Rating: 
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.
Rating:
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
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Book!
Review: This turned out to be a very good book. You are able to see
the long term relationship between the Bush family and the
ruling House of Saud.The author shows the many business dealings
that have occured between the two families.Most notable is the
joint investment in the Carlysle House by the two families.You
are also shown the many oil related investments that took place
between the two families. One of the most interesting parts of the book is 140 Saudis,some of them relatives of Osama bin-Laden
being allowed to fly out of the country after the 9-11 attacks.
This is a very readable book.I found it hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: wow.
Review: This book is powerful and gripping. I had no idea dealings were quite so "questionable" between these two powerful families.
This is a formidable exercise in "connect the dots" and "follow the money" that raises almost as many questions as it answers. For the first time someone has truly crafted a timeline of what happened when, where the money came from, where it went, and why oil is king. It will get you thinking, regardless of your political ideology.
Rating:
Summary: the financial and political alliance of the Bushes & Saudis
Review: Craig Unger has produced a solid and timely piece of reporting. There are really two levels to this sordid story -- 1) the alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, based on OIL, and 2) the specific ties between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family, which rules Saudi Arabia and controls its vast oil wealth. So at the geostrategic level, the alliance and all its problems would still be with us even without the Bushes. However, in reality, the Bush family is deeply intertwined with the Saudis -- according to Unger, the Saudis are responsible for a significant part of the family's wealth, transferring $1.4 billion to the Bushes in various forms over the years. Saudi assistance included support for Bush Sr.'s Carlyle Group and Bush Jr.'s Harken Energy (his inside trading of which he was never prosecuted for). The most dramatic aspect of Unger's book is the documentation of the Bush Administration's facilitation of the evacuation of 140 Saudi nationals from the U.S. immediately following 9/11, including members of the (huge, influential) Bin Laden family, without questioning of any kind. This operation began between the 12th and the 14th, while U.S. airspace was supposed to be completely closed, and continued until September 20th. Another amazing revelation is the story of Prince Ahmed, one of the Saudis who got out of the U.S. in the days after 9/11. On March 28, 2002, Abu Zubaydah, a top al-Qaeda operative, was arrested in Pakistan. He was interrogated using sodium pentathol (truth serum), and named Prince Ahmed as al-Qaeda's link to the Saudi royal family. Zubaydah said Ahmed knew of 9/11 in advance, and that this knowledge constituted blackmail, a form of control over the Saudis. Prince Ahmed, a perfectly healthy 43 years old, died suspiciously on July 22, 2002, and two other Saudis named by Zubaydah died by the end of the year. Zubaydah also claimed that Osama had cut a deal for protection by the Pakistani Air Force Chief, Mushaf Ali Mir, who died in a mysterious plane crash on February 20, 2003. What might these Saudi and Pakistani ghosts tell us about the real nature of our two "allies"? Remember, the U.S., Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were partners in supporting the mujahadeen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s -- and Osama Bin Laden's militant career began as part of that 3-way alliance. In closing, why is it that the Bush Administration was so opposed to an official investigation of 9/11? Remember, the 9/11 hijackers were mostly Saudis, and a few Egyptians -- no Iraqis or Afghans. Why did the Administration black out the section in the Congressional investigation of 9/11 about the nature of U.S.-Saudi relations? What secrets are the House of Bush and the House of Saud hiding from their respective peoples and the rest of the world?
Rating:
Summary: Don't beleive the 1 star from 'a reader' from NY
Review: The reader from NY who gave this book one star obviously did not bother to read the entire book before he wrote his review.
Had he bothered, he would have seen that Perle, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were accurately portrayed in this book as PNAC hawks whose goal is global US hegemony. They were not involved in the Bush-Baker-Saudi financial linkages. This book is extremely well documented and footnoted. Its resources are impeccable and where there is doubt, the author duly notes it. It is an indictment of decades of Saudi influence over the Bush family and should be read by anyone interested in Richard Clarke's 'Against All Enemies'. These two books compliment each other very well and together present a complete, albeit very disturbing, picture of the real events behind 9/11.
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