Craig Unger’s book of that title (Scribner, 2004) does not make a prima facie case that the Bush and Saud dynasties put their dollar interests before the security of the United States.
That said, it does establish to my satisfaction that Saudi Arabia bears more responsibility for 9/11 than any other nation.
It describes a complex, intimate relationship between the two families.
It contains evidence the Saudi royals have made the Bush family, and its friends, very wealthy. Unger estimates that "more than $1.4 billion has made their way from the House of Saud to individuals and entities tied to the House of Bush."
No prima facie case, but several interesting questions:
Did the Saudi royal family know that 9/11 was going to happen?
Did they knowingly finance al Qaeda? (They did finance it.)
Why did the White House expedite the flight from the US days after 9/11 of prominent Saudis, including members of the bin Laden family?
And why didn’t the FBI question them first?
The Saudis did not really cooperate with us in fighting Osama bin Laden before 9/11. Are they cooperating fully now?
Not only did the book raise questions, but it leads me to think that I have mis-understood the rationale for the war on Iraq.
Yes, the neo-conservatives believed we could bomb Iraq toward democracy and that the shock waves would roll through the Mideast, encouraging other Arab states to move in the same direction. Sort of a benign domino effect.
(As I wrote that last sentence, the enormous ignorance and stupidity involved in that "thinking" rose up and almost choked me. Think of the innocent lives.)
And yes, the attack on Iraq may have served Bush’s psychological needs vis-à-vis his father. Oil may have played a big part; we now know the principals looked at maps of Iraq’s oil fields. And presidential politics, too – Bush’s Presidency was foundering until he became a "war president."
But after reading Unger’s book, I wonder now if the war on Iraq was not also a great diversion, taking our eyes off Saudi Arabia’s role in terrorism. I think of the 15 Saudis (out of 19) who executed almost 3,000 New Yorkers. Of the money behind that deed. And I wonder what else there might have been.
You may want to read the book. If you are too busy to read it all, jump to the last four chapters. Please let me know what you think.