by Robert Baer
First published 2005
Robert Baer draws on his 21 years with the CIA to examine the corrupt partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Baer argues that America supports a kingdom founded on theft that controls a quarter of global oil reserves while fostering terrorism and suppressing its own people. The author reveals how the Saudi royal family spends enormous sums to buy influence among American politicians and lobbyists. He documents Saudi funding of militant Islamic organizations, including al Qaeda, as protection money to prevent domestic overthrow. Baer exposes the bitter divisions within the Al Sa'ud family that Washington has long ignored to preserve profitable business relationships. He warns that this unstable arrangement could trigger economic catastrophe through either popular uprising or terrorist disruption of oil supplies. The book concludes with Baer's controversial suggestion that only American seizure of Saudi oil fields and forced regime change can prevent industrial collapse in the West.
Genres: history, political-science, politics, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, academic, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: government-corruption, investigative-journalism
Setting: United States, Saudi Arabia
Period: 21st Century
286 pages · Paperback · Goldmann Wilhelm GmbH
Content warnings: violence