequently held at Guantanamo "the worst of the worst." 2. Back in 1996 when Sudan had Osama in custody, The Saudi government declined the offer to have him extradited back home. Reason? He was too popular, let him go. . 3. Saudi citizens blew up the National Guard facility in '95 and the Khobar barracks in '96. Two Saudis and one Egyptian hijacked a plane to Baghdad in 2000. Saudis were almost certainly behind the atttack on the USS Cole as well as hundreds of other terrorists activities prior to 9/11 from Kenya to Chechnya-- and yet, unlike say, an Argentinian or a Frenchman, Saudis did not have to bother to appear at a screening at an American embassy to get to the US. A system called 'Visa Express' took care of it for a fee. In other words, any Saudi travel agent stood in place of the American government. Baer tells us that under this system, Osama himself could have gotten through. 4.The Saudi government has not allowed the FBI or any US agency to question the relatives or associates of the 9/11 hijackers despite repeated requests. 5. The Royal Family is demented. Made up of five extended 'dysfunctional' families presently run by King Fahd's favorite wife, Jawara and her son Abd-al Aziz, or Azuzi ( 'deary' as Mommy calls him ) they spend more money than France on their 'army' --a praetorian palace guard. 6. There is no rule of law, it's a Mafia chieftain's paradise run by deary. Leaders of the world in public beheadings (Riyadh plaza is commonly known as Chop-Chop square) The Royals hedge their bets by supporting universities which are, in fact, ultra fundamentalist Anti American hate camps. 7. Further hedging are shows of piety put on by their muttawa, the public-decency police, which performs the useful function of beating women on the legs and arms if their robes are too short. In March 2002 it blocked the exit of a girl's school on fire because the girls weren't properly covered. Fourteen died. Not unusual in a country which Baer contends is 'the most sexually repressed on earth' Women are kept out of touch with men until the day they marry. A woman cannot drive, Only 5% of them work, if she needs to go anywhere a male relative must chauffer and chaperone her. In desperation, Saudi men have written their cell phones and taped it to cars they are trying to 'sell' in the hope some brazen Saudi girl will call them--even if they risk public stoning. These are the poor, of course as to the rich, it's THE Middle eastern joke that Saudis spend a staggering amount of its GDP on sex--in Europe's red light ditricts. ----------------------------------------------------------------- What is less than amusing is that this 'hedging' with terrorists cannot go on forever. The Royals are bribing the people who would cheerfully execute them. Plus , with the availability of MAJOR weapons of destruction from the former USSR for sale---a point which Baer goes into in the very first chapter, as he talks to a Russian arms dealer who is stationed at a luxury resort in--of all places, Israel, The Royals may meet their end and then it's anyone's guess who will run the country with the essential oil reserves The West needs to function but it's doubtfull it'll be a group of tolerant Ghandi-like pacifists. Baer has done it again. Great research and great reading.
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