House of Bush, House of Saud.
Craig Unger's book has gotten more airplay since the tidal wave of media attention sparked by Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 movie. It is usually mentioned as a book that explores Bush's close relationship with the Saudi Royal family and is represented as almost a smear attempt. I've vacillated on whether to buy it or not and finally picked up last week as part of a big batch of books I bought.
I finished it yesterday and was very impressed. It is fairly non-partisan throughout, although there are a few places where the author does stretch a little bit (calling Bush the "Arabian Candidate" following his relations with American Muslims in the 2000 relationship was a bit much, I thought). These are few and far between though and do not represent the overall tone of the book.
The whole "House Of Bush/Saud" notion is a bit forced and contrived and actually a bit off target for the scope of the book. It is actually more about the Saudis and their attempts to create contacts in power in American government. Their course takes them through Texas beginning in the 1970s and they do connect up with George H. W. Bush early on. Undoubtedly the relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have been enhanced by the relationship between GHWB and particular Saudi family/ gov't (they are the same) members but it is less about Houses and more a history of what happened over the last 30 years.
It's an interesting story of how influential relationships are forged and maintained and there are plenty of nuggets of information that will surprise people. The book isn't intended to be a non-critical history but it does play fair. Part of the fairness comes from Unger's clear representation of his dissatisfaction with the current President's behavior and Unger's belief that the history of relations between Saudi Arabia and powerful people in US government who are also close to the Bush family has affected Bush's behavior following 9/11, which was an attack by Saudi Arabians more than anyone else.
Unger's book is detailed in exploring the relationships between Saudi Arabia and American government. Leaving George W. Bush out of it (he actually doesn't even come into it until the end anyway), the book deserves to be read just so people can see how our government (and Saudi Arabia's) work. Amazing, really.
Unger presents a balanced view to his general arguments. There are many immediate footnotes (at the bottom of the page, not hidden at the end of the book, so you can read them right away) that provide qualifications and counterpoints. If the FBI disputes reported facts, he mentions it. One particularly damning relationship for GWB was with a Florida Muslim leader who helped GWB win 88% of the Floridian Muslim vote but ended up being arrested for his leadership and fundraising ties to pro-Palestinian terrorists groups. This man is also on record at Muslim rallies calling on the death of Jews (he once said something akin to he'd kill a Jew for $500). Unger grants a footnote to this guy's lawyer who reports that the man regrets saying things that feel good in the heat of the moment at a rally but in retrospect aren't such good things to say. Other times Unger notes that allegations and trials have not been confirmed or convicted. He doesn't just talk about the information that helps his theme. It comes across very balanced in spite of the few exceptions I mentioned early on.
It is an easy to read book. There are a lot of Arab names but Unger does a good job of reminding us who was who throughout the story. There is a lot of good information provided and most of it is historical and unrelated (directly at least) to the sitting president. Even ardent conservatives and enemies of the left who think this is just a muckraking book of lies ought to give it a gander. They won't agree with everything but the overall trend presented is rather disturbing even outside of current events. It is about 270 pages but it reads easily.
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Posted by Nutrimentia at August 1, 2004 02:09 AM | TrackBack