End This Depression Now, by Paul Krugman (winner of Nobel Prize in Economics)Krugman lays out in layman's language the cause of the current depression, and more importantly his case for solving it in a short time.Basically he makes the case for Keynesian govenment expenditure to put people to work and kick-start demand. Fundamental; and simplistic,but nonetheless monumental.A must read.

With Libery and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful, by Glenn Greenwald (published 10/25/2011)(as book and DVD lecture)

Overview(Barnes and Noble):From "the most important voice to have entered the political discourse in years" (Bill Moyers), a scathing critique of the two-tiered system of justice that has emerged in Ammerica.

From the nation's beginnings,the law was to be the great equalizer in American life, the guarantor of a common set of rules for all. But over the past four decades, the principle of equality before the law has been effectively abolished. Instead, a two-tiered system of justice ensures that the country's pokitical and financial class is virtually immune to prosecution, licensed to act without restraint, while the politically powerless are imprisoned with greater ease and in greater numbers than in any other country in the world.

Starting with Watergate, continuuing on through the Iran-Contra scandal, and culminating with Obama's shielding of Bush-era officials from prosecution, Glenn Greenwald lays bare the mechanisms that have come to shield the elite from accountability. He shows how the media, both political parties, and the courts have abetted a process that has produced torture, war crimes, domestic spying, and financial fraud.

Cogent, sharp, and urgent, this is a no-holds-barred indictment of a profundly un-American system that sanctions immunity at the top and mercilessness for everyone else.

Web of Debt; The Shocking Truth About Our Money Systen, and How We Can Break Free, by Ellen Hodgson Brown

Amazon Reviews:

Editorial Reviews
Review
It's frankly difficult to find a good book that will help a person become literate about our modern money supply. Most that are accurate are hopelessly dense and written for graduate students in economics....Ellen Brown has translated a dense subject into a readable and fascinating story....Web of Debt by Ellen Brown not only demystifies money, but provides some thought-provoking and realistc solutions to our nation's dangerous dependence on a for-profit banking system that is sucking the financial lifeblood out of our nation....Buy it, read it, and get active! --Thom Hartmann's Review of the Month for Buzzflash, April 2009

Most people need backing of some sort to break through and capture a share of the public mind, but Ms. Brown has seemingly accomplished this all by herself, without funding of any kind. It almost defies comprehension. If we wore a thousand hats, they would all be doffed in respect to Ms. Brown's courageous and apparently independent intellectual journey. We are impressed enough with Ms. Brown's approach to award her a title all her own, in fact. There are in our opinion, in modern economic thought, now Keynesians, Austrians and Brownians. --The Daily Bell, October 8, 2009

Ms. Brown has taken two subjects considered boring - history and monetary policy - and turned them into a book as thrilling as any Tom Clancy novel, except that this book is true....If you are looking to have an understanding of the monetary mess we are in, this is an excellent historical overview with some truly elegant and ingenious ideas about correcting the problems we presently face. As you read this book you may find yourself feeling like "Neo" in The Matrix, newly awakened from the slumber of ignorance and deceit. Best of all, she offers viable solutions to the problems that have plagued our planet for millennia. This may well be one of the most important books you will ever read. --American Free Press, April 21, 2008

If there is one book, one newspaper, one blog, one article, that one should read to understand the current economic crisis, to understand the root of the problem, and to understand its solution, it is "The Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free".... "Web of Debt" is an extremely enlightening and remarkable book, providing an understanding to our world and the current economic crisis and providing monetary and banking solutions that will take us out of this crisis and benefit the people... The book is an absolute must read and relevant to people of all political stripes. The only idealogy presented is one of fairness, integrity, and common sense. --Online Journal, March 2, 2009
Product Description
EXPLODING THE MYTHS ABOUT MONEY Our money system is not what we have been led to believe. The creation of money has been "privatized," or taken over by a private money cartel. Except for coins, all of our money is now created as loans advanced by private banking institutions -- including the private Federal Reserve. Banks create the principal but not the interest to service their loans. To find the interest, new loans must continually be taken out, expanding the money supply, inflating prices -- and robbing you of the value of your money. Web of Debt unravels the deception and presents a crystal clear picture of the financial abyss towards which we are heading. Then it explores a workable alternative, one that was tested in colonial America and is grounded in the best of American economic thought, including the writings of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. If you care about financial security, your own or the nation's, you should read this book.

............................Othe BDS recommendation(s)............

If you prefer a DVD of the same topic(s) see Bill Still directed "The Secret of Oz"(1.5 hours) or the 3.5 hour version "The Money Masters"

One Country, A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, by Ali Abunimah (2006)

Much recent commentary on the stalled Middle East peace process has focused on ways to redirect Israelis and Palestinians toward the "road map for peace," which aims to end hostilities by gradually establishing an independent Palestinian state that would exist alongside, albeit entwined with, the Israeli state. With this book, an outspoken advocate for the Palestinian cause argues that peace in the region can be better achieved by establishing a single, united, democratic state. Abunimah is not, of course, the first to propose a one-state, or "binational," solution--indeed, interest in a one-state solution has grown as the two-state model has sputtered--and he is well aware of the obstacles to a one-state solution: namely, that socioeconomic inequality, disproportionate birth rates, and a perceived loss of sovereignty would seem to provide meager incentives for Jewish Israelis. But Abunimah's approach, inspired by ongoing reconciliation processes in South Africa (and, to a lesser extent, Northern Ireland), is fresh, energetic, and ultimately optimistic that those tired of violence will eventually gravitate toward an inclusive, unified Israel. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

When and How Was the Jewish People Invented, by Shlomo Sand of Tel Aviv university history professor; 2008 best seller in Israel and Europe;original in Hebrew and translated into French;English version to be released in fall 2009 by Verso publishing;translations into a dozen languages underway; Main point: modern Israeli Jewish population does not have historical roots in what is modern Israel.They are mostly descendents of converts to the Jewish religion from other European and North African /Mediterranean regions... The ancient Jewish peoples of the Israel region were not forced to emigrate by the Romans. The concept of a Jewish people forced to emigrate from their historical lands and coming "home" to establish modern Israel is totally false. The current Palestinians are the descendants of historical Jews that converted to Islam. Israel is therefore the product of racial imperialism and ethnic cleansing.

The Dark Side:  The Inside Story of How The War On Terror Turned Into A War On American Ideals, by Jane Mayer

Web of Deceit,, the History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush, by Barry M Lando. This book chronologizes Iraq from its pre-nation status in 1914 to present. It is a history replete with internal conflicts, mass atrocities, murder, coups, and manipulation /subjugation by foreign powers wanting to control its oil resources, primarily first the UK,and then/now the US. The current Saddam era involving US support has the US supporting and/or refusing to acknowledge Saddam atrocities , and then misusing UN sanctions in an attempt to depose him. The sanctions resulted in food deprivation and untreated disease directly resulting in the deaths of over 500,000 children and over a million total Iraqis. The latest war has resulted in over 500,000 additional deaths.In summary the US and UK are responsible for many more Iraqi deaths than Saddam ever was. It's a maddening chronology and I believe Bush and Blair should have been hanged alongside Saddam. The deceit spans several US presidents and the lying and deception of the US people is hard to believe.

Palestine,Peace Not Apartheid, by Jimmy Carter. Courageous recognition by top USA politician that Israeli theft of Palestinian lands and zionist ethnic cleansing goals,are the main roadblocks to peace movements in the Mideast. Bound to be a revelation to most of the American Christian right.

The Case Against Israel: by Michael Neumann; "Michael Neumann argues a brillant case against the legitimacy of Zionism,whose essence has been the pursuit of Jewish domination over Palestine" argues Kathy Christison,former CIA analyst.... Israel is a criminal country and the US is an accessory to its crimes--Bill Rowe.

Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance;  2003 by Noam Chomsky, [the book recommended by Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez in his 2006 UN speech where he called Bush the devil -- {my view is he gave too much credit to just the latest "white collar war criminal"}];whereas the following 2 books establish that the latest US foreign policy is nothing new,this book focuses history directly on current US infamy. I agree with Chavez,if you have time only to read one book on US foreign policy,read this one. (entered Oct 2006)

Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq ; by Stephen Kinzer,2006 ; This book should closely follow Howard Zinn's below to further your awakening.

The Most Important Book I Ever read;Exposing the Fairytale: Howard Zinn's "A Peoples History of the United States;1492-Present",2003

(This book should be required history reading in our schools. If you do not accept this book you will become the fodder of today's and tomorrow's repeating history---Vietnam and Iraq are examples and nothing new ....what is new, is that perhaps a critical proportion of people might actually become aware of the situation and effect a change.... my opinion/Bill Rowe) .... Zinn:All Governments Lie

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Consistently lauded for its lively, readable prose, this revised and updated edition of A People's History of the United States turns traditional textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history from Christopher Columbus's arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency.
Addressing his trademark reversals of perspective, Zinn--a teacher, historian, and social activist for more than 20 years--explains, "My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality. But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save Western civilization; Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save us all)--that is still with us. One reason these atrocities are still with us is that we have learned to bury them in a mass of other facts, as radioactive wastes are buried in containers in the earth."

If your last experience of American history was brought to you by junior high school textbooks--or even if you're a specialist--get ready for the other side of stories you may not even have heard. With its vivid descriptions of rarely noted events, A People's History of the United States is required reading for anyone who wants to take a fresh look at the rich, rocky history of America. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

"Dimes Worth of Difference; Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils", 2004, Alexander Cockburn,Jeffrey St. Clair  ; There is really little difference between Democrats and Republicans (especially as regards foreign policy) so do not expect any significant changes within the two-party monopoly. This book uses specific examples to make this point very explicit.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins:

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carr�, except it's a true story.
Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led. --Alex Roslin

BDS view: A very important insight to how the seemingly innocuous pursuit of development has contributed to the increase of world poverty and hatred of American corporations and government. The intrigue and James Bond-like narrative is captivating because I constantly found myself questioning the believability ,yet being flabbergasted by the undeniable history of events,CIA involvement,murders,assassinations, and in the end, the rational explanations given for much of the current world problems. I recommend it.

Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter, Nov. 2005

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Evangelical Christians in this country are familiar with the jeremiad, a sermon rousing the devout to renewed effort by highlighting how far they have wandered from the true and only faith. These days, jeremiads invariably attribute the abysmal crisis in which America allegedly finds itself to liberals and secular humanists. Teenage pregnancy, abortion, drug addiction, homosexuality -- these, we are told, are indications of our fallen state, the product of our mistaken belief that we can get by without the teachings of a just God.
Jimmy Carter's natural affinity is with the jeremiad. But Our Endangered Values, the prolific ex-president's latest book, finds fault not with secular humanists but with Christians, particularly those of the fundamentalist persuasion. Huge gaps between rich and poor, disrespect for human rights, cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners, a despoiled environment and a dangerous foreign policy -- these, for him, are the true indications of how far we have fallen. We used to believe that America stood as a moral beacon to the world. Because of the influence wielded by fundamentalists over our policies, Carter argues, we no longer can.

Carter offers an unusual combination: a man of faith and a man of power. His presidency was marked both by his prophetic witness on behalf of humane values and by his often incomprehensible amateurism in campaigning and governing. No wonder, then, that the best parts of Our Endangered Values deal with his private faith and the worst with his analysis of public policy.

To understand Carter's beliefs, it is important to know something about America's largest Protestant denomination, the Baptists. Baptists have long insisted on the separation of church and state, distrusted religious hierarchies and respected the autonomy of local congregations. The 2000 "Baptist Faith and Message" statement, according to Carter, changed all that; with it, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) created a church that would directly involve itself in politics, made half its members (the female half) subservient and, in Carter's devastating words, brought about the "substitution of Southern Baptist leaders for Jesus as the interpreters of biblical Scripture." Carter may have left the SBC in protest, but he, far more than the ostensible leaders of the denomination, represents the true spirit of Baptist religious liberty.

As president, Carter prayed, and prayed often -- not to ask divine blessing for actions he was about to take but because any action he took would have consequences unknown to him or any other human being. His personal convictions led him to oppose both abortion and the death penalty, but his political duty commanded obedience to the decisions of the Supreme Court. Fundamentalism, Carter writes, has three attributes: "rigidity, domination, and exclusion." As a president and as a Christian, Carter avoided all three.

Now that many of the Christian fundamentalists with whom Carter so strongly disagrees find themselves being courted by the White House (even if their advice is frequently ignored), Carter's criticism of their understanding of religion in politics is as welcome as it is refreshing. Still, there are times when the Jesus talk gets laid on a bit too thick. It is true that fundamentalist Christians have retrograde views about women, but to write in response that "Jesus Christ was the greatest liberator of women" downplays the role that Christianity played for centuries in assigning women to second-class status. Nor is it always an effective tactic to criticize biblical literalists by citing the Bible against them, as Carter does on behalf of the poor; after all, the Bible so frequently contradicts itself.

Sometimes, in other words, you need a nonreligious argument to confront the theocrats among us. Carter is perfectly aware of this, and when he turns to questions involving the environment or counterterrorism, his wonkish side comes to the fore. Alas, Carter's voice without prophetic urgency is more obligatory than compelling. It is true that nuclear proliferation is a great danger and that the United States is well-served by a strong United Nations, but Carter's breathless rush through the damage wrecked by foreign policy unilateralism offers little that is new and much that is labored.

His deep religious convictions ought especially to inform his policy discussions on the subject of torture of detainees held abroad. Yet here his prose, too vague to be analytic, is also too detached to be prophetic. Prophecy demands holding people who do bad things responsible for their actions. Yet while Carter clearly does not like what Republicans are doing, President George W. Bush does not appear in his book. Neoconservatives do: Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is mentioned a couple of times, and Pat Robertson gets his share of attention. Probably out of respect for the office he once held, Carter is reluctant to point the finger of blame at the man who holds it now. One can admire him for his restraint even while lamenting the dispassion that results.

Fundamentalism has gotten America into a mess, but religion can once again help the country finds its soul. The Republican version of Jimmy Carter, former Missouri senator John Danforth, started an important national discussion when he criticized right-wing extremists in his party for their certainty that God was on their side. By adding his own voice to the discussion, Carter reminds us of a time when religion was tied to such virtues as humility and to such practices as soul-searching. He may not have been one of our best presidents, but he is undoubtedly one of our finest human beings.

Reviewed by Alan Wolfe
Copyright 2005, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

BDS view: Most views and thoughts are right on; but unless an evangelical forget almost half the initial book devoted to the biblical crap presented as basis for his views.

The Politics of Anti-Semitism, edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair; (a collection of essays).

BDS Summary: Powerful pro-Israeli groups would have you believe that anti-semitism and being against Israeli policies are one and the same thing. They certainly are not.Also Israeli policies and interests are not always legal,moral, or right and certainly do not always coincide with US interests as those groups would have you believe. Many examples of this distortion and how they have and do impact the US Congress and foreign policy are covered. Example: I did not know that Israel purposely sunk a US warship during their 1967 war and the US Government continues to downplay and tried to coverup the incident!

Iraq Confidential; The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein

by Scott Ritter, a lead UN WMD weapons inspector in IRAQ

BDS Summary of Ritter : US policy was always the removal of Saddam Hussein (regime change) after war to "liberate" Kuwait. Onerous economic santions and the WMD disarmanent were tactics to extend the war for regime change.The CIA acted to prevent the UN weapons inspectors (UNSCOM) from ever declaring the correct conclusion that IRAQ had disarmed,because that would have led to UN lifting of economic sanctions and undermining regime change. During this time the CIA also failed in a coup attempt. CIA intelligence on the actual state of IRAQ WMD was reasonably good but misrepresented by the Bush administration to Congress, UN, US public to garner support for a war of regime change in IRAQ. The much ballyhooed Congessional report(s) on failures of US intelligence leading up to the war is just a self-serving convenient way of whitewashing this fiasco to US public. At the same time the CIA is also rewriting its internal history justifying its performance as not that bad. So there is no accountability at all for leading us into the IRAQ war.

BDS Conclusions: The US administration unilaterally decided that a regime change in IRAQ was "worth it". It was worth violating International law. It was worth implementing onerous economic sanctions that some estimate killed a million Iraqi civilians.It was worth perverting the truth to Congress and US citizens to start an immoral and unnecessary war; it was worth (so far) the deaths of about 2000 US servicemen, over 10,000 wounded, an additional tens of thousands of deaths of Iraqi civilians; $300 billion, fueling a new hotbed of anti-American terrorism to replace Afghanistan, and the destruction of the Iraq country.....It was not the US decision to make!

War Made Easy : How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
by Norman Solomon
Editorial Reviews

Review
"Norman Solomon is one of the bravest and best American journalists, especially when he is dissecting the topics of war and the media. War Made Easy exposes and explains the lies and deceptions that have misled our nation into vile and bloody disasters from Vietnam to El Salvador to Iraq; it reveals the frequent cowardice and culpability of the US media that often behaves as a propaganda arm of the Pentagon. War Made Easy is a sobering and essential book that Americans should read, share, and discuss."
—John Stauber, co-author of Weapons of Mass Deception and Banana Republicans

Gwynne Dyer, Future Tense: The Coming World Order;

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap
The foundations of World War III are being laid today.

American defeat in Iraq is only a matter of time, but how long it takes matters a lot. The fate of Iraq is a sideshow, the terrorist threat is a red herring, and the radical Islamists' dream of a worldwide jihad against the West is a fantasy, but the attempt to revive Pax Americana is real. No matter what the outcome of the election in November, 2004, the enterprise is likely to continue. It is bound to fail eventually, but we need it to fail soon.

American military power is not limitless, and the other big powers will not stand for US military domination of the world. They don't buy the cover story about the 'terrorist threat,' but they don't want a fight either. They are all on hold for the moment, hoping that America will remember its commitment to the United Nations, the rule of law and multilateralism. If it does not, then the drift back into alliances, balance-of-power politics and military confrontations will begin. Ten years from now, an American-led alliance that includes India and occupies much of the Middle East could be facing a European alliance led by France, Germany and Russia AND a hostile, heavily armed China.

In Future Tense, Gwynne Dyer's brilliant follow up to last year's bestselling Ignorant Armies, he analyzes how the world made its way to the brink of disaster, and describes how we may all slide over the edge. It was fringe groups of extremists - Islamist fanatics and American neo-conservatives - who set the process in motion, but it has gone well beyond that now. It is not too late, but the clock is running.

Graydon Carter: What We've Lost: How the Bush Administration Has Curtailed Our Freedoms, Mortgaged Our Economy, Ravaged Our Environment, and Damaged Our Standing in the World

FROM THE PUBLISHER
What We've Lost addresses the state of U.S. democracy with a critical review of the Bush administration by one of our leading magazine editors, Graydon Carter. Carter has expressed his deep dissatisfaction with the current state of the nation in his monthly editor's letters in Vanity Fair - which have aroused widespread comment - and now provides a sweeping, painstakingly detailed account of the ruinous effects of this White House.

Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do about It , by Peter G Peterson


From the Publisher
When George W. Bush came into office in 2001, the ten-year budget balance was officially projected to be at a surplus of $5.6 trillion. But after three big tax cuts, the bursting of the stock-market bubble, and the devastating effects of 9/11 on the economy, the surplus has evaporated, and the deficit is expected to grow to $5 trillion over the next decade. America was once the greatest creditor to nations around the globe; it is now the largest debtor in the world. And the domestic deficit is only half the story. Given our $500 billion trade deficit and our anemic savings rate, we depend on an unprecedented $2 billion of foreign capital every working day. If foreign confidence were to wane, this could lead to a dreaded hard landing.
President Bush says that the deficit is just "numbers on paper." Vice President Cheney claims that Reagan proved "deficits don't matter." Peter G. Peterson -- a lifelong Republican, chairman of The Blackstone Group, and former secretary of commerce under Nixon -- shatters the myths with hard facts and a harrowing view of the twin deficits' real impact. Republicans and Democrats alike have mortgaged America's future through reckless tax cuts, out-of-control spending, and Enron-style accounting in Congress. And the situation will only get worse as the Baby Boom generation begins to retire, making unprecedented demands on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Despite what Bush says, we are on a path that could end in economic meltdown, and we simply cannot grow out of the deficit. In Running on Empty, Peterson takes us behind the politicians' smoke-and-mirror games, and forcefully explains what we must do to rescue the future of our country.

Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency ,by W.Va Senator Robert C Byrd


From the Publisher
In the months and years following September 11th, Senator Robert C. Byrd viewed with dismay what he considers a "slow unraveling of the people's liberties," a time when dissenting voices were stilled and awesome power swung suddenly to the president to fight a "war on terror." The way down this path violates historic American principles. It provides no regard for the balance of powers or the role of Congress; it invades our privacy; it makes no attempt to educate the public and build consensus. It displays little regard for our environment. It grapples little with the realities of people who have to work for a living, rear children or care for aging parents, and cope with physical ailments -- problems that plague our country and cry out for attention. Swept along, we have entered a war under a new and dangerous doctrine without proper consideration, and we have rushed dangerous legislation through Congress willy-nilly. We have a White House that favors the rich and the well-connected, lavishes tax cuts on big businesses, and pushes through unfair tax legislation.
Most serious, this administration has, in greater measure than ever before, operated under a cloak of secrecy, which is deeply antithetical to the principles of our nation. For far too long, argues Senator Byrd, too many of us have passively gone along, aiding and abetting a dangerous process. Now is the time, he urges, to regain the Constitution that our fore-fathers so wisely left us, a time to return to the values and principles that made America great. Losing America is a ringing call to action by one of the country's longest-serving and most respected legislators, one who does not shrink from warning the people of the sinister agenda of a power-seeking White House.

Anonymous, Imperial Hubris; Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, August 2004 Release

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The war on terror has created near unanimity on many points, at least within the American press and political leadership. One essential point of agreement: al Qaeda specifically and radical Islamism in general are stirred by a hatred of modernity. Or as President George W. Bush has articulated repeatedly, they hate freedom. Nonsense, responds the nameless author of this work and 2003's Through Our Enemies' Eyes (the senior U.S. intelligence official's identity became an open secret by publication date). Indeed, he grimly and methodically discards common wisdom throughout this scathing and compelling take on counterterrorism. Imperial Hubris is not a book that will cheer Americans, regardless of their perspectives on the post-9/11 environment. We are, the author notes, losing the war on terror. Hawks will squirm as the author heaps contempt on U.S. missions in Afghanistan (too little, too late) and Iraq ("a sham causing more instability than it prevents"), but opponents of Bush administration policies may blanch at Anonymous' suggestion that what's needed is for the West to "proceed with relentless, brutal, and, yes, blood-soaked offensive military actions until we have annihilated the Islamists who threaten us." Quoting the at-all-cost likes of William Tecumseh Sherman and Curtis Lemay on one hand and contending that unrelenting military measures be accompanied by concessions to the ideology of the militants on the other are unlikely to curry widespread support from either side of the divide. And how will readers conditioned to references to Osama bin Laden as a deranged gangster or simple-minded fanatic with deep pockets digest the respect accorded "the most popular anti-American leader in the world today"? Imperial Hubris clearly wasn't written to win friends, though the author believes it's essential that his words influence people at the top. Whether it will is debatable, but that this blunt, forceful, urgently argued polemic recharges the discussion is a foregone conclusion. --Steven Stolder

Product Description:
Though U.S. leaders try to convince the world of their success in fighting al Qaeda, one anonymous member of the U.S. intelligence community would like to inform the public that we are, in fact, losing the war on terror. Further, until U.S. leaders recognize the errant path they have irresponsibly chosen, he says, our enemies will only grow stronger.
According to the author, the greatest danger for Americans confronting the Islamist threat is to believe—at the urging of U.S. leaders—that Muslims attack us for what we are and what we think rather than for what we do. Blustering political rhetoric "informs" the public that the Islamists are offended by the Western world’s democratic freedoms, civil liberties, inter-mingling of genders, and separation of church and state. However, although aspects of the modern world may offend conservative Muslims, no Islamist leader has fomented jihad to destroy participatory democracy, for example, the national association of credit unions, or coed universities.

Instead, a growing segment of the Islamic world strenuously disapproves of specific U.S. policies and their attendant military, political, and economic implications. Capitalizing on growing anti-U.S. animosity, Osama bin Laden’s genius lies not simply in calling for jihad, but in articulating a consistent and convincing case that Islam is under attack by America. Al Qaeda’s public statements condemn America’s protection of corrupt Muslim regimes, unqualified support for Israel, the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a further litany of real-world grievances. Bin Laden’s supporters thus identify their problem and believe their solution lies in war. Anonymous contends they will go to any length, not to destroy our secular, democratic way of life, but to deter what they view as specific attacks on their lands, their communities, and their religion. Unless U.S. leaders recognize this fact and adjust their policies abroad accordingly, even moderate Muslims will join the bin Laden camp.

Richard A. Clarke: "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror"; Former Bush administration czar on terrorism (also under several priior administrations) blows the whistle on Bush's lack of attention to anti-terrorism prior to 911; his administration's fixation with going to war to remove Saddam Hussein from the start of his inauguration; and the use of known misinformation and innuendo to "sell" the American public that Iraq shared responsibility for 911 to lead the nation into a unnecessary war of choice.March 2004.

John W Dean: "Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush", by John W Dean; former Watergate conspirator and whistleblower under Nixon, relates his expert opinion drawing on his insider knowledge of the manner in which presidencies function, that Bush committed impeachable high treason for the manner in which he has mislead the nation into an unnecessary war... April 2004.

Ron Suskind: "The Price of Loyalty; George W Bush,the White House,and the Education of Paul O'Neill", the lucid narrative of the Bush administration's former  Secretary of Treasury (O'Neill) on the closed inner circle that myopically promotes fiscally irresponsible policies, and spun a fixation on Saddham Hussein into the Iraq war.

"The Century of the  'Son of a Bitch' , Eric Alterman news article drawing the obvious parrallels of Iraq to Vietnam, with reference to an available film on the missing Iraq WMD ....

George Soros:(2004) "The Bubble of American Supremacy; Correcting the Misuse of American Power" ....One of the world's wealthiest men steps up and spends millions of his own money to defeat the Republican/Bush frontal assault on the American soul. Take heart that all wealthy people are not fascist bastards.We might yet save ourselves.A down to earth book for any honest thinking American .

Norman Mailer:(2003) "Why Are We at War?", "...I think the natural government for most people,given the uglier depths of human nature,is fascism.Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad...." (I agree with a lot he says about Bushism but little about his views on reincarnation,globalization,and anti-modernism) ---a short read

Clyde Prestowitz--(2003)"Rogue Nation--American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions", a conservatives skepticism of using American hegemony(empire) to spread/force the American way throughout the world --- an insight/education into the thoughts  of an enlightened conservative that I am forcing myself to read

Rogue States ,an essay by Noam Chomsky one of America's most  prominent political dissidents.

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My (Bill Rowe)(July 2003) thoughts,some of which coincide with the above authors....

WMD or not; Bushites are Good Intentioned, Dangerous Fascists


For me the WMD issue is already clear. Even if some small amounts of WMD (or a small rogue development group is found --- who knows what stink goes unknown in the huge US defense establishment so why should Iraq be any different---), it's obvious that it would be dumb luck or planted, and surely not the massive world threatening situation sold as the basis for invading another sovereign country outside a UN mandate. They lied to us and the world; they believed it was for a good cause (overthrowing Saddham) and that we /history would forget/forgive because of the hoped for ultimate good to be achieved (democracy for Iraqis and a fuel pump for the US, and closing the book on an old elder Bush vendetta). Why is it so hard for most Americans to believe?  It's in character. From Watergate, to Iran Contra, to Enron, to Election 2000 --- a belief that the ultimate result (a policy) justifies the means to get there--short of ending up in jail for an illegality/or getting caught in one. Well history proves time and again that nobody (or a party) has a 100% reliable monopolistic vision (or impartiality) as to what would be good policy---and that's where a solid belief in the cornerstone of democracy comes in--a belief in the process of decision making being more reliable/appropriate than one's own favorite policy of the day. Republicans repeatedly fall into the trap and (sorry to say) more Democrats lately as well. The bottomline is that so-called ultrapatriots, who disparage the very confrontational nature of democracy, belie their own lack of faith in the same---the integrity of the democratic process is everything. When you prostitute the process to pander your own vision of the way things should be, and you look in a mirror you might see a fascist. Many in  the Bush administration should be checking the mirrors these days....

____________________ works toward understandang the historical stage (below)_____
Herman,Edward S:(1982) "The Real Terror Network :Terrorism in Fact and Propaganda",ISBN 0-89608-13i-6,South End Press ....makes the case that US backed terrorist states kill(ed) massively more innocents under the "radar" of the western press than all the non-state (termed "retail") terrorists typically covered in western media...eye opening

Kwitny,Jonathan: (1987) "The Crimes of Patriots"...."A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA", ISBN 0-671-66637-1,Touchstone books.... the stink is almost unbearable...not in my name

Chomsky,Noam : "The Culture of Terrorism", South End Press, 1988, ISBN0-89608-334-9, USA as a major terrorist state

Chomsky,Noam :"Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, & The Palestinians", South End Press, 1999 Rev, ISBN 0-89608-601-1.... every year billions of US taxpayer money goes to support Israel as the epitome of the terorist state ..... the grandaddy of all foreign policy hypocricy

Yergin,Daniel.(Pulitzer Prize Winner), "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power",Dec 1992, ISBN 0671799320 ...from the first oil well to the development of international oil conglomerates, wars, politics,foreign policy, nation building and destruction, making dictatorships in the Mideast that are the background for todays conflicts, including Iraq ...

Johnson,Paul M,"Modern Times",Aug 2001 Rev,ISBN 0060935502, "The classic world history of the events, ideas, and personalities of the twentieth century."

--------(below)my basis of a rational world view; who,what we are and where we and the cosmos came from; some fact,some speculation,some choice-----

"The Elegant Universe",Brian Greene, "superstrings, hidden dimensions, and the quest for the ultimate theory"; on the frontiers of theoretical physics where no scientific agreement or proof exists yet, some very serious science considers that we might indeed live in a sort-of "star-trekian" universe of 11 dimensions. Explore  the consistencies with existing proven science, and interesting implications, while waiting for some of the smartest scientists alive attempt to discover the anticipated earth-shattering "so-what" of it all.

"Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution", Neil DeGrasse and Donald Goldsmith, from the big bang to the formation of atoms,stars,galaxies,earth,and us; mostly accepted science, and meticulously highlighted where not; an interesting appetiser: before there was a sun or earth, many generations of long ago exploded stars made the atoms that comprise the sun,earth,and us by nuclear fusion; incredibly, astronomers can "see" these processes still underway in the universe.

"A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love", Richard Dawkins; If the foundation of your belief system on who,and what you are, and your "purpose", is inextricably based on religious precepts, then you will be uncomfortable going here. However, if you are inclined to choose rational deduction and speculation over unquestioned dogma, then read it.

Atheist Universe: Why God Didn't Have A Thing To Do With It
by David Mills, Simply,all rational people should read it. Very easy and entertaining as well as informative read.

The God Delusion , Richard Dawkins, 2006 , A rather exhaustive and somewhat repetive consideration and retort to all rationales for believing in a supernatural personal god. If you need such a battery of tools, go for it.