Rating: 
Summary: Closer To Being Married To Him
Review: I found it hard not to enjoy this book, the author has a great combination of experience and attitude that makes the book a real kick to read. The author is an ex CIA agent that spent his years in the Middle East, he wrote a book covering his experiences, which I would suggest you also look into. Given that he is an ex CIA agent makes the book take on an almost risky, dark, espionage feel. Surly this guy has the straight stuff after all those James Bond like experiences right, well at least that is the vibe I get from the book. This romantic fiction inspired secret agent man back drop is only enhanced by the authors attitude that comes through on almost every page. I can almost see him at the typewriter late at night with a bottle of scotch and a pack of cigarettes hammering away spending as much time deleting passages that he deems are still top secret as he does culling his memory of bits needed to cover the topic at hand. He is a mans man who seams to give you the straight story, at least that is how he comes across in the text. Speaking of the topic at hand, the author details out all the ways in which the ruling elite of Saudi Arabia have played a dangerous game of compromise and placation with about everybody they deal with. The keep the ultra religious sect at bay with unlimited support and freedom within the country, so much freedom and support one can make the claim that they in fact support the teachings and actions of Osama types. The author details out the links between the ruling family and Al Quida in dealings from charity support to outright financial support of some past military campaigns i.e. Afghanistan. They keep the royal family fat, dumb and happy with petrol dollars, so much so that it is amazing to me that these people think the gravy train is never going to come to an end. Given that this family is multiplying faster then a bunch of rabbits in a warm den, you gotta wonder where these people think the cash is going to come from. And lastly they keep their ultimate protector happy with a limitless supply of black gold and a return of all those gas dollars on good old fashion American weapons. As the author kept detailing out arms deal after arms deal I started to wonder what they did with all of these weapons. They must have warehouses full of the stuff just sitting there waiting for some militant uprising to turn the country into one heck of a made for CCN war. The pessimist in me started to wonder about the chances of those weapons being used against US troops some day. Overall the book was very enjoyable to read. I did feel that the author was a little light on some details and made some jumps that were not fully explained in the book, possibly due to government restrictions. I also felt the author should have beefed up the closing chapter where he could have better explained to the novice reader how this current American policy toward Saudi and their internal policies are leading us to a big international mess that will take years to fix. But I just can not knock the book for these criticisms because it was so darn entertaining to read. You will be happy you read the book.
Rating:
Summary: Bluntly Informative
Review: Robert Baer does not mince words. In Sleeping With the Devil he forcefully describes the United States' long tangled relationship with what must be one of the most dysfunctional states in the world: Saudi Arabia. A former CIA agent, Baer served for many years and was well positioned to observe the nation long touted as our best friend in the Middle East. He describes in chilling detail the corruption surrounding the House of Saud and the growing unrest and poverty that afflicts a kingdom whose citizens would be among the best off in the world if they had a decent government. There's plenty of blame to go around, and Baer shovels it out left and right, starting with Franklin Roosevelt and the Americans who made the original oil deals with the Saudis in the 1930s and 1940s, through Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. When you finish reading this book, you are left with the uncomfortable realization that the Western economy rests in large part in the hands of a group of playboys who govern a country which is growing increasingly restless. This book will help you understand why so many of the 9-11 hijackers were Saudis, and why Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda have such wide appeal. You will also realize that even if we do manage to pull out of Iraq without much more bloodloss, we are most likely only at the beginning of what promises to be an extraordinarily violent period of heavy involvement in the Middle East. Thanks to Baer, those who read his book will at least have the comfort of being able to say "I saw it coming!"
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! Get educated on the real world!
Review: Get away from the left and right wing crap and read this book instead. You'll get an education about life outside the United States. Your leaders have figured it out, why not you??
Rating: 
Summary: Important but not riveting
Review: A scathing indictment of every presidential adminstration's self-delusions about the most decadent and corrupt regime in the world. But: it seems poorly organized, unfocused, and fixated with minor players.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb, gutwrenching
Review: Another great book by Robert Baer. I couldn't believe what I was reading. It took me a while to get over the emotions I was experiencing.
Rating:
Summary: Saudis fix court cases
Review: Talk about mixed emotions. Reagan did bring down the Soviet Union with Saudi help. But, the Saudis wanted all the US court cases against them fixed. Nearly all were, except for Scott Nelson which you can find on a Search. Read my 3 page article "Fixing A Court Case" found at www.fixingacourtcase.com and you will see additional corroboration that Robert Baer is speaking the God's truth about Saudi influence.
Rating: 
Summary: Unintelligible rambling, relies on the reader's fears
Review: If this is the way folks in the CIA write reports, the US would be wise to shut the operation down. Stream of consciousness ramblings has never been a successful way to communicate and get things done.
The book presents a simplistic, misleading, or fictional version of the reality. The silly blacked out lines will offend the reader. The author's personal agenda seems to be anger at his relative poverty. There is all this money floating around the Middle East and he isn't sharing in the fun.
The hysterical rants about oil corruption are hardly new, and fail to shed any insights upon human nature, American or Saudi.
Rating:
Summary: Better sleep with 1 eye open!!
Review: This book should be required reading for all American adults. Talk about an eye opener!! I consider myself well read, extremely well traveled & fairly educated regarding the "ways of the world", but this book really opened my eyes to so many things that were far beyond my own speculation and there certainly is no questioning Mr. Baers' background nor his credentials. They are impeccable. You'll keep that 1 eye open at night after reading this book, just waiting for the other shoe to drop!!
Rating:
Summary: Not good news, but important
Review: There is too much Saudi money in Washington. Probably not Earth shaking news to most of us but the authors depiction of Washington as a base camp for Saudi interests is frightening. Unlike many books this will appeal to liberals and conservatives. Even the Green party will like this one.
Rating:
Summary: More insights into why 9/11 happened
Review: Baer spent a lot of time in the CIA, and most of it out in the field instead of behind a desk at Langley, so he actually knows what he is talking about. This little book covers a lot of territory, but essentially it is an indictment of US policy towards Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. apologists employed by the Saudis to cover up their complicity in the spread of fanatical Islam all over the globe. Baer asks some serious questions about the West's reliance on Middle Eastern oil and the impact on the world's economies when the house of cards known as the Royal Family of Saud finally collapses from its own corruption. This book is a wake-up call for those who think we can continue to have it all in the USA; cheap gas and oil, sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to Saudi sponsored hate factories which turn out demented jihadists to commit acts of terrorism like 9/11, and thinking that somehow democracy is the answer to all of the problems we have funded in the name of fighting communism over the years. Baer pulls no punches in criticizing every administration since FDR, who have turned the other cheek in order to maintain the flow of cheap oil into the USA. Especially interesting for the Richard Clarke and Michael Moore brigades are the examples of how the Clinton administration was far more accomodating of Saudi duplicity and corruption than anything the Bushes have done, including turning away the chance to get bin Laden before he became a rock star. For those who think we can continue to rely on oil from the Middle East instead of developing our own reserves and alternative energy sources, this book should set them thinking. But of course once you do that, you have to get to the issues not in the book such as alternate energy sources, but only as long as Teddy doesn't have to look at the wind farms proposed for Hyannis, oil from Alaska and drilling off the coast of California, no nuclear energy development even though France gets 80% of its power that way, etc. Baer also gives a few lessons on how the CIA was so neutered that it was incapable of penetrating the numerous organizations such as the Islamic Brotherhood and other predecessors, affiliates, and allies of al Qaeda. Hopefully things are changing, but we are many years away from having a CIA that is anywhere close to being able to protect us from the threat of fanatical Islam, which is just as great a threat as Communist Russia was to Western Civilization before it collapsed.
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