Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude FROM OUR EDITORS
Former CIA operative Robert Baer (See No Evil) reveals the tangled web of politics, greed, and pathological codependence that keeps America in thrall to Saudi Arabia and its corrupt, ineffectual ruling family. Baer's distinguished record as a field officer in the Middle East lends lots of street cred to this blistering expose. A brave, controversial work from an author who is not afraid to take on the status quo, no matter the consequences.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In Sleeping with the Devil, Robert Baer documents how our addiction to cheap oil and Saudi petrodollars caused us to turn a blind eye to the Al Saud's culture of bribery, its abysmal human rights record, and its financial support of fundamentalist Islamic groups that have been directly linked to international acts of terror including those against the United States. Drawing on his experience as a field operative who was on the ground in the Middle East for much of his twenty years with the agency, as well as the large network of sources he has cultivated in the region and in the U.S. intelligence community, Baer vividly portrays our decades old relationship with the increasingly dysfunctional and corrupt Al Saud family, the fierce anti-Western sentiment that is sweeping the kingdom, and the desperate link between the two. In hopes of saving its own neck, the royal family has been shoveling money as fast as it can to mosque schools that preach hatred of America and to militant fundamentalist groups - an end game just waiting to play out.
FROM THE CRITICS
The Washington Post
Strange is perhaps too kind a word for an affair the author depicts … as sordid, corrupt and even murderous. Baer, a former CIA case officer whose assignments included postings throughout the Middle East, detests Saudi Arabia. And after reading his book -- or for that matter a newspaper on any given day -- it is hard to begrudge the author his ill will. — Lawrence Kaplan
Publishers Weekly
In his blustering second book, former CIA officer Baer (See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism) targets Saudi Arabia's corrupt leadership and cozy relationship with Washington. He argues that because the Saudis pay vast sums to powerful Americans, often in the form of lucrative defense contracts, those U.S. agencies that could help stop terrorism are thwarted by their own side. For example, CIA superiors tell Baer that they have no operating directive to look into Islamic fundamentalism in Central Asia in the early '90s. He is deeply disappointed in both the CIA and the State Department, which he says looked the other way throughout the '90s as widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo took root in Saudi Arabia. While Baer's attacks on Washington's "consent of silence" sometimes beg for clarification, his many working years in the Middle East and Central Asia give him great believability, and he makes a strong case that Saudi Arabia-with skyrocketing birth rates, growing unemployment, a falling per capita income and a corrupt ruling family draining the public coffers-is a powder keg waiting to explode. To prevent being overthrown, Saudi rulers channel money to violent fundamentalists, including al Qaida, via Islamic charities. Baer's radical solution is guaranteed to stir debate and make many skittish: "An invasion and a revolution might be the only things that can save the industrial West from a prolonged, wrenching depression." Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Baer (See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism) here argues that to secure access to vital oil supplies, the United States has blindly helped the corrupt Saudi government at the cost of American finances, values, and other interests. In return, Saudis have helped finance terrorism and destabilize the region. The Saudi oil industry is extremely vulnerable to attack, asserts Baer, and the Saudi people are seething with discontent, making them ripe to follow religious fundamentalists. Baer goes on to say that American agencies are hindered in their security efforts by the big corporations, which have lucrative Saudi contracts and carry a lot of clout in Washington. In the end, Baer, a disgruntled veteran of CIA operations in the Middle East, feels that to protect the oil and to prevent the country from dissolving into chaos, which would be exploited by Islamic extremists, perhaps an American invasion will be necessary. Readers may also be interested in Doug Bandow's less alarmist Befriending Saudi Princes: A High Price for a Dubious Alliance and John Peterson's Saudi Arabia and the Illusion of Security. Suitable for all libraries.-Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
AudioFile
Baer's title critiques America's relationship with Saudi Arabia, explaining how our American dependence on oil has led us astray. The author provides a wealth of historical, political, and economic details, but weaves them into a highly personal story that incorporates his decades of CIA experience in the region. Robert O'Keefe's narration captures this intimate quality well. He sounds so personally involved with the story he's telling--and so angry over the duplicity and danger described--that it's hard to remember it's not the author speaking. His facility with Arabic terms underscores this impression. The only weakness is organizational; section breaks are abrupt, and O'Keefe's powerful voice may increase listener confusion, rather than diminishing it. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
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