Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul For Saudi Crude

Sleeping with the Devil is written from Baer's own perspective as an intell and ex-intell officer. After having read portions of some academic books on this subject, this is one of the easiest and most compelling reads you're going to get on it, exactly because it approaches it from a personal standpoint of emotional reactions upon acquiring each bit of information. He is clearly not happy about the conclusions this information forces him to, but trudges on for the sake of truth and possible solutions.What's the gist of this book? The U.S. political system, our intelligence & counterintelligence apparatus, the energy economy, the defense industry, and policy towards the Middle East are sinfully broken. Our officials have increased their standard of living and that of their friends by consorting with oil Arabs. Those Arabs have made huge defense contracts they cannot afford that fill U.S. elites' pockets. They also pump as much oil as possible to drive prices down to keep these U.S. officials elected.The same Arabs are surrounded by radicals who want to overthrow them, so they fund them but force the terrorists to migrate overseas to funnel their hatred towards the West. All this time, the said wealthy Arabs are taking bribes and skimming off the top in order to live a life of debauchery, thus inciting even more fundamentalists inside their own country to hate them, causing an even greater need to appease them with more funds and push them out of the country towards us.The United States has manipulated its way into getting our troops into the region in order to ensure this status quo. A concerted and bipartisan effort has been made to use the FBI and other agencies to help dissuade investigation of our Arab allies and help quiet dissent. Americans are dying, the common Arab is poor and oppressed, but U.S. and Arab elites are staying influential and getting rich off it.There is much, much more to it, but you need to read it for yourself to get all the details. I will tell you the conclusions are not pretty. The United States is facing a crisis. We have political powers who are keeping information classified for the purpose of, at the worst, covering up corruption, or at the very least, severe impropriety in both Arabia and back home. The solutions suggested by Baer were self-reform by the politicians and corporate big-wigs, and, brace yourself, an outright invasion of a 400 mile stretch of oil real estate that includes Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.While the self-reform was always unlikely, the invasion was not. However, it is a downright impossibility now. If we did, Muslims everywhere would turn against us, not just ideologically, but in a material sense. A third invasion of an Arab country, especially the one with the two most holy of Islam's sites, would not go well in light of the disaster in Iraq. It doesn't matter how sparsely populated that 400 mile stretch is. Furthermore, the American elites would have to be complicit in something they have a vested interest in preventing. Without the Sheikhs and Saudi royalty in the loop, the current scheme would dissolve. It'd be great for the average American and Arab, but if the politicians didn't have an incentive to stop this before, they don't have one now. They'll just keep milking this until the bitter end.But the bitter end is coming whether we like it or not. The House of Saud will fall. Oil prices will rocket. The American economy will tank. We do not have the oil the public seems to think we have. We are not a Russia. China is a non-issue. They are a dependent and have almost no internal energy production infrastructure. Whoever needs cheep, cut-throat goods, they'll do business with. Russia, on the other hand, has enormous reserves and has the potential to regain its status in such a scenario.So we can't invade that 400 mile strip. The politicians won't reform. There will be no required alliance with the Shiites, as shown with all the rhetoric towards Iran. And the inevitable is on the way. What do we have left? I would posit that the only solution left is to bring 'em home...all of them. It's unfortunate. I hate having to say this. However, it's clear the USA needs to protect our boarders, ports, and airports and hunker down. All the money we save from halting further major military exploits should be pumped into pure electric cars, fission nuclear power plants, and fusion nuclear power research. Domestically-produced oil products should be used only for heavy machinery, aircraft, and smaller machines like lawn mowers.I do not think this is a similar situation to Japan at the end of WWII. They kept their emperor, police, and enough of their infrastructure to meet the basic necessities of life and prevent civil unrest. The Japanese government was part of the transfer. Iraq is almost complete anarchy. At this point, we are a distraction. The Sunnis and Shia should be fighting against Al Queda, not against us. They'll fight against each other regardless of what we do because we are not willing to commit the war crimes necessary to bring them under control...thank God. Someone else will fill that role. He'll likely be another Sunni, because a Shiite leader would have no reason not to just exterminate the minority.Stopping terrorism should be a law enforcement and intelligence mission, with the military playing only a support role. The purpose of the U.S. military is to defend us, not invade countries and idiotically attempt to force democracy on people. Remember, it's "of the people, by the people", not "of a foreign nation, and by a foreign nation". This new fixation on counterinsurgency is a sickness that will ruin the military culture and rot its strategic defense capabilities from the inside out. Baer's correct that forcing democracy in the region will only cause more problems, but military action there of any kind is now outdated.I fear that none of what we say matters, though. Those in power will keep exploiting this situation until the end. And when the crash occurs, they'll be the ones least affected. The rich Arabs will have their resorts and prostitutes, the Americans will have their seats on various corporate boards and lucrative speaking engagements. It doesn't even matter whether they're an exile from their kingdom, scapegoat, or red herring whistleblower. They'll all be taken care of.Then again, maybe that's the best solution after all. If you just keep letting enough Americans die, the terrorists will avoid overthrowing their own governments and the rest of us will continue getting our cheap oil. Since the politicians are most likely to do exactly that, I am crossing my fingers that these deaths happen only in overseas war zones and not back here...and no one I know or love. I suppose the Bush mantra of "If we don't fight them over there we'll be fighting them at home" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Isn't it nice to know that doing your part comes down to nothing more than crossing your fingers?

I've gotta say this for the Saudis, awash in their billions of barrels of oil, they certainly got the handle on Washingtion DC early: if you want to get your way, just make sure our Pols are awash in money. And the boys from Riyadh have been lavish in doing just that, in a wonderfully non-partisan way. As Baer details, EVERYONE was, and for all I know still is, on the payroll. Every ex-President from the time of Nixon, every ex Secretary of State, every ex-CIA director, every ex anybody in DOD, both houses of Congress and both sides of the aisle. Everybody who is anybody in our government it would appear has in some way benefited from their largesse, either directly or indirectly. Henry Kissinger(R) and George Mitchell(D) both resigned from the 9/11 Commission rather than divulge the client lists of their consulting firm.But the fact Washington DC is a revolving door between government "service" and absurdly rewarded private practice derived from that "service" is nothing new. Our public servants have been whoring themselves for decades. The Saudis just did it to the Nth degree cause they had more disposable income than most.What this book elaborates are several bad deals made in the past that have come forward to haunt us today. First the House of Sa'ud made a deal with the Wahabbis, allowing them to preach their severe form of Muslim fundamentalism and maintain the purity of the land containing the holiest of Islam's sites, as long as they left the Royal family alone to do its thing. Then, post WWII, Roosevelt snookered the British and cut a deal with the Saudis allowing them to be our private oil reserve. Finally, recognizing how much of our wealth was being exported post-OPEC, we cut a deal with the Royals to sell them more armaments than they could ever use, thereby bringing that money back home and providing a way, through commissions, for the Royal family to siphon off and plunder the resources of the nation.You can see how it all happened. Post WWII we built an economy that runs on oil. The Saudis have lots of it. As long as the pipe stayed open, we turned a blind eye to the problems in the Kingdom. Bernard Lewis has said the Wahabbis would be a forgotten lunatic fringe sect if it hadn't been for oil money. Instead it is as if the KKK had been financed by all the oil pumped out of Texas at the turn of the century.So the militant jihadis that we face today were educated, trained and financed by the people we bought our oil from. Have the Saudis really seen the light and are an ally in this struggle? Are they still greasing everyone from K Street to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and Capitol Hill? How will all this play out? Time will tell.This book was written a couple of years ago, and events are changing so fast on the front of the struggle with Islamic extremism that it can be forgiven for not being completely current. But, if you want an idea of some of the reasons we got to where we are now, Bob Baer gives you a fast and entertaining tour. There was a reason 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals. And there was a reason that Prince Bandar had easier acccess to our Presidents (not just Bush, Clinton too) than some of our CIA chiefs. Read it and weep.

I love it. Robert Baer is a fascinating man. I love the fact that he comes to the table sans ego, and tells the world how things were - just as they were. He doesn't super hero himself, nor does he ignore the obvious or gild the lily. If you are interested in learning an on-the-ground take on the Middle East, and in particular the House of Sa'ud, then read this book. I started out knowing only the glossy propoganda that is splashed across the TV, this book has seriously opened my eyes. You may get to the end of the read and think "why am I not bl""dy surprised".... but unless you were there and have hand-ons experience, it will most definitely end your innocence to this subject. Highly recommend it. Am now onto my next Bob Baer Book - Perfect Kill. :)

The author does an excellent job outlining as well as filling in the details of the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia, in particular that relationship between former US presidents and UK prime ministers and the Saudi family - talk about hands in pockets, huh. I do not intend to give away th.e author's excellent argument, which is a must read throughout, except to say I understand now that the two will probably never part - even if the US becomes oil independent as it is now expected to become - simply because the global results would be quite earth shaking. A must read.

With the violence currently erupting across the Middle East, and rumblings in places such as Ukraine, our world can seem a terrifying and chaotic place. Ex-CIA operative Robert Baer is, however, a trustworthy guide to what is really going on. Baer shows how shaky the position of Saudia Arabia is, and how much that country's dysfunctional relationship with the US has given rise to 9/11 and the upsurge in terrorism. Yet it is vital that we have this information as a first step to working out how to make the world better.

I like Bob Baer's writing style. This being said, I found his writing less good than his tremendous opus SEE NO EVIL. Still filled with valuable insight, it requires a little more context, and if I had not had more information, I would simply be outraged if I were to take this book as the complete story. There is nothing (to my understanding) non factual, however there are some small omissions. Should we aspire to greatness and attempt to export integrity? Perhaps, but at what cost? The corrupt world of politics is oleaginous for its pursuit of funds, crooked lobbied deals and spin-doctoring failures. Robert Baer's morality tries to shine a bright light into the cynical darkness without first presenting the fathoms of depravity the world is built on. Yet it appeals to my Quixotic nature to tilt and what SHOULD be rather thatn what IS. It is why America still has a glimmer of hope and dares dream the illusory visions of how things should be. I still like this book.

Bought it a few days before Christmas and I received it 2 days after Christmas. Good ready, the recipient was very happy