PURCHASE
House of Bush, House of Saud
“Craig Unger has done America and the world a huge favor by clearly and precisely documenting how the Bush inner circle is in the very deep pockets of the brutal Saudi dictators.”
Newsbreaking and controversial -- an award-winning investigative journalist uncovers the thirty-year relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud and explains its impact on American foreign policy, business, and national security.
House of Bush, House of Saud begins with a politically explosive question: How is it that two days after 9/11, when U.S. air traffic was tightly restricted, 140 Saudis, many immediate kin to Osama Bin Laden, were permitted to leave the country without being questioned by U.S. intelligence?
The answer lies in a hidden relationship that began in the 1970s, when the oil-rich House of Saud began courting American politicians in a bid for military protection, influence, and investment opportunity. With the Bush family, the Saudis hit a gusher -- direct access to presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. To trace the amazing weave of Saud- Bush connections, Unger interviewed three former directors of the CIA, top Saudi and Israeli intelligence officials, and more than one hundred other sources. His access to major players is unparalleled and often exclusive -- including executives at the Carlyle Group, the giant investment firm where the House of Bush and the House of Saud each has a major stake.
Like Bob Woodward's The Veil, Unger's House of Bush, House of Saud features unprecedented reportage; like Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country? Unger's book offers a political counter-narrative to official explanations; this deeply sourced account has already been cited by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, and sets 9/11, the two Gulf Wars, and the ongoing Middle East crisis in a new context: What really happened when America's most powerful political family became seduced by its Saudi counterparts?
Reviews
“….[N]ewspapers and TV, are now so craven, so unvigilant on behalf of the American people, so uninformative, that only in books do we learn what’s really going on. I will cite an example: House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger, published in early 2004, that humiliating, shameful, blood-soaked year.”
“[An] explosive work of journalism.”
“Unger succeeds in…detailing the business interests and personal friendships that evolved between the Bush family’s inner circle and the Saudi elite…[He] does an admirable job revealing how extensively the Bushes parlayed family connections into wealth and power, describing the too cozy interplay of public policy, political opportunity and economic gain….Impressive.”
“With great care [Unger] has synthesized these reports into a narrative that is as chilling as it is gripping. The book builds a momentum of discovery that makes it impossible to stop reading.”
“Revealing…This book should be mandatory reading for every member of any 9/11 investigation panel—-even the one appointed by the president….[I]ntensely researched and well-documented….illuminating, disturbing….skillfully packaged.,…meticulously referenced.”
“Must-reading for anyone who wishes to understand the origins of 9/11 and America’s precarious position in the world today.”
“A very powerful, well-researched and sober book that leaves the reader both enlightened and more than a little disturbed. You will certainly view the Bush administration—and indeed, American policymaking—through a different prism in the future.”
“A notably intelligent piece of investigative reporting….. This was—and is—a family business to put the Corleones to shame, generosity and greed, humanity and brutality hopelessly intermingled….It is Craig Unger’s particular gift to make us see more clearly than ever what lies beneath.”