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Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Its Soul for Saudi Crude

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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 Presidency

Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It

Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq

The 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 It

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

Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids

9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition

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!

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.

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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.

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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.

I have, like most Americans, have wondered how we got into the 9/11 mess to start with. This book adds more pieces to the puzzle by showing the relationship America has had with Saudi Arabia and, really the rest of the Middle East, since oil was discovered there. The whole thing reminds me of several boys who can't resist eating a chocolate cake before dinner. When confronted as to who ate all the cake, the boys, all covered in chocolate point firmly at each other.

The US government, with an ever growing demand for oil to fuel our plastic SUV world turned a blind eye to the serious political situation of our main suppier, Saudi Arabia, a country ruled by the most dysfunctional family ever. The royal family must contend with not only family members who spend them into oblivion, but also with various terrorist groups who must be appeased with new mosques, weapons, money, and a safe haven.

Baer goes into as much detail as he can to show how the mechanism has worked over the years. Some sections are blacked out as the CIA considers the information classified. Also, since Baer was not a high level agent, there are some connections that can be reasonably made, but not proven. You will need to see how this unfolds in the coming years to get the complete story.

Bottom line: Read this book to fill in the background on the current Middle East situation.

I was attracted to Robert Baer's "Sleeping with the Enemy" after seeing the recent film "Syriana" which is based, in part, on this book. Like "Anonymous" (Michael Scheuer, author of "Imperial Hubris"), Baer is another ex-CIA empployee who appears to have left a career with the agency with a great deal of frustration and anger.

Baer's book is more entertainingly written, although ultimately his breezy, profanity-laden style undercuts the seriousness of the case he tries to make. Often the tone is more that of a gossip column than a serious critique of US foreign policy. Granted, as a former CIA officer, Baer has had access to information that is not publicly available, but many of his "facts" are publicly checkable, and the failure to source most of his allegations ultimately undermines his arguments. Sections redacted by the CIA compromise a very small portion of this book; one wonders why they could not simply have been removed, rather than blacked out. Perhaps Baer or his editors felt that the black blocks added to the aura of the book.

Baer finished "Sleeping with the Devil" just as the second Iraq war was beginning to bog down into a sustained insurgency. Much of Baer's analysis consists of looking back at policy mistakes over the previous 30 years. If he had the same 20/20 foresight, and had offered some forward-looking that were credible, I would rate this book more highly. Unfortunately, in late 2005, when we can see how badly the "liberation" of Iraq has gone, his suggestions to capture the Saudi oil fields, or to encourage a takeover by the Shi'a in the eastern province are laughably naive. As for Baer's prediction of the imminent collapse of the house of Al-Saud, I left Saudi Arabia in 1983 because I believed this. Twenty-two years later, I'm still waiting for it to happen. Perhaps both Baer and I are wrong about this.

For a more thorough (and well-sourced) treatment of much of the same material, see Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars : The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001."

Robert Baer, a twenty year veteran case officer of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Operations (the people who have their feet on the ground in foreign nations around the world) who most recently served as vice-director of operations, Iraq, shatters the consensual naiveté of Western populace with his compelling and disturbing work, "SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude." In a work that spans nearly the entirety of his two-decade experiences and takes us through the dark and disgustingly murky intrigues and backroom graft that have made regime of Saudi Arabia virtually inseparable from the political process of modern America.

Let's get something straight; unlike most of his contemporaries Robert Baer makes no socio-political argument within his text. The truth, as he sees it, is his only cause. Regardless of your political persuasion and the vagaries of your opinions on the social contract of the individual vis-a-vis the state "Sleeping with the Devil" will make you take a second look at the party you favored with your vote. In fact, Baer refers to the last half century of corruption within Washington to be "the greatest bi-partisan effort in the history of Washington politics". A period which began with a briefcase containing one million dollars accidentally "forgotten" by Khashoggi, a Saudi billionaire (who is still active in Washington today), in the Nixon White house and has continued unabated and in ever growing depth to the modern day.

The road to corruption is paved in black gold it seems. Baer leads us down this miasmic path and walks us through backroom deals of Washington's K Street lobbyists, intrigues in sub-Saharan Africa, the 4.6 billion dollar palace of the most corrupt Saudi Prince and pool-side meetings with Russian Mafiya arms-traffickers. How does it all come together? Baer's brutal truth should make every American reader shudder; it is our nation's political elite who have blindly subsidized the very terrorism of which we have recently become victims.

Through our alliance with the House of Saud (the Saudi Royal Family) we have seen billions of petrodollars go to regime who has returned that money to us via graft and commissions to buy all the influence it needs. The rest of the western money is largely spent in two fashions. The lion's share goes to funding their own decadent excess. A Baer gives us insight into a lifestyle of depravity which includes almost ten-thousand princes, twice again as many palaces, the thousands of Filipino and Moroccan women who serve at their pleasure, and a lifestyle in which there is open competition for the greatest amount of excess.

The Saud royal lifestyle has not gone unnoticed by the people of Saudi Arabia and it brings us to the far more disturbing second use of western oil-money. The Saudi's own people have suffered the most at their hands; they have no rights and referred to as property on their own passports. Religious fundamentalists have long decried the `heretical' lifestyles of their "rulers" and here lies the truth of things. The despotic Saudi regime is holding on by the most tenuous of grips. In attempt to placate the fundamentalists who want to drag them into the streets the Saudi's have spent countless billions funding their actions. After fourty-years of such protection payoffs the largest Arab nation has been transformed into a breeding ground for militant fundamentalism. The Saudi educational system has been entirely conscripted, all children save for those of royalty and their retainers are educated in madrasahs, schools of Islamic hate that enforce faith with brutality, ignorance, and censorship. 75% of all collegiate graduates earn degrees in Islamic Studies, which creates a working class who are unqualified to hold any job. This majority of educationally indoctrinated, poor, and religiously fanatical citizenry is the source for much of the destabilization of the Arab world and is a reality that is about to boil over. Is it any wonder than nearly all of the 9/11 hijackers were born and raised Saudi subjects? Worse, the Western world (and more recently China and Russia) were the ones, by proxy, responsible for its funding. This is the picture Robert Baer paints for us.

These accounts aren't after-the fact punditry and are only the tip of the iceberg, Baer was there. In fact, prior to publication the book was vetted by the CIA and significant sections were deleted due at their demand. Rather than leave gaping wholes in his arguments and making note of their removal in his epilogue Bear leaves the blacked out print in place, giving the reader a tantalizing contextual insight into just what `the company' wanted removed. The reality Robert Baer shows us is a disturbing one and like a modern Paul Revere, "Sleeping with the Devil" is his clarion call, here is the enemy and they're coming.

First off, Robert Baer is the sort of CIA officer that CIA needed more of in the 1990s: someone who spoke Arabic and Farsi who had a real interest in the religion and cultural of the Islamic world and who was willing to take risks in an effort to run agents inside terrorist groups. The scandal is that CIA had very few people like that in the past. Let's hope that's changing. The vignettes in the books that describe his actual intelligence operations are very interesting, giving you a sense of what it must be like to be a CIA officer on station in Central Asia.

Unfortunately, the analytical portions of the book are quite disappointing. Baer isn't really a deep thinker, and he doesn't appear to know as much about the subjects as he should. Most bothersome to me is that Baer's view of Islamism (or Islamic fundamentalism), while radical in the 1980s when everyone was focused on the Soviet menace in Afghanistan, is really just the conventional wisdom in Washington today. Every talking head on TV or policy wonk will tell you how dangerous the forces of Islamism are, whether in the guise of Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood (Baer's preferred term), Islamic Jihad, Wahabbism, or whatever.

What you don't hear a lot about is the connection between these movements and the nation states in which they operate. Baer talks about Saudi Arabia and their support for Islamic radicalism in general. He repeats allegations made in the press (for example, about connections between Princess Haifa and 9/11), but doesn't present a detailed case that any particular terrorist operation received Saudi support. He does not discuss the role of other states, and worse yet, holds up Syria (of all places) as a model of a successful approach to cracking down on Islamist terror. Has Baer heard of Syria's support for Hizb'allah in Lebanon? Does he know that Hamas and PIJ operate openly in Damascus? How about Syrian Islamist volunteers in Iraq?

No, the problem isn't Islamist terror, per se. The problem is that almost all of the states in the modern Middle East (save Israel and Turkey) have a history of using Islamist terror groups as proxies in battles between each other and with the West, Russia and India. This is true whether or not the state in question is itself fundamentalist (Iran, Sudan) or secular (Iraq, Syria, Libya, Pakistan). Baer's instance that the "real problem" is Islamist militancy, and not the combination of both Islamist terror with state policy, that continues to obscure the problem we face.

After reading this book, I'm not convinced that Saudi Arabia is more dangerous than any of the others. It at least is not openly hostile to the U.S. There appear to be some elements in the government that would like to be openly hostile to the U.S. But they aren't calling the shots yet. Until they are, calling for things like seizing the oil fields is premature. To paraphrase Don Rumsfeld, like Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabia is a problem, it is not the problem.

Robert Baer has produced another step in the stairway to understanding the catastrophic clash of cultures erroneously known as the War on Terror. I reviewed all the reviews to see if there was something I could offer. As I read the other 99 offerings I found predictable responses. There were the reviewers who wrote a synopsis the entire book, and some did so very well. There were those critical of the War in Iraq who criticized the current administration. Those from Islamic lands, or who had lived in Islamic countries variously decried Baer's expertise. Some of that group justified the current upheaval in Islam over the issues attributed to the west by Islamic Fundamentalism given the recent (50 year) history of US-European involvement in Mid-East affairs and politics. Seemingly all saw what they wanted to see, a money grubbing George Bush/Dick Cheney, an evil America, an Bill Clinton desperate enough for re-election to take bags of money while al-Queda grew in strength and wealth, even a shot a Richard Nixon from the 1970's. As a former Intelligence Officer, one who believes we are in the midst of a global war between cultures, shaped by religion, I want context.

No serious book should be read in a vacuum. For me this has not been. It has been a progression from the earlier works by Thomas Friedman (From Beirut to Jerusalem) and David Shipler (Arab and Jew) to some very revealing newer works. David Pryce-Jones (The Closed Circle), who allows a reader to almost predict how Arabs, Muslims and Islamo-Fascist will behave due to their cultural imprinting in any given political-international circumstances, as alluded to, but not so clearly specified in the Friedman/Shipler writings. Bat Ye`or (Eurabia) describes the road to Dhimminitude that Europe has blindly followed, step by step (until the recent cartoon imbroglio) and the plan Islamists of whatever level of political or fundamentalist persuasion are using to craft the capitulation by nearly, but not quite peaceful means. David Spencer (The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades, or any other of several he has written) gives us a view of the teachings of the Koran used by the Fundo-Fascists and those who are emigrating to Europe and using the laws, culture, parliaments and press of their European hosts to lull/gently force them into accepting Sharia Law. Other works to place Baer's words in this book into context include Melissa Boyle Mahle's (Denial and Deception) wonderful description of the loss of human intelligence capabilities from the mid-1970''s (the Church commission and Carter administration efforts to curtail the unsavory parts of intelligence gathering) onward (not from the Reagan administration as one reviewer miscast it.) The Boyle book had all of the footnotes and references anyone could ask for. Baer's book, See No Evil, sans the extensive footnotes and references, was a magnificent second witness to Mahle's revealing testimony, although more earthy and specific about the locations where he did his CIA work than she was. Books describing the sorry state of affairs in US human intelligence (spying) capability include Bob Graham's Intelligence Matters and General Odom's Fixing Intelligence, and of course the WMD bi-partisan Senate Select committee study completed in July 2004. All of these provide some evidence, some small shards and others large pieces of the overall picture that validates the grander view, even with the polemics, grandstanding, and prejudices in every work. Sleeping with the Devil is no different. So what is it's value?

Of course it is sad to see the sorry state of affairs in which our political leaders, driven to distraction by the need to collect money for elections, accept millions in contributions. Like the Shah of Iran, brought to power by the CIA, yet who mistrusted it so because of that, who would not allow any CIA of any kind in the country, the US has been kept out of Saudi Arabia for decades by agreements cemented with cash. (The fact that the Shah was over thrown so quickly and completely should be a lesson for our allies in troubled regions.) It is a cold hard fact. Our leaders have been part of the problems (no matter as legal as in contracts or very questionable as in bags of money left under tables or in cars) of the house of Saud, and of the country of Saudi Arabia, and now of the world. Baer's numbers may be in error, but even if off by an order of magnitude, cash has still changed hands in an unseemly way. Yes, an attack on the Saudi pipelines is easy. Yes, refineries would be a small problem to dedicated terrorist warriors, especially since they live in the country, and may even work at the facility to be destroyed. Things are or have the potential to be as ugly as Baer says they are.

The most exciting issues to me, easily, were the 6th and 7th chapters. Therein we learn how the Islamic Brotherhood and the Wahhabis are aligned to bring about the next caliphate. In earlier chapters we learn of the creation of the Islamic Brotherhood after the dissolution of the Turkish caliphate by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 (although he is not mentioned in the book, but he is a significant part of a story not to be told in a vacuum). Based on the principles of Ibn Taymiyah, a 13 century cleric, Hassan al-Banna, an Egyptian founded the Islamic brotherhood in 1928 to re-establish the caliphate and purify Islam and the world. By 1947 they were burning Jewish businesses in Cairo, in 1948 they assassinated the Egyptian prime minister. In 1954 they made an attempt on Nasser's life and in 1981 they succeeded in assassinating Anwar Sadat. In 1993 they tried to kill the interior minister and the prime minister and in 1995 made an attempt on Hosni Mubarak's life. The associated history of displacement rather than to imprison for life or put to death these Fundo-Fascists, Egypt exported them to Syria, Saudi Arabia, Germany and other places. There they have festered and dispersed to yet other locations over the decades. That is what brought the Muslim Brotherhood to the arms of the Wahhabi, a staunchly fundamentalist sect, in Saudi Arabia. The end of these great chapters describes the only measurable success enjoyed by any government over the Muslim brotherhood. It makes for an exciting read!

And then we remember Osama bin-Laden was influenced by an Egyptian cleric, a member of the Egyptian Islamic Brotherhood, in the 1980's. He displaced the cleric in a classic example of the Honor-Shame-Power Dialectic in the early 1990's (from David Pryce-Jones insightful book). al-Queda, the Base, is currently the action arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Baer's conclusions are reasonable, his projections are rational given the threat, at least for an argument on how to deal with this very perplexing and complex world situation we find ourselves in. Do not discard his proposed solutions out of hand. Remember, for generations the ditty "he is not a good dictator, but at least he is our dictator" prevented the Cold War from turning Very, Very Hot. This clash of cultures is not like the war on Japan in the 1940's. It is more a culture in turmoil, which has chosen to take the world into it's struggle. Germany in the early 1930's was a country much like this religion, but when the dark side won the cultural battle in 1932, the relatively small population (compared to rest of the world) ensured that through a titanic struggle the rest of the world would eventually prevail. Now we shudder to think of an asymmetrical war, where one man kills thousands, and hundreds of thousands can not find one threatening man to kill. All the while the potential enemy, gladly willing to die for his beliefs, hides in a population estimated to be 1.3 BILLION spread to nearly every country on the globe, with rapid efficient transportation and weaponry sufficient to kill 10's of thousand's suitable for enclosure a backpack.

This is not a book that can stand alone, for the reasons pointed out by dozen's of reviewers. But it is a book that can not be missed, for it contains huge pieces of the "big picture" puzzle. If your business is defending freedom, or you are just an enquiring mind who wants to know, this is a DO NOT MISS !

This book will be out of date soon, because the Middle East and America's involvement in it simply cannot continue the way it's been, and we're all beginning to realize it. This book could serve as a big eye-opener if you don't know much about Saudi Arabia, oil and politics. It's probably a little shrill, but then again, the US clearly needs to review and reconsider our policies, and Baer is on-target for many reasons.

Baer has a number of interesting anecdotes you won't find anywhere else, but for information about oil policy, I recommend two books ahead of this one. One is Yergin's prize-winning The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, which is much thicker, but I dare to say you don't know half the truth about 20th century history until you've read this book. The other book I recommend, though it's a little dated now, is Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia as well as any of Ahmed Rashid's other books. Even though he focuses on Central Asia rather than the Middle East, most of the cast is the same, featuring among them Aramco, the Muhajideen, al Qaeda...

Oil, energy, the Middle East--besides the rise of China and India, these are definitely the greatest issues of our time. Baer's book is one of a nubmer to deal with them, but it is currently the best look at Saudi Arabia that I know of.

I haven't finished the book, and I am not sure I will. Since my own background is energy I have some knowledge of the topics being discussed, although I would hasten to add that the Middle East is not my area of interest.

What worries me is that where he states a fact on a subject in which I have knowledge, the book either presents a simplistic, and sometimes misleading, version of the fact. Or, in some cases, the book is just plain wrong. This worries me for two reasons: it undermines the credibility of the rest of the book, and it makes me wonder what is the level of professionalism in general in the CIA.

I also find these blacked-out lines in the book to be ludicrous. I can find no explanation for them in the book (it may be there, I just have not found it) and they are silly in any case. The implication, of course, is that someone (CIA?) censored the information and the author is making a silent protest. But why? He does say the book went through a CIA review process to protect national security, so we know the book is sanitized. Why belate the point?

I find that the writing style is mostly a rant. The author's personal agenda seems to be anger at those who have made money in the Middle East. Fair enough, but I think we all know that life is unfair. He seems to have a particular grudge against former president George Bush, possibly stemming from Bush's term as Director of CIA. But the attacks are tedious. Since my confidence in his fact base has been shaken, my belief in his rants is suffering.

The fact that Saudi Arabia is a backward, tyrannical, repressive place is not news. The fact that certain Saudis have a lot of money is not news. The fact that we rely excessively on them for an essential commodity for our national well-being is not news. What could be news is the changing dynamic in the country. Analysis of that in the book is useful. If I were more comfortable with the author's objectivity and facts, I would have a higher regard for the book.