Rating: 
Summary: Seduction & Corruption Of The Bushes By Saudi Royal Family!
Review: This superbly written and carefully documented book by Craig Unger, a noted author and investigative journalist, adds handsomely to the burgeoning list of substantive tomes covering the somewhat seedy and troublingly fulsome state of contemporary Saudi-American relationships, warts and all, and impressively serves the reader by masterfully describing and detailing the manifest ways in which the rise in the Bush family fortunes (both in terms of political and financial capital) is inextricably intertwined with that of the Saudi royal family. Indeed, the specter of blatant double-fisted corruption and cronyism depicted here is difficult to understand without understanding the kind of systematic familial linkages and connections that are explained and described here. As with Robert Baer's recent "Sleeping With The Devil", author paints such a picture of consistent influence-peddling and access-enhancements at the highest levels of the federal government that the reader begins to see just how massively both American foreign policy on the one hand, and American electoral politics on the other, have been affected by the naked avarice and greed displayed by our one-time public officials such as James Baker, George H. W Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, and other Bush family associates. Of course, most often this level of crony capitalism is cloaked under the self-serving flag of life-long public service, and an apparent confusion over where the public interest ends, on the one hand, and their own selfish profit begins, on the other. In Baer's terrific book, the overall policy of Saudi influence peddling through use of money and highly valued services to its friends and allies is described and placed in context in terms of its potential impact for American foreign policy. Herein, the author masterfully illustrates how the Bush family has acted as the sword's edge for such Saudi efforts, providing the entry point for Saudi financial and political goals within the American polity in exchange for nearly 1.5 billion dollars in rewards from the Saudi royal family and its entourage. Indeed, such the extent to which the corruption has progressed can be gauged in the unrivaled personal access the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Bandar, enjoys at the White House, having virtually unfettered free access to the Oval office 24/7. Given the close financial ties between the houses of the Saudi royal family and the Bushes, one wonders to what degree the Faud family has been allowed either illegal or unethical influence over critical matters of commerce and state within this country.
Needless to say, this kind of personal political access is unique, and is more than any of our closest allies such as Britain or Israel, can claim to enjoy. Given the fact that fifteen of the nineteen terrorists involved in the attack on 911 were Saudis, and that the government of Saudi Arabia has never cooperated in helping us to learn more about these individuals, or the individuals involved in any of the other Saudi-related terrorist incidents, the situation is indeed quite peculiar. Even more peculiar is the mysterious fashion in which dozens of Saudis were literally systematically spirited out of the country in the immediate aftermath of the 911 attack; and agencies like the state Department, the FBI, and The White House all aided and abetted these somewhat hurried efforts by Saudi nationals to leave before they could be either questioned or detained in connection with the events and circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks. Likewise, the willingness of the Bush administration to significantly alter Middle East policy in favor of Palestinian interests based on a Saudi threat serves as an object lesson in just how powerful and fateful the sudden confluence of personal interests and foreign policy can be. Something appears to be rotten in the state of contemporary foreign policy as it pertains to Middle East affairs, and the economic and political ties between the Saudi royal family, on the one hand, and the Bush family on the other may well be a quite significant element in the ongoing calculus of competing domestic and international interests and concerns.
The very fact that George W. Bush was a 'business success' is due in no small measure to repeated efforts by Saudi business dealers aligned with the royal family acting as angels in bailing Bush out of the exigent circumstances surrounding several business situations gone awry, from the ill-fated Armbruster oil deals of the late 1970s to the puzzling deals associated with Harkin Oil in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Only through the graces of Saudis absorbing significant financial losses could the scion of the Bush family muddle though one collapsing venture after another and yet emerge with enough "profit" and financial gain to buy into the Texas Rangers and the myth that he was a self-made millionaire. As the author wryly observes, Dubya was a man born on third base who somehow deduced he had himself hit a triple. One must ask why the Saudis were so willing to subsidize the young Bush, unless they thought there would be a handsome political and financial dividend somewhere down the road. And in this book, the nature of that dividend is richly explored. This is a terrific book, and one I can heartily recommend. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT BOOK VERY HONEST
Review: AFTER READING ALL THE REVIEWS I FOUND ONLY 1 NEGATIVE DOESNT LOOK LIKE THE FAR RIGHT HAD ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT.. SO IT MUST BE TRUE AND GOOD. ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS THE BOOK ONLY LET ME KNOW THAT WHAT I THOUGHT WAS TRUE IS TRUE AND IT'S TIME TO CHANGE PRESIDENTS.. READ THE BOOK AND SEE HOW YOU FEEL WHEN YOUR DONE, AND YOU WONT HAVE TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO IN THE NEXT ELECTION YOU WILL KNOW THANK YOU
END THE WAR STOP LETTING OUR YOUNG 19 AND UP MEN AMND WOMEN GETTING KILLED FOR A POLICY THAT A LOT OF US DON'T AGREE ON..
PLEASE BRING THEM HOME NOW NO MORE DEATHS AND BY THE WAY HAS ANYONE SEEN OUR PRESIDENT AT SOMEONE'S FUNERAL? HAVE YOU SEEN ANY OF THE COFFINS BEING TAKEN OFF THE PLANE AND SHOWN RESPECT? NOTHING NOTHING COMEO N MR PRESIDENT WE KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON YOU CAN'T FOOL US IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GO
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Summary: Just Follow the Money
Review: House of Bush House of Saud is the most shocking indictment of an American President that I've ever seen in print. It's an incredibly well documented history of the business and personal ties that bind these two clans and their many associates. Here is the money trail. It's the money that connects one generation to the next, it buys the influence, it buys respect, it side steps the grasp of corruption. It's the true allegiance of everyone on the inside, and it's the missing piece of the puzzle that completes the picture. House of Bush House of Saud exposes the private dealings and the hidden policies that contradict the public face that each house must show to its own people in order to remain in power. Have you ever wondered how the Saudi elite can be the playboys of the Western world, have homes in the United States, and still be the rulers of a strict Islamic nation that openly and vehemently despises anything Western and especially American? How do they do that? There's an equally disturbing and shocking paradox behind the Bush family and friends. Here you'll find the arms sales that include conventional, chemical, biological, and even nuclear technology to crazed despots like Sadaam and fanatic revolutionaries like Ossma Bin Ladin. Exchanges of arms, technology, and intelligence that contradict public policy, override US statutes, and even dodge common sense. Here are the jets gathering together Saudi citizens, members of the Bin Ladin family and their associates just days after 9/11, even during a nation wide flight ban, and whisking them safely out of the US without any investigation. Here we see a nation consumed by homeland security and still supporting a visa express program that allows anyone to fly from Saudi Arabia to the US with zero scrutiny. Here is a conflict of interest of unimaginable proportion that defies logic, law, and morality. Now it makes sense; just follow the money.
Rating:
Summary: The Big Puzzle--and the missing piece
Review: Into the middle of all the confusions, deceptions and disinformations of the war on terror, and Middle East affairs and commentary generally, comes the coup de grace: hidden connections between the House of Saud and the Bush cohort. The term 'fleabed' comes to mind. It seems less than surprising all at once that with such Byzantine minds something is awry with the overall strategy of the war on terror as the book ends with a conclusion close to what Richard Clarke has been saying. The account here contains a complement, and a missing piece, to K. Philipps' American Dynasty. After all the books exposing the Bush shadows, it was hard to be shocked any more. One goes limp and sits in a chair staring at the wall. But this book did it, and back to normal indignation.
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Summary: Appalling Revelations
Review: Just when you thought you'd heard every last possible horror story about the appalling, scandal-filled presidency of George W. Bush, here come the most deeply shocking and infuriating revelations of them all. Craig Unger shows that Bush has enjoyed a lengthy business relationship with the very Saudis who are financing Osama bin Laden's ongoing reign of terror against U.S. interests. With copious notes and a detailed chronology of known financial transactions, Unger lays bare all the information one needs to see the direct link between the House of Bush and the House of Saud. In an appendix, Unger unloads a shocking compilation that lists numerous transactions in which "individuals and entities connected with the House of Saud transferred money to individuals and entities closely tied to the House of Bush." The total of all such known transactions? An astounding $1,477,100,000.00!! How can Bush possibly provide a full scale "War On Terror" if he is so thoroughly compromised in such a way? The answer, of course, is that he cannot. No wonder Bush and Cheney have done everything in their power to stall the 9-11 commission. There's only one way to solve this horrible problem...and that's to give Dubya the boot this coming November.
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Summary: How Could We Allow Bush to Be President?
Review: I am hurting all over after finishing this book. It took me longer because I kept reading some of the pages over and over. Showing my friends and discussing what it all means. Bush was beholding to the Saudis. He flew them out of this country without questioning after 9/11. The Saudis gave Mr. Bush and his family millions of dollars. I am just shocked how anyone could support and vote for Bush. Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke, The Price of Loyalty by Ron Suskind just tie everything together. Thanks to the corporate media the American population is kept clueless. Trust me on this, history will not be kind to George W. Bush after the dust clears and people really start looking at his record.
Rating:
Summary: astonishing
Review: This is a meticulously documented expose on the incredible ties between the Bush family and the Saudi family. After you read it, you'll realize how deeply corrupt and hypocritical the Bush dynasty is.....
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Excellent book! I haven't seen this quality of a fictional book since Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park.
Rating:
Summary: This book has left me totally speechless
Review: I am having trouble closing my mouth. For a minute there I forgot this wasn't fiction.
This is an excellent read. It is articulately written and everything he says, he backs up with facts.
In my opinion, you should consider this an investment. Definitely money well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Riveting - One Of the Best Books in Years
Review: I feel like I have been on an overdose of these books just having read House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger (this present and excellent book) - the biggest tell all blockbuster (my opinion), The Choice by Zbigniew Brzezinski (an excellent analysis), Disarming Iraq, by Hans Blix, Noam Chomsky's Hegemony of Survival (truly a book that makes one think), Thirty Days (about Tony Blair) by Peter Stothard, and Price of Loyalty, Paul O'Neill (excellent book), Why America Slept by Gerald Posner, he popular Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke, and the Rise of the Vulcans by Mann and Mann. I put together a "listmania" list of the 25 best books - the best books - mainly non political taken together, no strong bias conservative or liberal - a spectrum of opinion when you take them all together. There is certainly a wide variety of views and all of these books are excellent. I have read and for the most part digested the views and ideas and I would strongly recommend any or all of these books to get a diverse view. One cannot begin to give these books justice in book reviews. In any case there are generally two types of books, i.e: the "gotcha" books which try to show how Bush has made errors or done something illegal such as this Craig Unger book, or the "solution books" like Brzezinski, Soros and Chomsky. In my humble opinion this present book is the best read of the lot. Intellectually the Chomsky book or perhaps the Brzezinski book would take the prize for the best contents but this Unger book is by far the best read. The first 10 pages are simply riveting. He goes into great detail on the Saudi relationship with America starting back in approximately 1975 and takes it forward to the present time. Just an outstanding read. That leaves you shaking your head - and I suspect might change the way you vote. Five stars great read. Jack in Toronto
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