Sleeping with the Devil is written from Baer's own perspective as an intell and ex-intell officer. After having read portions of some academic books on this subject, this is one of the easiest and most compelling reads you're going to get on it, exactly because it approaches it from a personal standpoint of emotional reactions upon acquiring each bit of information. He is clearly not happy about the conclusions this information forces him to, but trudges on for the sake of truth and possible solutions.
What's the gist of this book? The U.S. political system, our intelligence & counterintelligence apparatus, the energy economy, the defense industry, and policy towards the Middle East are sinfully broken. Our officials have increased their standard of living and that of their friends by consorting with oil Arabs. Those Arabs have made huge defense contracts they cannot afford that fill U.S. elites' pockets. They also pump as much oil as possible to drive prices down to keep these U.S. officials elected.
The same Arabs are surrounded by radicals who want to overthrow them, so they fund them but force the terrorists to migrate overseas to funnel their hatred towards the West. All this time, the said wealthy Arabs are taking bribes and skimming off the top in order to live a life of debauchery, thus inciting even more fundamentalists inside their own country to hate them, causing an even greater need to appease them with more funds and push them out of the country towards us.
The United States has manipulated its way into getting our troops into the region in order to ensure this status quo. A concerted and bipartisan effort has been made to use the FBI and other agencies to help dissuade investigation of our Arab allies and help quiet dissent. Americans are dying, the common Arab is poor and oppressed, but U.S. and Arab elites are staying influential and getting rich off it.
There is much, much more to it, but you need to read it for yourself to get all the details. I will tell you the conclusions are not pretty. The United States is facing a crisis. We have political powers who are keeping information classified for the purpose of, at the worst, covering up corruption, or at the very least, severe impropriety in both Arabia and back home. The solutions suggested by Baer were self-reform by the politicians and corporate big-wigs, and, brace yourself, an outright invasion of a 400 mile stretch of oil real estate that includes Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
While the self-reform was always unlikely, the invasion was not. However, it is a downright impossibility now. If we did, Muslims everywhere would turn against us, not just ideologically, but in a material sense. A third invasion of an Arab country, especially the one with the two most holy of Islam's sites, would not go well in light of the disaster in Iraq. It doesn't matter how sparsely populated that 400 mile stretch is. Furthermore, the American elites would have to be complicit in something they have a vested interest in preventing. Without the Sheikhs and Saudi royalty in the loop, the current scheme would dissolve. It'd be great for the average American and Arab, but if the politicians didn't have an incentive to stop this before, they don't have one now. They'll just keep milking this until the bitter end.
But the bitter end is coming whether we like it or not. The House of Saud will fall. Oil prices will rocket. The American economy will tank. We do not have the oil the public seems to think we have. We are not a Russia. China is a non-issue. They are a dependent and have almost no internal energy production infrastructure. Whoever needs cheep, cut-throat goods, they'll do business with. Russia, on the other hand, has enormous reserves and has the potential to regain its status in such a scenario.
So we can't invade that 400 mile strip. The politicians won't reform. There will be no required alliance with the Shiites, as shown with all the rhetoric towards Iran. And the inevitable is on the way. What do we have left? I would posit that the only solution left is to bring 'em home...all of them. It's unfortunate. I hate having to say this. However, it's clear the USA needs to protect our boarders, ports, and airports and hunker down. All the money we save from halting further major military exploits should be pumped into pure electric cars, fission nuclear power plants, and fusion nuclear power research. Domestically-produced oil products should be used only for heavy machinery, aircraft, and smaller machines like lawn mowers.
I do not think this is a similar situation to Japan at the end of WWII. They kept their emperor, police, and enough of their infrastructure to meet the basic necessities of life and prevent civil unrest. The Japanese government was part of the transfer. Iraq is almost complete anarchy. At this point, we are a distraction. The Sunnis and Shia should be fighting against Al Queda, not against us. They'll fight against each other regardless of what we do because we are not willing to commit the war crimes necessary to bring them under control...thank God. Someone else will fill that role. He'll likely be another Sunni, because a Shiite leader would have no reason not to just exterminate the minority.
Stopping terrorism should be a law enforcement and intelligence mission, with the military playing only a support role. The purpose of the U.S. military is to defend us, not invade countries and idiotically attempt to force democracy on people. Remember, it's "of the people, by the people", not "of a foreign nation, and by a foreign nation". This new fixation on counterinsurgency is a sickness that will ruin the military culture and rot its strategic defense capabilities from the inside out. Baer's correct that forcing democracy in the region will only cause more problems, but military action there of any kind is now outdated.
I fear that none of what we say matters, though. Those in power will keep exploiting this situation until the end. And when the crash occurs, they'll be the ones least affected. The rich Arabs will have their resorts and prostitutes, the Americans will have their seats on various corporate boards and lucrative speaking engagements. It doesn't even matter whether they're an exile from their kingdom, scapegoat, or red herring whistleblower. They'll all be taken care of.
Then again, maybe that's the best solution after all. If you just keep letting enough Americans die, the terrorists will avoid overthrowing their own governments and the rest of us will continue getting our cheap oil. Since the politicians are most likely to do exactly that, I am crossing my fingers that these deaths happen only in overseas war zones and not back here...and no one I know or love. I suppose the Bush mantra of "If we don't fight them over there we'll be fighting them at home" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Isn't it nice to know that doing your part comes down to nothing more than crossing your fingers?
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Top reviews from other countries
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- Mammabear71Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2016
Whatever you may have learnt about the Middle East through journals, lectures and/or news....forget it. Get this book.
