A compelling indictment of the Bush-sponsored New World Order of endless wars against Arabs/Moslems, relentlessly promoted by a nauseating campaign of deceit and lies at the highest levels of the US Administration in complicity with a corrupt self-serving corporate media, at the behest of a greedy so-called corporate 'elite' and of the aggressive fundamentalist pro-Israel Washington, DC lobbies. - Anthony Yuja
Tracking Deception: Bush Mid-East Policy
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cook brings the brutal truth about the Bush Mid-East Policy to YOUR door!
November 9, 2006
Format:Paperback
This is a complex book containing a stunning, and frankly, eye-opening amount of information about a hijacked American administration and its corporate allies who are greedily taking what they want from the middle-east and running roughshod over a beleaguered Palestinian people (amongst others).
I wouldn't like to boast that I have a handle on the way America's Middle East policy is being conducted in detail, but I thought I had a reasonable idea. This book has blown all that away. I was both fascinated and angered to discover the catalogue of horrors that have been and continue to be perpetrated by the Bush administration by their commitment to fund and support the violent repression of the Palestinian people by an ugly Israeli regime. I had no idea for example that Israel has flouted over one hundred UN resolutions and never been held to account. I had no idea that Ariel Sharon was such a barbaric character who has personally instigated many appalling crimes against the Palestinian people during his spell in the Israeli military and now is able to continue to do so from Government. I had no idea that Israel has had more American money pumped into it than any other nation in the world and by such a huge margin. It makes me wonder how in this day and age and with the technology we all have at our disposal, things like this can go on and the general public can be kept in virtual ignorance. Surely if the truth was laid before the American public in all its stark reality then the Bush regime would be dropped like a hot stone and would probably be called to account for their actions.
I was also very interested to read the author's opinions on how religion is playing a big part in determining how the Bush administration behave and how exactly they justify their actions, and how very right-wing Christian evangelists are able to exert a massive influence over certain people in the Government. I think rather than try and explain this myself; I would prefer to quote the author as he sums it up better than I could.
From the author's introduction to the book:
`I look in vain for this Christ in the Christianity practiced by the right wing, fanatical sects that preach the Book of Revelation, reveling in the glory they perceive to be their reward if they destroy the enemies they identify as the enemies of God. I wonder where in this acclaimed Christian land of TV Evangelists and literalist ministers is there a man who acts as Christ would act? I see none. I see only a God forsaken Tele-Evangelist land of vitriol and bigotry where none could say I "love the Lord my God with my whole heart and mind and soul, and my neighbor as myself." They have buried the teachings of Jesus in the quagmire of a malevolent and malicious God of the Old Testament, a God that would order one Semitic tribe to exterminate another. We have not moved beyond the racist hatred that blotted the landscape 2,500 years ago.'
It would appear from the well researched facts in Mr. Cook's book, that far from the Palestinians/Iraqis being the terrorists in the middle-east it would appear that an American funded Israeli regime are by far the biggest terrorist organization this world has ever seen.
I applaud Mr. Cook for his courage in speaking out against these people. The ordinary honest American can not be blamed for not knowing these facts, as I found myself to be just as ignorant, as we are only exposed to what bland corporate controlled media wants us to see.
It is obvious that Mr. Cook has left no stone unturned is his quest for the truth and he certainly doesn't shy away relaying these facts in concise and sometimes stark detail. This grim reading is occasionally broken with some lighter moments and I certainly enjoyed the `Agony of Colin Powell: A Dramatic Monologue in One Act'. I think this not only displays the author's talent to convey a message but also shows he enjoys and is dedicated to what he does. Bringing the truth to the people in whatever form can only be a good thing. The world relies on people like Mr. Cook, who dedicate their lives to finding out the truth, and instead of just accepting it and shrugging their shoulders, get out there and do all in their power to bring it to the world's attention. I would recommend that anyone who wants to know more about how the Bush Administration is really conducting business in the Middle-East, then they need look no further than this book.
About the Author
Dr. Cook traces his roots to the first Dr. William A. Cook, honorably discharged by General George Washington from the Revolutionary forces after six years of service. He, too, battled a despotic George, a madman of his day not unlike our own would-be Emperor, George W. It is in the blood to ensure that democracy is not denied or stolen.
Sassy Brit
Owner
I wouldn't like to boast that I have a handle on the way America's Middle East policy is being conducted in detail, but I thought I had a reasonable idea. This book has blown all that away. I was both fascinated and angered to discover the catalogue of horrors that have been and continue to be perpetrated by the Bush administration by their commitment to fund and support the violent repression of the Palestinian people by an ugly Israeli regime. I had no idea for example that Israel has flouted over one hundred UN resolutions and never been held to account. I had no idea that Ariel Sharon was such a barbaric character who has personally instigated many appalling crimes against the Palestinian people during his spell in the Israeli military and now is able to continue to do so from Government. I had no idea that Israel has had more American money pumped into it than any other nation in the world and by such a huge margin. It makes me wonder how in this day and age and with the technology we all have at our disposal, things like this can go on and the general public can be kept in virtual ignorance. Surely if the truth was laid before the American public in all its stark reality then the Bush regime would be dropped like a hot stone and would probably be called to account for their actions.
I was also very interested to read the author's opinions on how religion is playing a big part in determining how the Bush administration behave and how exactly they justify their actions, and how very right-wing Christian evangelists are able to exert a massive influence over certain people in the Government. I think rather than try and explain this myself; I would prefer to quote the author as he sums it up better than I could.
From the author's introduction to the book:
`I look in vain for this Christ in the Christianity practiced by the right wing, fanatical sects that preach the Book of Revelation, reveling in the glory they perceive to be their reward if they destroy the enemies they identify as the enemies of God. I wonder where in this acclaimed Christian land of TV Evangelists and literalist ministers is there a man who acts as Christ would act? I see none. I see only a God forsaken Tele-Evangelist land of vitriol and bigotry where none could say I "love the Lord my God with my whole heart and mind and soul, and my neighbor as myself." They have buried the teachings of Jesus in the quagmire of a malevolent and malicious God of the Old Testament, a God that would order one Semitic tribe to exterminate another. We have not moved beyond the racist hatred that blotted the landscape 2,500 years ago.'
It would appear from the well researched facts in Mr. Cook's book, that far from the Palestinians/Iraqis being the terrorists in the middle-east it would appear that an American funded Israeli regime are by far the biggest terrorist organization this world has ever seen.
I applaud Mr. Cook for his courage in speaking out against these people. The ordinary honest American can not be blamed for not knowing these facts, as I found myself to be just as ignorant, as we are only exposed to what bland corporate controlled media wants us to see.
It is obvious that Mr. Cook has left no stone unturned is his quest for the truth and he certainly doesn't shy away relaying these facts in concise and sometimes stark detail. This grim reading is occasionally broken with some lighter moments and I certainly enjoyed the `Agony of Colin Powell: A Dramatic Monologue in One Act'. I think this not only displays the author's talent to convey a message but also shows he enjoys and is dedicated to what he does. Bringing the truth to the people in whatever form can only be a good thing. The world relies on people like Mr. Cook, who dedicate their lives to finding out the truth, and instead of just accepting it and shrugging their shoulders, get out there and do all in their power to bring it to the world's attention. I would recommend that anyone who wants to know more about how the Bush Administration is really conducting business in the Middle-East, then they need look no further than this book.
About the Author
Dr. Cook traces his roots to the first Dr. William A. Cook, honorably discharged by General George Washington from the Revolutionary forces after six years of service. He, too, battled a despotic George, a madman of his day not unlike our own would-be Emperor, George W. It is in the blood to ensure that democracy is not denied or stolen.
Sassy Brit
Owner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unspeakable Narrative: review by Edward Jayne submitted by author
February 23, 2011
By Bill
Format:Paperback
Tracking Deception, by William A. Cook, offers a sustained diatribe against Israel and the United States, comprising forty-three articles published between September, 2002, and April, 2005, when the two governments were escalating hostilities against their respective enemies of choice. Not more than thirty-two months transpired, but Cook's articles went into print on the average once every three weeks for this entire period. The result is something more than a book.
Most histories relax somewhat to let the story tell itself, as may be seen, for example, in the impressive investigative books about Iraq by such authors as Thomas Ricks, Bob Woodward, and Chalmers Johnson that were published at about the same time. In contrast, Cook's admixture of data and acrimony was persistent in all his articles and therefore throughout his text as a whole. Dates, laws, quotes, sources, and fascinating lists of names and transgressions abound to illustrate and justify his sense of outrage. Granted, his "hard" information is now and again incorrect (usually on the short side of the truth), but this is typical during warfare, and in retrospect it is obvious that Cook's distortions were far more accurate than most of the reportage in the respectable press at the time.
Apparent toward the end of 2002, when the book begins, was that a major invasion was imminent in Iraq and that Israel's Prime Minister Sharon had been doing everything he could to intensify the conflict with Palestinians since he came to power eighteen months earlier, most notably by having scuttled negotiations both at Taba and in response to the generous Saudi Peace Plan. By spring, 2005, when Cook's diatribe ends, the invasion of Iraq had degenerated into outright warfare that culminated in the siege and total destruction of Fallujah once Bush was reelected. Meanwhile, Israeli troops had isolated Arafat in his Ramallah compound, where he would be "contained" until his death, and Sharon had refused to negotiate with his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, despite his generous peace plan that began with a unilateral ceasefire.
Predictably, American activists were outraged by the development of events, if with far more concern about Iraq than Israel. Cook's articles, most of them published by CounterPunch, rectify this imbalance by focusing on the tactics of Israel as well as its enlarged dependence on the United States since 1948. Most of them discuss the two in combination with an emphasis on Israel's tactics. Obviously, Cook was willing to risk displeasure from the predictable chorus of angry Zionist apologists who go after anybody who dares to criticize Israel.
2
Tracking Deception`s final essay, "The Destructive Power of Myth," at least double the length of any of the rest, turns out to have been written in response to the 9-11 catastrophe a full year later. It seems intended as an appendix providing a final overview of Cook's historic perspective, but it can also be appreciated as a theoretical introduction that clarifies his effort throughout the text to challenge the merits of public mythology exemplified by both Zionist ideology and the misbegotten patriotic support of Bush's foreign policy shared by the vast majority of the American people. Contrary to Marxist base-superstructure assumptions, Cook features the paramount impact of ideology at the expense of economics, but then traces chauvinistic enthusiasm in both Israel and the United States to the highly successful effort of relatively small but powerful minorities in distorting this shared consciousness to meet their own needs. Crucial to their success, he argues, is their ability to manipulate relatively simple myths to serve this purpose. Such myths, he argues, usually put to use the perceived virtues of the community at large (e.g., a nation's presumably unique dedication to freedom or its right to occupy its ancient "homeland") as well as the need to take action now and again in defense of these virtues.
Cook also suggests that these collective myths can be political, religious, or both in combination, and remarks that they seem best promoted by a hierarchical structure (a priesthood, for example, or a political party) to "codify, justify, and implement" their enactment. (pp. 344-45) Obviously Cook tailors this definition of myth to apply equally to the American obsession with freedom inclusive of the laissez faire and Israel's even greater obsession with its unique status as a "chosen people" deserving of a theocratic state of its own.
Relevant to the collective mythology dominant in the United States, Cook warns of the ability of capitalistic enterprise to distort public opinion, and here Marxist assumptions come to the fore:
In truth, what we believe is what the corporate world wants us to believe, and they have the means to make it happen. They own communications - newspapers, television channels, magazines, movie production studios, movie distribution houses, telephone systems, and radio stations. . . . In truth what Capitalism actually does in the name of the United States is to reap the greatest profits by producing for the least possible cost, regardless of the consequences to the peoples of other countries. . . . Capitalism, not Democracy, is at fault. (p. 355).
More specifically, Cook identifies eight dominant corporations engaged in this effort to sustain a public mythology beneficial to corporate hegemony: General Electric, AT&T/Liberty Media, Disney, Times Warner, Sony, News Corporation, Viacom and Seagram, and Bertelsmann (p. 324). The specific identities of these corporations shift at times resulting from mergers and buyouts, but both their leadership and shared goals remain the same.
And what are these goals in the United States today? It seems, as Cook insists, that a very small elite imposes "useful" beliefs on the public at large. But useful to exactly whom? Relevant to our nation's economy since World War II, this lucrative mythology has featured the defense of American democracy and the American way of life against predators both at home and abroad. Beneficiaries include all who either directly or indirectly support themselves through their participation in what seems best and most accurately described as Keynesian militarism. These individuals extend from the very wealthiest investors to the employees of contractors and sub-contractors as well as the multitude of local stores and services that provide their needs. This turns out to be a very huge chunk of our present economy, as illustrated by the total financial costs incurred by the military establishment since the thirties.
President Clinton sought a better and more acceptable alternative by featuring globalization, but it wasn't enough. President Bush added two wars to the recipe, and, lo, the affluence of the nineties extended well into the first decade of the twenty-first century. Our nation's economic prosperity turns out to have been the most important byproduct of its military status abroad combined with the high costs involved - a double benefit difficult to ignore. Low taxes and deregulation could be thrown in for good measure. And look at America today!
Unfortunately, this financial benefit dependent on military aggression abroad is hardly admirable and needs a credible mythology to gloss over its disreputable imperfections. No problem at all. The appropriate collective narrative rooted in the robust defense of universal freedom enjoys widespread acceptance promoted by books, movies, magazines, newspapers, the popular media, and of course the round-the-clock news coverage on cable TV and the radio. As to be expected, the public has fully taken to heart this collective myth ultimately epitomized by President Reagan's notion of American democracy as a shining city on the hill, indeed a beacon of hope for oppressed people across the world.
More Americans resonate to this myth than anybody wants to acknowledge among educated friends. The Republican Party in fact seems to depend on it. The real story, of course (if such exists), is far more complicated, and with an abundance of ramifications that too often fail to reflect positively on our nation's accomplishments. For anybody interested in pursuing a more adequate narrative, a variety of standard one-volume U.S. histories may be suggested here: by Charles Beard, Samuel Eliot Morrison, Howard Zinn, Paul Johnson, Walter McDougall, and/or William Appleman Williams, among many others.
3
Cook's Preface begins with the blatant warning, "The life-blood of Democracy is truth, and Bush has murdered truth" (p. ix). Can the truth be murdered, strictly speaking? Perhaps not, but Cook obviously thinks Bush came as close to doing this as anybody in recent history. Cook then becomes more specific relevant to the Iraq invasion:
Month by month Bush's duplicity and deception mounted. His administration took America to war against a nation that had no intention of harming America, no means to harm America, and offered no threat to America.... He fabricated an enemy force of considerable might that would confront American troops once the invasion started - when in reality Iraq had been devastated by 12 years of sanctions and had no army to field (p. xii).
In other words, the entire operation was total fraud from the very beginning. Supposedly Iraq had been invaded because it posed a dire and immediate threat to the rest of the world, whereas it was in no threat at all except when it came to combating occupation troops.
In Chapter 1 (Sept. 8, 2002), Cook complains of Bush's Manichaean assumption that America "represents the forces of good fighting against the forces of evil," supposedly justifying our nation's unilateral world domination. Read more ›
Most histories relax somewhat to let the story tell itself, as may be seen, for example, in the impressive investigative books about Iraq by such authors as Thomas Ricks, Bob Woodward, and Chalmers Johnson that were published at about the same time. In contrast, Cook's admixture of data and acrimony was persistent in all his articles and therefore throughout his text as a whole. Dates, laws, quotes, sources, and fascinating lists of names and transgressions abound to illustrate and justify his sense of outrage. Granted, his "hard" information is now and again incorrect (usually on the short side of the truth), but this is typical during warfare, and in retrospect it is obvious that Cook's distortions were far more accurate than most of the reportage in the respectable press at the time.
Apparent toward the end of 2002, when the book begins, was that a major invasion was imminent in Iraq and that Israel's Prime Minister Sharon had been doing everything he could to intensify the conflict with Palestinians since he came to power eighteen months earlier, most notably by having scuttled negotiations both at Taba and in response to the generous Saudi Peace Plan. By spring, 2005, when Cook's diatribe ends, the invasion of Iraq had degenerated into outright warfare that culminated in the siege and total destruction of Fallujah once Bush was reelected. Meanwhile, Israeli troops had isolated Arafat in his Ramallah compound, where he would be "contained" until his death, and Sharon had refused to negotiate with his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, despite his generous peace plan that began with a unilateral ceasefire.
Predictably, American activists were outraged by the development of events, if with far more concern about Iraq than Israel. Cook's articles, most of them published by CounterPunch, rectify this imbalance by focusing on the tactics of Israel as well as its enlarged dependence on the United States since 1948. Most of them discuss the two in combination with an emphasis on Israel's tactics. Obviously, Cook was willing to risk displeasure from the predictable chorus of angry Zionist apologists who go after anybody who dares to criticize Israel.
2
Tracking Deception`s final essay, "The Destructive Power of Myth," at least double the length of any of the rest, turns out to have been written in response to the 9-11 catastrophe a full year later. It seems intended as an appendix providing a final overview of Cook's historic perspective, but it can also be appreciated as a theoretical introduction that clarifies his effort throughout the text to challenge the merits of public mythology exemplified by both Zionist ideology and the misbegotten patriotic support of Bush's foreign policy shared by the vast majority of the American people. Contrary to Marxist base-superstructure assumptions, Cook features the paramount impact of ideology at the expense of economics, but then traces chauvinistic enthusiasm in both Israel and the United States to the highly successful effort of relatively small but powerful minorities in distorting this shared consciousness to meet their own needs. Crucial to their success, he argues, is their ability to manipulate relatively simple myths to serve this purpose. Such myths, he argues, usually put to use the perceived virtues of the community at large (e.g., a nation's presumably unique dedication to freedom or its right to occupy its ancient "homeland") as well as the need to take action now and again in defense of these virtues.
Cook also suggests that these collective myths can be political, religious, or both in combination, and remarks that they seem best promoted by a hierarchical structure (a priesthood, for example, or a political party) to "codify, justify, and implement" their enactment. (pp. 344-45) Obviously Cook tailors this definition of myth to apply equally to the American obsession with freedom inclusive of the laissez faire and Israel's even greater obsession with its unique status as a "chosen people" deserving of a theocratic state of its own.
Relevant to the collective mythology dominant in the United States, Cook warns of the ability of capitalistic enterprise to distort public opinion, and here Marxist assumptions come to the fore:
In truth, what we believe is what the corporate world wants us to believe, and they have the means to make it happen. They own communications - newspapers, television channels, magazines, movie production studios, movie distribution houses, telephone systems, and radio stations. . . . In truth what Capitalism actually does in the name of the United States is to reap the greatest profits by producing for the least possible cost, regardless of the consequences to the peoples of other countries. . . . Capitalism, not Democracy, is at fault. (p. 355).
More specifically, Cook identifies eight dominant corporations engaged in this effort to sustain a public mythology beneficial to corporate hegemony: General Electric, AT&T/Liberty Media, Disney, Times Warner, Sony, News Corporation, Viacom and Seagram, and Bertelsmann (p. 324). The specific identities of these corporations shift at times resulting from mergers and buyouts, but both their leadership and shared goals remain the same.
And what are these goals in the United States today? It seems, as Cook insists, that a very small elite imposes "useful" beliefs on the public at large. But useful to exactly whom? Relevant to our nation's economy since World War II, this lucrative mythology has featured the defense of American democracy and the American way of life against predators both at home and abroad. Beneficiaries include all who either directly or indirectly support themselves through their participation in what seems best and most accurately described as Keynesian militarism. These individuals extend from the very wealthiest investors to the employees of contractors and sub-contractors as well as the multitude of local stores and services that provide their needs. This turns out to be a very huge chunk of our present economy, as illustrated by the total financial costs incurred by the military establishment since the thirties.
President Clinton sought a better and more acceptable alternative by featuring globalization, but it wasn't enough. President Bush added two wars to the recipe, and, lo, the affluence of the nineties extended well into the first decade of the twenty-first century. Our nation's economic prosperity turns out to have been the most important byproduct of its military status abroad combined with the high costs involved - a double benefit difficult to ignore. Low taxes and deregulation could be thrown in for good measure. And look at America today!
Unfortunately, this financial benefit dependent on military aggression abroad is hardly admirable and needs a credible mythology to gloss over its disreputable imperfections. No problem at all. The appropriate collective narrative rooted in the robust defense of universal freedom enjoys widespread acceptance promoted by books, movies, magazines, newspapers, the popular media, and of course the round-the-clock news coverage on cable TV and the radio. As to be expected, the public has fully taken to heart this collective myth ultimately epitomized by President Reagan's notion of American democracy as a shining city on the hill, indeed a beacon of hope for oppressed people across the world.
More Americans resonate to this myth than anybody wants to acknowledge among educated friends. The Republican Party in fact seems to depend on it. The real story, of course (if such exists), is far more complicated, and with an abundance of ramifications that too often fail to reflect positively on our nation's accomplishments. For anybody interested in pursuing a more adequate narrative, a variety of standard one-volume U.S. histories may be suggested here: by Charles Beard, Samuel Eliot Morrison, Howard Zinn, Paul Johnson, Walter McDougall, and/or William Appleman Williams, among many others.
3
Cook's Preface begins with the blatant warning, "The life-blood of Democracy is truth, and Bush has murdered truth" (p. ix). Can the truth be murdered, strictly speaking? Perhaps not, but Cook obviously thinks Bush came as close to doing this as anybody in recent history. Cook then becomes more specific relevant to the Iraq invasion:
Month by month Bush's duplicity and deception mounted. His administration took America to war against a nation that had no intention of harming America, no means to harm America, and offered no threat to America.... He fabricated an enemy force of considerable might that would confront American troops once the invasion started - when in reality Iraq had been devastated by 12 years of sanctions and had no army to field (p. xii).
In other words, the entire operation was total fraud from the very beginning. Supposedly Iraq had been invaded because it posed a dire and immediate threat to the rest of the world, whereas it was in no threat at all except when it came to combating occupation troops.
In Chapter 1 (Sept. 8, 2002), Cook complains of Bush's Manichaean assumption that America "represents the forces of good fighting against the forces of evil," supposedly justifying our nation's unilateral world domination. Read more ›
