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The Fall of the House of Bush: The Untold Story of How a Band of True Believers Seized the Executive Branch, Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils America's Future
The presidency of George W. Bush has led to the worst foreign policy decision in the history of the United States -- the bloody, unwinnable war in Iraq. How did this happen? Bush's fateful decision was rooted in events that began decades ago, and until now this story has never been fully told. From Craig Unger, the author of the bestseller "House of Bush, House of Saud," comes a comprehensive, deeply sourced, and chilling account of the secret relationship between neoconservative policy makers and the Christian Right, and how they assaulted the most vital safeguards of America's constitutional democracy while pushing the country into the catastrophic quagmire in the Middle East that is getting worse day by day.
Among the powerful revelations in this book: Why George W. Bush ignored the sage advice of his father, George H.W. Bush, and took America into war. How Bush was convinced he was doing God's will. How Vice President Dick Cheney manipulated George W. Bush, disabled his enemies within the administration, and relentlessly pressed for an attack on Iraq. Which veteran government official, with the assent of the president's father, protested passionately that the Bush administration was making a catastrophic mistake -- and was ignored. How information from forged documents that had already been discredited fourteen times by various intelligence agencies found its way into President Bush's State of the Union address in which he made the case for war with Iraq. How Cheney and the neocons assembled a shadow national security apparatus and created a disinformation pipeline to mislead America and start the war.
A seasoned, award-winning investigative reporter connected to many back-channel political and intelligence sources, Craig Unger knows how to get the big story -- and this one is his most explosive yet. Through scores of interviews with figures in the Christian Right, the neoconservative movement, the Bush administration, and sources close to the Bush family, as well as intelligence agents in the CIA, the Pentagon, and Israel, Unger shows how the Bush administration's certainty that it could bend history to its will has carried America into the disastrous war in Iraq, dooming Bush's presidency to failure and costing America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Far from ensuring our security, the Iraq War will be seen as a great strategic pivot point in history that could ignite wider war in the Middle East, particularly in Iran.
Provocative, timely, and disturbing, "The Fall of the House of Bush" stands as the most comprehensive and dramatic account of how and why George W. Bush took America to war in Iraq.
Among the powerful revelations in this book: Why George W. Bush ignored the sage advice of his father, George H.W. Bush, and took America into war. How Bush was convinced he was doing God's will. How Vice President Dick Cheney manipulated George W. Bush, disabled his enemies within the administration, and relentlessly pressed for an attack on Iraq. Which veteran government official, with the assent of the president's father, protested passionately that the Bush administration was making a catastrophic mistake -- and was ignored. How information from forged documents that had already been discredited fourteen times by various intelligence agencies found its way into President Bush's State of the Union address in which he made the case for war with Iraq. How Cheney and the neocons assembled a shadow national security apparatus and created a disinformation pipeline to mislead America and start the war.
A seasoned, award-winning investigative reporter connected to many back-channel political and intelligence sources, Craig Unger knows how to get the big story -- and this one is his most explosive yet. Through scores of interviews with figures in the Christian Right, the neoconservative movement, the Bush administration, and sources close to the Bush family, as well as intelligence agents in the CIA, the Pentagon, and Israel, Unger shows how the Bush administration's certainty that it could bend history to its will has carried America into the disastrous war in Iraq, dooming Bush's presidency to failure and costing America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Far from ensuring our security, the Iraq War will be seen as a great strategic pivot point in history that could ignite wider war in the Middle East, particularly in Iran.
Provocative, timely, and disturbing, "The Fall of the House of Bush" stands as the most comprehensive and dramatic account of how and why George W. Bush took America to war in Iraq.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published November 13, 2007
21 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
Craig Unger
13 books108 followersCraig Unger is an American journalist and writer. His most recent book is The Fall of the House of Bush, about the internal feud in the Bush family and the rise and collusion of the neoconservative and Christian right in Republican party politics, viewing each group's weltanschauung and efforts concerning present and potential future US policy through a distinctly negative prism. His previous work, House of Bush, House of Saud explored the relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud. Craig Unger's work is featured in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. Unger has served as deputy editor of the New York Observer and was editor-in-chief of Boston Magazine. He has written about George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush for The New Yorker, Esquire Magazine and Vanity Fair.
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October 13, 2014I don’t believe George Bush or Tony Blair lied about the Iraq War. In Britain that’s like saying you think Hitler had some good ideas on municipal development. It doesn’t win you any friends. But anyway, here’s how I think it went :
Bush : We need to find out about Iraq - what's Saddam up to? I think he wants to disequilibriate us. I know, we'll ask the CIA.
Top CIA guy : The Prez wants to know about Iraq. I know, we'll ask our agents in Iraq. Oh shit, we don't have any, Saddam killed them all. Okay, we'll ask all these Iraqi exiles who fled Saddam. They still have contacts, they'll know.
First Iraqi exile : Hey, the CIA are asking me about what Saddam is doing. I haven't been there for 15 years but my cousin says they've got rid of all those chemical weapons they used on those Kurds and they don't have anything else, the Americans could kick their ass any day.
Second Iraqi exile: Why do the CIA what to know about Saddam all of a sudden? Hey, maybe they're going to get rid of him!
First guy: Hey do you think if they did we could get jobs in the new government? After all we can speak English - that's got to be a big plus! We could broker deals!
Second guy : You're a genius. Now then, how can we encourage the Americans to boot him out?
Iraqi exiles to CIA agent : We spoke to our cousin and Saddam has huge stockpiles of chemical weapons aimed at your bedroom and enough nuclear weapons to blow up the planet nine times over. Plus they routinely torture all Christians, and Osama bin Laden has married Saddam's daughter and they have twins and the twins have nuclear weapons.
CIA agent to CIA boss : These Iraqis are feeding us a crock of shit.
CIA boss: Yeah, I know it. But I also know how to keep my job.
CIA to President : Mr President, our careful sifting of information from our many sources of intelligence on the current Iraqi regime suggests that they have huge stockpiles of chemical weapons aimed at your bedroom and enough nuclear weapons to blow up the planet nine times over. Plus they routinely torture all Christians, and Osama bin Laden gets the pick of all Christian virgins born there.
Bush : You sure about this? OK, we're gonna invade.
Condy : What about Hans Blix?
Bush : Who?
Condy : What about the UN?
Bush: What UN?
So, strictly speaking, I don't think Bush and Blair ever lied. they just strenuously avoided hearing anything which might have upset their pretty world-restructuring applecart, Like when kids put their fingers in their ears & go "lalalala can't hear you" but more sophisticated.
****
LATER : PB'S THEORY OF THE IRAQ WAR TURNS OUT TO BE TRUE!
The Guardian has just published this :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/...
Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war
• Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons
• Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
• Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion
Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd in Karlsruhe
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 February 2011 12.58 GMT
The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war.
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks and clandestine factories in an attempt to bring down the Saddam Hussein regime, from which he had fled in 1995.
"Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right," he said. "They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy."
October 29, 2016
This is kind of an odd book even though I largely enjoyed it. It's a journalistic account of the Bush administration that sort of treats the Bush family as a tragic hero (or villain?) in American politics. Unger's argument is that Bush II brought together two key strains in American political thought that made him the perfect candidate for launching a crusade-like enterprise overseas. The first strain is evangelical Christianity, which brought to American politics a stark good v evil mentality, a take no prisoners, brook no compromise approach, and an abiding belief in the universality of American and Christian values. The second was the second generation of neoconservatives, who despite being generally secular and/or Jewish shared a short of crusading mentality about America's role in spreading democracy in the world. Unger traces the roots of these movements in some very interesting early chapters in which he particularly emphasizes how both groups came to see Israel as a key ally that the US has to protect at all costs. He then argues that these movements came together in George Bush II, whose evangelicalism predisposed him to buy into the Manichean, crusading worldview of the neocons, who shaped his understanding of international politics and his response to 9/11, orienting him towards regime change in Iraq.
There's a lot more in this book than I've just described, including good chapters on WMD intelligence, Likud politics in Israel, and Bush I's drastically different approach to international politics. Nevertheless, I can't help but think that this book goes a little off the rails at times. It was written at the height of the catastrophe in the Bush administration (2005-2007), and Unger is clearly furious with the Bush team. The end of the book becomes a little hysterical as Unger starts to claim that the Republic and the Constitution themselves are in mortal peril because of Bush's action. The title of the book on goodreads (not the title in my version of the book) speaks to some of this exaggeration. Unger also doesn't show much on how evangelicalism contributed to the Iraq War other in that evangelicals generally supported the war and Bush's version of Christianity predisposed him to accept the neocon view of international politics.
This is one of many books providing a post-mortem on Iraq and the Bush administration, and Unger is generally right in his conclusions. I do have problems with neocon focused arguments about Iraq, but they were clearly the crucial group in shaping Bush's understanding of and response to 9/11. I can't recommend this book over more balanced accounts of the origins of the Iraq War such as Packer's excellent "The Assassin's Gate" and Bonin's "Arrows of the Night," but it is still a solid read.
There's a lot more in this book than I've just described, including good chapters on WMD intelligence, Likud politics in Israel, and Bush I's drastically different approach to international politics. Nevertheless, I can't help but think that this book goes a little off the rails at times. It was written at the height of the catastrophe in the Bush administration (2005-2007), and Unger is clearly furious with the Bush team. The end of the book becomes a little hysterical as Unger starts to claim that the Republic and the Constitution themselves are in mortal peril because of Bush's action. The title of the book on goodreads (not the title in my version of the book) speaks to some of this exaggeration. Unger also doesn't show much on how evangelicalism contributed to the Iraq War other in that evangelicals generally supported the war and Bush's version of Christianity predisposed him to accept the neocon view of international politics.
This is one of many books providing a post-mortem on Iraq and the Bush administration, and Unger is generally right in his conclusions. I do have problems with neocon focused arguments about Iraq, but they were clearly the crucial group in shaping Bush's understanding of and response to 9/11. I can't recommend this book over more balanced accounts of the origins of the Iraq War such as Packer's excellent "The Assassin's Gate" and Bonin's "Arrows of the Night," but it is still a solid read.
June 8, 2009
There've been many book written about the Bush Presidency, most written by people with open access to the Administration, so you hope you're getting facts and not biased opinions. Few offer glowing summaries, and this one is no different. However, this one, being one of the latter books, does a good job of summarizing the many issues associated with the Bush term, and give a better insight into the key players and behind the scenes power brokers than many of the others. The other thing I felt this book did was provide a lot more insight into the many conservative and religious-right advisors who became key players in the State Department, Department of Defense, National Security team, etc. Unger discusses the long-standing ties among many of these neo-cons, their beliefs, and the agenda they carried with them into their jobs. It reminded me somewhat of the motion picture "W" about President Bush, which I expected to be a brutal portrail of the president, but all-in-all, seemed to be a fairly factual if not sympathetic presentation of the Bush years.
April 7, 2008
This book didn't particularly contain a new point of view or even facts that weren't widely available from other sources...I had been exposed to just about all of it, but yet felt as though I understood for the first time exactly how the United States got to this place at this time. The author synthesizes the information in such a way that it is infused with context and meaning. Most of us understand that the neoconservative movement is behind the Iraq War - this book provides the history of that movement, the uneasy alliance of Jewish neocons with fundamentalist Christian neocons, the philosophy of the Far Right that sees America as a Redeemer Nation, and the peculiar, vengeful beliefs of Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" followers.
Ignored by many mainstream Republicans in 2000 was the oddly blank mind of their chosen leader, George W. Bush. Again, all the information was available that this was the failed corporate executive, failed governor (of a state in which the governor is little more than a figurehead), even failed owner of a baseball team (he knew baseball but not one thing about owning a team after several years at the helm). He was extraordinarily devoid of intellectual thought and appeared to have graduated from the finest schools in the country without their influence. But in one of his many overt bouts of rebelliousness, Bush 43 turned from the patrician, East Coast Episcopalian faith of his parents and became born again, a fact that did escape a cadre of neocons, who saw their chance. And indeed, when they circled him and got to know him better, they knew this was a "tabula rasa" in its purest form - a blank slate with absolutely no sense of history and no education to mar his passionate belief that God would tell him what to do. And so when the plan was set in motion by Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle and legions of others, he listened and obeyed, believing it to be the will of God.
The background that makes this story so interesting includes information about Bush 41 (who looks like a real stand up guy in retrospect), devastated by his son's disregard for his own educated decision not to topple Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War. Kudos to Brent Scowcroft for trying to save the situation, but one wonders, why did Bush 43 so flagrantly dismiss his father's counsel and experience?
The value of this book is how it ties all the little snippets and well-worn explanations and facts together into a readable timeline of how this war was planned and executed at just the right time with just the right person to give the command.
Ignored by many mainstream Republicans in 2000 was the oddly blank mind of their chosen leader, George W. Bush. Again, all the information was available that this was the failed corporate executive, failed governor (of a state in which the governor is little more than a figurehead), even failed owner of a baseball team (he knew baseball but not one thing about owning a team after several years at the helm). He was extraordinarily devoid of intellectual thought and appeared to have graduated from the finest schools in the country without their influence. But in one of his many overt bouts of rebelliousness, Bush 43 turned from the patrician, East Coast Episcopalian faith of his parents and became born again, a fact that did escape a cadre of neocons, who saw their chance. And indeed, when they circled him and got to know him better, they knew this was a "tabula rasa" in its purest form - a blank slate with absolutely no sense of history and no education to mar his passionate belief that God would tell him what to do. And so when the plan was set in motion by Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle and legions of others, he listened and obeyed, believing it to be the will of God.
The background that makes this story so interesting includes information about Bush 41 (who looks like a real stand up guy in retrospect), devastated by his son's disregard for his own educated decision not to topple Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War. Kudos to Brent Scowcroft for trying to save the situation, but one wonders, why did Bush 43 so flagrantly dismiss his father's counsel and experience?
The value of this book is how it ties all the little snippets and well-worn explanations and facts together into a readable timeline of how this war was planned and executed at just the right time with just the right person to give the command.
March 8, 2020
I think this is the first book ive read that really examined Bush 41 vs 43 and clearly delineates how they diverge. It is quite clear of the two, 41 was more successful in every way aside from presidential longevity.
W is a lesson for history, the idea that special interest groups can hold such political sway needs to be examined under church/state rules. The system of governmental checks and balances dismantled so effectively by the neocon agenda also needs to be made more robust.
The war on 'terror' did not fully appreciate the complexity of the ME (as 41 & Scrowcroft highlighted). The idea that the fraud perpetrated to start the wars is at best willful ignorance is a rose tinted view. Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld all knew what they were doing and had the intention not just to stop at Iraq & Afghanistan; they are hugely intelligent and partially sighted by a particular interpretation of right. The chaos caused by their interventions was underestimated, as was the backlash. Social media has changed public perception on a dime - it took years for anti war movements to gather momentum when Cheney cut his teeth under Nixon. Potentially if they had moved through the entire region sequentially & swiftly removing arms and power structures in a more Napoleonic manner they may have been more successful for their agenda.
However the days of obvious concrete empires are unnecessary, economic tentacles are more powerful levers that garner less attention.
Ultimately Bush 41 & 43 may be bruised but the public has a short attention span & Jeb and the other scions will have a chance in the future. I would say 'fall' is overstated, its just a minor hiatus in empire building.
This is a great book but i found Unger's one about Trump & Putin more readable.
W is a lesson for history, the idea that special interest groups can hold such political sway needs to be examined under church/state rules. The system of governmental checks and balances dismantled so effectively by the neocon agenda also needs to be made more robust.
The war on 'terror' did not fully appreciate the complexity of the ME (as 41 & Scrowcroft highlighted). The idea that the fraud perpetrated to start the wars is at best willful ignorance is a rose tinted view. Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld all knew what they were doing and had the intention not just to stop at Iraq & Afghanistan; they are hugely intelligent and partially sighted by a particular interpretation of right. The chaos caused by their interventions was underestimated, as was the backlash. Social media has changed public perception on a dime - it took years for anti war movements to gather momentum when Cheney cut his teeth under Nixon. Potentially if they had moved through the entire region sequentially & swiftly removing arms and power structures in a more Napoleonic manner they may have been more successful for their agenda.
However the days of obvious concrete empires are unnecessary, economic tentacles are more powerful levers that garner less attention.
Ultimately Bush 41 & 43 may be bruised but the public has a short attention span & Jeb and the other scions will have a chance in the future. I would say 'fall' is overstated, its just a minor hiatus in empire building.
This is a great book but i found Unger's one about Trump & Putin more readable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2008
Note to my decent Republican and moderate Christian friends: the title of this book is perhaps a misnomer. If you just can't bear to read the last couple of chapters, which do outline the "fall" of Bush (the grim details of which are now daily available in the mainstream media anyway) just read the first part, which is actually about his "rise." What you will see -- meticulously researched and unequivocal -- is how ruthless neoconservative policy-makers and the Christian far-right fanatics who inspired them hijacked your venerable party and your beloved religion onto a path that led our nation into the current Middle East quagmire. That is, unfortunately, history. But the question must now be, as a new election nears, "What are you going to do about it?"
February 24, 2021
Do not buy this if you have already got his other book,”American Armageddon” which is exactly the same,just republished 1 year later in 2008.There is nowhere to be found as to why this occurred,maybe a reboot with a new title due to poor sales.Who knows.
I nearly made a fool of myself,after having given the 2008 version as a well received surprise gift,I purchased this very long titled book,the 2007 version,thinking it would be another lovely surprise.Luckily I had leafed through the first few pages of the 2008 one and realised it was the EXACT same book! So I needlessly ended up with it! Not my genre,politics.
I nearly made a fool of myself,after having given the 2008 version as a well received surprise gift,I purchased this very long titled book,the 2007 version,thinking it would be another lovely surprise.Luckily I had leafed through the first few pages of the 2008 one and realised it was the EXACT same book! So I needlessly ended up with it! Not my genre,politics.
January 26, 2008
The detail and references make this book read more like an encyclopedia entry. I sometimes feel the author is pushing his view of his subject just a little, but mostly this is a highly factual (and supported) account of the neocon takeover of the Bush 43 administration, the replacing of objective intelligence gathering with cherry-picked intelligence to support the political position, and tensions with his father, Bush 41. There are over 1000 references cited plus a large number of footnotes. This book is important, but feels like reading a school assignment.
January 25, 2008
Like a lot of people who have this and other books about the criminal bush presidency, preaching to the converted. The author has a lot of footnotes but sometimes leaves out more important ones. Which makes up wonder if some of the more important points are as supported as we would like.
October 13, 2015
This book concentrated more on the rise of the house of Bush. It also spent many chapters talking about the religious aspects that drove Bush to go to war. It talked about faulty intelligence more and kept going back to the Bush 41's administration.
September 4, 2008
Made my blood pressure rise
October 4, 2010
Unger hit a home run with this book. Reads like a thriller!
August 19, 2011
A very interesting look inside the Bush Administration. It honestly gave me a new respect for the man behind the presidency.
May 11, 2018
Listened to the abridged CD audio book version. Confirmed what I have felt for some 15 years now - George Bush destroyed our nation's bright future with his invasion of IRAQ.
March 21, 2008
the world is a creepy crazy place...
July 4, 2021
This Is Mandatory Reading For Youth & others who have at this point have survived the Trump Adminstration.
This book will point out why Obama came across as a conservative, and what Blue MAGA (white separatist nationalism) looks like.
It's called neo-conservativism. The idea that racism was over because of the Civil Rights Acts from the 1960s, the idea that a black POTUS or a woman POTUS would end white supremacy & patriarchy, are in fact neo-conservative ideals. Neo-conservativism is fascism derived from a combination of USA "conservatives" & anti-USSR "trotskyists" who claimed to be socialist instead of capitalist (and used a lot of racism, such as calling Stalin "asiatic" in a negative way.)
as someone who survived thru the George W Bush era as a kid (from kindergarten thru 8th grade), reading this book in 2021 explains so much about the Trump era & the Obama era. I didn't have the kind of access to information needed to accurate sources like I do now during the organizing that happened during the Obama & Trump eras when I had more access to internet along with so many other things.
This book helps explain why Biden is being antagonistic towards Iran. It explains why the media & the security apparatus support the elected president. It explains why Blue MAGA think great thinks can happen when they're in the white house & in power even though their actions support businesses instead of people. It also explains the massive feat it takes to be not elected to a 2nd consecutive term.
George W Bush is the man the media & blue MAGA have been working to rehabilitate since 2017. John McCain lost the 2008 election for towing too much of George W Bush's line. The mainstream media supports John McCain as a civic religion demigod, to the point that his daughter is given a lot of clearance. To be clear, John McCain has a similar treatment John Kerry's warhawk status got in 2004. Joe Biden resembles George W Bush a lot. He was a long-standing hold-out on supporting the George W Bush administration regarding Iraq.
The audiobook was 5h 11m long & I played it at triple-speed.
This book will point out why Obama came across as a conservative, and what Blue MAGA (white separatist nationalism) looks like.
It's called neo-conservativism. The idea that racism was over because of the Civil Rights Acts from the 1960s, the idea that a black POTUS or a woman POTUS would end white supremacy & patriarchy, are in fact neo-conservative ideals. Neo-conservativism is fascism derived from a combination of USA "conservatives" & anti-USSR "trotskyists" who claimed to be socialist instead of capitalist (and used a lot of racism, such as calling Stalin "asiatic" in a negative way.)
as someone who survived thru the George W Bush era as a kid (from kindergarten thru 8th grade), reading this book in 2021 explains so much about the Trump era & the Obama era. I didn't have the kind of access to information needed to accurate sources like I do now during the organizing that happened during the Obama & Trump eras when I had more access to internet along with so many other things.
This book helps explain why Biden is being antagonistic towards Iran. It explains why the media & the security apparatus support the elected president. It explains why Blue MAGA think great thinks can happen when they're in the white house & in power even though their actions support businesses instead of people. It also explains the massive feat it takes to be not elected to a 2nd consecutive term.
George W Bush is the man the media & blue MAGA have been working to rehabilitate since 2017. John McCain lost the 2008 election for towing too much of George W Bush's line. The mainstream media supports John McCain as a civic religion demigod, to the point that his daughter is given a lot of clearance. To be clear, John McCain has a similar treatment John Kerry's warhawk status got in 2004. Joe Biden resembles George W Bush a lot. He was a long-standing hold-out on supporting the George W Bush administration regarding Iraq.
The audiobook was 5h 11m long & I played it at triple-speed.
November 19, 2024
You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at my blog, Mr. Book's Book Reviews.
Mr. Book just finished The Fall Of The House Of Bush: The Untold Story Of How A Band Of True Believers Seized The Executive Branch, Started The Iraq War And Still Imperils America’s Future, by Craig Unger.
I have read six books by this author, which each one getting either an A or A+.
In The House Of Bush, House Of Saud, Unger exposed the relationship between the Bush family and the Saudis. In this book, the focus is on George W. Bush—the worst president in history prior to Trump.
The beginning parts of the book looked at different themes that would be prominent in the Bush administration, such as the religious right, the neocons, Saddam Hussein and the long US relationship with him and the relationship between Bush 41 and 43. Most of the rest of the book was about how they lied the nation into the Iraq war.
I give this book an A.
Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on August 26, 2009.He finished rereading it on November 18, 2024.
Mr. Book just finished The Fall Of The House Of Bush: The Untold Story Of How A Band Of True Believers Seized The Executive Branch, Started The Iraq War And Still Imperils America’s Future, by Craig Unger.
I have read six books by this author, which each one getting either an A or A+.
In The House Of Bush, House Of Saud, Unger exposed the relationship between the Bush family and the Saudis. In this book, the focus is on George W. Bush—the worst president in history prior to Trump.
The beginning parts of the book looked at different themes that would be prominent in the Bush administration, such as the religious right, the neocons, Saddam Hussein and the long US relationship with him and the relationship between Bush 41 and 43. Most of the rest of the book was about how they lied the nation into the Iraq war.
I give this book an A.
Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on August 26, 2009.He finished rereading it on November 18, 2024.
September 17, 2021
Very powerful. Outlines the events leading up to the mistake to invade Iraq pointing out that "ultimately it was the greatest foreign policy disaster in American history - one that could result in the end of American global supremacy." A bit alarmist but interesting none the less.
July 27, 2014
I think any on the Christian Right, that believe Bush was --still after all the facts have come out, not even disputed on Fox News because the truth is George W. Bush, he knowingly lied about Iraq being connected in anyway to The War On Terror, had NO WMDs...But allowed his minions to say they did. to say he did. When the USA citizens found out like finding Bin Laden WASN'T A PRIORITY IN AFGHANISTAN... NOR WAS FINDING THE WMDs THAT W. BUSH KNEW BEFORE THE INVASION OF IRAQ....DID NOT EXIST CAUSE CIA, DIA, NSA...ALL DISCREDITED THE REPORTS THAT WAS A DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN LINKED TO NEOCON LADEEN....TO CHENEY.
When W. Bush was told the info was bogus, he didn't care, his mind was made up for the Christian Right & NeoConservative belief that to secure Israel, we needed to invade, regime change, and nation build IRAQ, SYRIA, LIBYA, & In their most outlandish dreams, IRAN.
W. Bush's father said he didn't take out Saddam by invading Bagdad because we'd be faced with dealing with and managing sectarian violence, age old religious & ethnic conflict.
The only man to keep his dignity while serving in this administration was W. Bush's father best friend Brent Sowcroft who predicted the mess that is still raging in the middle east all because W. Bush, leaders in the Christian Right, and Neocons using them and their fanaticism to neutralize Muslims so the Jewish Temple could be rebuilt and usher in the end of the world into literal Armageddon so the true Christians can experience the rapture sooner and "disappear" leaving the rest of us to deal with the Apocalypse as unbelievers, that includes the state of Israel Jews....
This was what guided our country for 8 years. Neoconservatives using the Christian Right for a "reason" besides oil and creating a true American Empire.
I think ironically...Reps in congress are going to sue or attempt to, for Obama using broad presidential powers is a joke since it was REPUBLICANS George W. Bush and Dick Cheny that created this expanded presidential powers that Obama inherited from a republican president that ruined our economy, let his Vice President deal with all the policy and details of their foreign affairs.
Bill Clinton battled impeachment over lying about a sexual affair with an intern. W.Bush & Dick Cheney point blank lied to the American public about the reasons for war with bogus Intel that every one of our Intel agencies said was fake. Then they decided prisoners of The War on terror, well they don't get trials. And the Geneva convention protecting prisoners of war from torture and other things..... didn't apply in their multilateral war that plenty of sane republicans told them was going to not work.
this book should be reading for people who blame Obama for the current state of Iraq and the whole Middle east. Anyone that wants to understand what happened in the W. Bush presidency, read this. excellently sourced. this is good journalism. And the most disturbing books I've read in my adult life because of the arrogance of Christian Right leaders to "help" cause the rapture is also them irresponsibly endangering lives of many human beings. It is sickening that they were able to do this and still their in ignorant regular people base keep propping up these highly arrogant and playing games in nation building and destruction as if it were a video game in their certainty that God has chosen them to usher in the rapture LITERALLY.
When W. Bush was told the info was bogus, he didn't care, his mind was made up for the Christian Right & NeoConservative belief that to secure Israel, we needed to invade, regime change, and nation build IRAQ, SYRIA, LIBYA, & In their most outlandish dreams, IRAN.
W. Bush's father said he didn't take out Saddam by invading Bagdad because we'd be faced with dealing with and managing sectarian violence, age old religious & ethnic conflict.
The only man to keep his dignity while serving in this administration was W. Bush's father best friend Brent Sowcroft who predicted the mess that is still raging in the middle east all because W. Bush, leaders in the Christian Right, and Neocons using them and their fanaticism to neutralize Muslims so the Jewish Temple could be rebuilt and usher in the end of the world into literal Armageddon so the true Christians can experience the rapture sooner and "disappear" leaving the rest of us to deal with the Apocalypse as unbelievers, that includes the state of Israel Jews....
This was what guided our country for 8 years. Neoconservatives using the Christian Right for a "reason" besides oil and creating a true American Empire.
I think ironically...Reps in congress are going to sue or attempt to, for Obama using broad presidential powers is a joke since it was REPUBLICANS George W. Bush and Dick Cheny that created this expanded presidential powers that Obama inherited from a republican president that ruined our economy, let his Vice President deal with all the policy and details of their foreign affairs.
Bill Clinton battled impeachment over lying about a sexual affair with an intern. W.Bush & Dick Cheney point blank lied to the American public about the reasons for war with bogus Intel that every one of our Intel agencies said was fake. Then they decided prisoners of The War on terror, well they don't get trials. And the Geneva convention protecting prisoners of war from torture and other things..... didn't apply in their multilateral war that plenty of sane republicans told them was going to not work.
this book should be reading for people who blame Obama for the current state of Iraq and the whole Middle east. Anyone that wants to understand what happened in the W. Bush presidency, read this. excellently sourced. this is good journalism. And the most disturbing books I've read in my adult life because of the arrogance of Christian Right leaders to "help" cause the rapture is also them irresponsibly endangering lives of many human beings. It is sickening that they were able to do this and still their in ignorant regular people base keep propping up these highly arrogant and playing games in nation building and destruction as if it were a video game in their certainty that God has chosen them to usher in the rapture LITERALLY.
July 21, 2024
DID THE NEOCONS TAKE CONTROL AND LEAD US TO THE IRAQ WAR?
This 2007 book is Craig Unger's follow up to his 2004 'House of Bush, House of Saud : The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties'; he has also written American 'Armageddon: How the Delusions of the Neoconservatives and the Christian Right Triggered the Descent of America--and Still Imperil Our Future' and 'Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove's Secret Kingdom of Power.'
He notes in the first chapter that "Launched with the intention of eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the war had turned up no weapons whatsoever, and had instead raised profound questions about U.S. intelligence... Instead of shoring up Israeli security and replacing rogue regimes in the Middle East with friendly, pro-Western allies, the war had turned Iraq into a terrorist training ground... Iran, America's greatest foe in the region, had, unwittingly, been empowered." (Pg. 6)
They note the antipathy between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice President Dick Cheney; "As the former Pentagon official put it, 'Cheney's distrust and dislike for Mr. Powell were unbounded.' In other words, Powell was only there for show. Cheney immediately took measures to undermine him." (Pg. 184) But ultimately, Powell "became the most articulate spokesman for the war effort. What's more, he played as fast and loose with the facts as the neocons... In referring to the Niger deal and the aluminum tubes, Powell was actually betraying his own State Department analysts..." (Pg. 275-276)
As the country moved toward war, the authors note that with exception of Al Gore, Robert Byrd, and Edward Kennedy, "the Democrats were largely mute. As the congressional midterm elections approached, they risked being tarred as soft on terror, or, worse, traitorous liberals who aided and abetted the enemy." (Pg. 257) But later, "officials at the highest levels of the administration were frantically trying to figure out what had happened to Saddam's WMDs... (CIA Director) George Tenet called Colin Powell with some bad news..." (Pg. 306)
And of course, by eliminating Iraq and the Taliban, we greatly strengthened Iran's relative position, so that "[Bush's wars] have put Israel in the worst strategic and operational situation she's been in since 1948." (Pg. 339)
An opinionated book, it is also a very insightful one, that will be of great interest to progressives.
This 2007 book is Craig Unger's follow up to his 2004 'House of Bush, House of Saud : The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties'; he has also written American 'Armageddon: How the Delusions of the Neoconservatives and the Christian Right Triggered the Descent of America--and Still Imperil Our Future' and 'Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove's Secret Kingdom of Power.'
He notes in the first chapter that "Launched with the intention of eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the war had turned up no weapons whatsoever, and had instead raised profound questions about U.S. intelligence... Instead of shoring up Israeli security and replacing rogue regimes in the Middle East with friendly, pro-Western allies, the war had turned Iraq into a terrorist training ground... Iran, America's greatest foe in the region, had, unwittingly, been empowered." (Pg. 6)
They note the antipathy between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice President Dick Cheney; "As the former Pentagon official put it, 'Cheney's distrust and dislike for Mr. Powell were unbounded.' In other words, Powell was only there for show. Cheney immediately took measures to undermine him." (Pg. 184) But ultimately, Powell "became the most articulate spokesman for the war effort. What's more, he played as fast and loose with the facts as the neocons... In referring to the Niger deal and the aluminum tubes, Powell was actually betraying his own State Department analysts..." (Pg. 275-276)
As the country moved toward war, the authors note that with exception of Al Gore, Robert Byrd, and Edward Kennedy, "the Democrats were largely mute. As the congressional midterm elections approached, they risked being tarred as soft on terror, or, worse, traitorous liberals who aided and abetted the enemy." (Pg. 257) But later, "officials at the highest levels of the administration were frantically trying to figure out what had happened to Saddam's WMDs... (CIA Director) George Tenet called Colin Powell with some bad news..." (Pg. 306)
And of course, by eliminating Iraq and the Taliban, we greatly strengthened Iran's relative position, so that "[Bush's wars] have put Israel in the worst strategic and operational situation she's been in since 1948." (Pg. 339)
An opinionated book, it is also a very insightful one, that will be of great interest to progressives.
March 13, 2008
Very thorough background information on the history of the Middle East {He goes back to Abraham's covenent with God}Included are the rise of Islam, the role of Britain in the partition of the Ottoman empire after WW1, the history of Christain fundamentalismin the US since the 17th century, anti-Semitism vs,the Biblical book of Revelation, the rise ofradical Evangelicalism & its appeal to George W. Bush who ignored the policies of his father George H.W. Bush & followed the Neoconservative policy (which the author explains in detail) & the origins of the invasion of Iraq. This is a good book for someone who follows politics only casually but as a resident of the US needs to become aware of people & events that are shaping our future & that of our children.
August 3, 2010
Ik had nooit helemaal begrepen hoe en waarom Bush
aan de oorlog met Irak is begonnen.
Dit boek legt 't uit, vanaf het prille begin
(jeugd Bush, de christelijke fundamentalisten en
de neoconservatieven)
aan de oorlog met Irak is begonnen.
Dit boek legt 't uit, vanaf het prille begin
(jeugd Bush, de christelijke fundamentalisten en
de neoconservatieven)
May 29, 2012
This was an interesting read and an excellent summary of my own views of the Iraq war and the bogus explanations used to start it. If you believe the Iraq war was justified, I suggest a thoughtful reading of this book as it articulates my views much more eloquently than I am capable.
January 3, 2016
Interesting how a section of a political party could drag its nation into a war even when the intelligence services knew the information used as a basis was a lie. And Jeb Bush's presidential ambitions were spoilt a great deal
January 18, 2008
Thoroughly researched though heavily biased.
July 6, 2008
It's scarier than I thought
January 3, 2010
OK, so I'm a bit behind on my political reading...this is one superb book that will make you sick about the former administration....
September 12, 2011
We are in trouble!
January 3, 2013
i am afraid of unger's life
August 9, 2021
I read this when I was maybe 16 and wrote a paper on it for AP Gov, so I don't remember it very well. I might want to go back over this.
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