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Summary: Disorganized and US Policy Biased
Review: The book and title are very interesting but Baer never really organizes his thoughts into a novel, it was more like he was spitting out his thoughts at random on paper. The book could have been much better as I'm sure there is a lot more to say about the our relationship with the House of Saud. While the book was supposed to focus on Saudi Arabia and how it supports terrorism, it went on to name the rest of the countries in the Middle East except for Israel, which equally has us by the balls. No one, on the other hand, would publish such a book in the US. I also don't think Baer needed to mention that he saw the need to go after fundamentalist supported by the Saud over ten years ago... as if that would have added to his crediblity. Its easy to say that he saw it coming now. Baer also approaches the book from a bias American view of the world, as if whatever we do is right and whatever the rest of the world does is wrong. The racial references were uncalled for. In the end he refers to the War in Iraq while it was still on in full force and mentions that we sohuld build better relations with the Shia in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as a balancing/moderate force to take power in those countries...., but also mentions how he miscalculated the Shia's lack of support for American troops in Iraq. This supports my statement above about how he approaches the Middle East with America arrogance and lack of understanding of what's going on there. For one, look at Iran for a model of Shia democracy. Iran is the defacto Shia center and all Shia power will model itself after it. Next, what makes him sure that by dividing Iraq into Shia/Sunni would solve the problem. They hate each other so they will like us? That's strange... they are above all Iraqi and will side together against us if we continue to approach the region with our arrogance.
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Summary: blanks
Review: has anyone who has this book noticed the black outed lines on several pages? who is censoring this book and why?
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Summary: Everyone Should Read This One
Review: If you don't own a car or use any petroleum products and have no interest in the state of the U.S. economy or the functioning of our government, don't bother to read "Sleeping With the Devil." Otherwise, this is a book everyone should read. And believe me, I'm not suggesting a dismal experience. Baer is a excellent, passionate, well-informed writer. I'm not sure if "entertaining" is quite the right word for this often horrifying book, but this is a really great read. I just picked it up a couple of hours ago, and I've already devoured almost half of it. Baer's basic thesis is that the Saudi royal family are not exactly our pals and are themselves in an extremely precarious position from which they are bound to fall sooner or later (probably sooner), with great consequences for America and the world economy. Baer takes particular delight in laying out the web of self-interest, money and corruption which has led America's political, business and journalistic elite to see and speak no evil where Saudi Arabia is concerned. Baer certainly cannot assemble the entire picture, but his evidence and arguments are extremely persuasive. Here's hoping he's dead wrong and that the book is not in the least prophetic. I should probably also note that this is a book worth reading whether you consider yourself to be on the left on the right or somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, this is not a book about ideology, it's a book about money and power.
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Summary: Compelling Condemnation of Crude Corruption
Review:
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.
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Summary: Catastrophe -- oil is thy name
Review: On the list of the top 5 threats to survival that we should all understand, along with rogue states' possession of catastrophic weapons, and environmental poisons that make it increasingly unlikely we will die of "old age", is the developed world's dependence on foreign oil. What house of cards, whose inner rot and stupefying greed have made its demise inevitable if not imminent, can take down life as we know it when it goes? No, not Saudi Arabia per se -- but rather, America's status as "most favored customer" for Saudi oil. Here is where the author's work shines. Based on his years as a CIA operative in western Asia, he compellingly and convincingly relates several key facts that hit home: Saudi oil's availability and favorable prices have been disproportionately responsible for America's post-war prosperity; without it, our past oil shocks would have been, and future such shocks will be, surreal and will propel us into energy winter; the families ruling Saudi Arabia are a case study in dysfunctionality and must fall, possibly sooner rather than later; the Riyadh-Washington axis is sacrosanct, with surreal amounts of easy money blinding our federal policymakers to the tenuous nature of Saudi Arabia's government as well as to its terrorist elements; and special handling for Saudi Arabia and its citizens may explain how the Saudi 911 terrorists penetrated into American society, and also, why Saudi citizens' links to terrorism have been rather intentionally protected from the court of public opinion. Here's an excerpt that illustrates the incisiveness of the author's report: "Call it a poetic coincidence. But right as the Carlyle Group was getting into its annual investor conference...American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, only two and a half miles to the south...At the meeting were the group's senior counsel James Baker, secretary of state in the Bush I administration; then Carlyle chairman Frank Carlucci, Ronald Reagan's last secretary of defense and national security adviser before that; AND SHAFIQ BIN LADEN, REPRESENTING THE BIN LADEN GROUP--one of the world's largest construction companies--BUT FAR MORE FAMOUS TODAY AS OSAMA BIN LADEN'S BROTHER (emphasis mine.) The gathering was the perfect metaphor for Washington's strange affair with Saudi Arabia." As I was deciding last night how to rate and review this book, I froze in my tracks when I saw one of the 911 widows on the TV news questioning why President Bush wanted Saudi-related content in the 911 intelligence failure report censored. Apparently, on top of losing her husband in one of the most heinous acts of horror the world has ever known, the 911 widow will also be deprived of ever knowing the real reasons why that act might have occurred, due to the deep-seated, grievous collaborative whoredom on the part of so many parties, as this book's author graphically explains. While the continuity of the author's report can be in instances hard to follow, and his opinion that America might need to seize Saudi oil is improperly placed into an otherwise effective factual report, the extreme timeliness and criticality of content in this book make it a five star winner. Read this book to get, as another reviewer said, pieces of the 911/oil/foreign policy puzzle not available elsewhere. Read it because the survival of American life as we know it, for ourselves and our children, is under serious threat from eggregiously irresponsible elements, at least as much at home as abroad, and more in high places than most of us ever would have conceived.
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Summary: READ THIS BOOK FOR G-D's SAKE !
Review: This is Robert Baer's second book and it is another essential read for every concerned Western citizen today. His first book "See No Evil" was already shocking enough by demonstrating how security has been risked in the past for the sake of political correctness and other interests. Baer has shown how insane the CIA politics was towards Middle East terrorism and everybody has seen the result on 9-11 and before in 1998 in Africa. His latest book now turns it's attention towards the Pandora's Box of Muslim terrorism, Saudi Arabia. I have spent about 10 months in the Midle East and I must say that Baer is one of the most credible sources I have ever read about the subject. He definetly knows what he is writing and talking about. The reader will be shocked how far the US government is involved in the Saudi Oil biz and how it affects the "War on Terrorism" that has been promised to the public. Whereas "See No Evil" was already terrifying enough by showing how highly dangerous men like Imad Mugnijah almost got away without the CIA doing anything, this book will definetly blow off the top. To see how far the US governemnt is involved in Saudi dirty politics whereas the Saudis are the treasure chest of almost any anti Western Muslim group is just shocking to the bone. Tis book MUST be read by anyone, American or anyone who feels some sort of compassion for the survival of our culture and society.(Also read "Anger and Pride" by ORIANA FALLACI)
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Summary: Extremely Readable and Thought-Provoking
Review: Once I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down. It is a startling expose' on the manner in which our government has sold out the interests of the nation in exchange for big $$$$. Although I am a conservative by nature, I found the details about the relationship between the Bush Administrations and the Saudi Royal Family to be appalling. This book details those relationships as well as the historical framework behind the current state of affairs in the Middle East. The fact that our national economy could be brought to its knees in a single coordinated terrorist assault on the Saudi oil fields is absolutely chilling. This book details that scenario in a compelling manner.
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Summary: Sleeping With The Devil
Review: Robert Baer has done it again. He's brought the story to us in his fast paced, elegantly understated style which is impossible to ignore. You take a bite of this book and it continues to excite you and entice you long after you put it down...if you can. Every American citizen who intends to stay living on the planet should read this and his first book, See No Evil. He should be running the CIA, he has the know-how, the fresh blood and the experience on the ground in the darkest places and times we're all living in. I hope his recent testamony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee will bring the reforms to our intelligence agencies which he so strongly advocates...everyone in America should be listening to him! I sat down to read his new book, thinking I'd take an hour's break and read a bit...4 hours later I finally had to get out of my chair and stretch my legs as much as he'd stretched my mind. If you care at all about our country, 9-11-01, and the future of us, please do yourself a favor and read this book! We owe him a deep debt of gratitude for the many years he spent protecting us, and we never even knew it until now. So thank you, Robert Baer, and keep these books coming!
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Summary: More pieces to the puzzle
Review: 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.
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Summary: Financial Might Makes Right
Review: Baer has experience in the Middle East and CIA, as well as in-depth and well-rounded breadth of knowledge in this area. All of the self-righteous discourse out of Washington portrays the fight of good versus evil in our latest "War" against the latest "something." It's a new war with a new myriad of contradictions and nonsensical alliances. The KSA may be enemy number one, while at the same time powerful congressional leaders, defense contractors, and corporations do business with one of the most dangerous enemies to the United States: the power of crude. Feeding the fix. In addition to oil, Washington nor the west in general wants to see what would likely replace the current corrupt and venal royal ruling family in the KSA. The Kingdom has been simmering with dissatisfaction for over 15 years. With the burgeoning birth rate, and the once impervious cultural dike revealing some cracks resulting from global economic interdependence, the next basket-case of the world in the near future will be Saudi Arabia. The U.S. royal Saudi relationship goes back decades with the black gold, regional geo-politics, and sites of Mecca and Medina, which elevate KSA's status above a well-deserved butt-kicking. There are so many powerfully vested American interests in Saudi that the kingdom is safe from American reactions, no matter what they do. Saudi Arabia knows it, America knows it.
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