House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties

Craig Unger

Simon and Schuster, Mar 19, 2004 - Political Science - 368 pages

Newsbreaking and controversial -- an award-winning investigative journalist uncovers the thirty-year relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud and explains its impact on American foreign policy, business, and national security.
House of Bush, House of Saud begins with a politically explosive question: How is it that two days after 9/11, when U.S. air traffic was tightly restricted, 140 Saudis, many immediate kin to Osama Bin Laden, were permitted to leave the country without being questioned by U.S. intelligence?
The answer lies in a hidden relationship that began in the 1970s, when the oil-rich House of Saud began courting American politicians in a bid for military protection, influence, and investment opportunity. With the Bush family, the Saudis hit a gusher -- direct access to presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. To trace the amazing weave of Saud- Bush connections, Unger interviewed three former directors of the CIA, top Saudi and Israeli intelligence officials, and more than one hundred other sources. His access to major players is unparalleled and often exclusive -- including executives at the Carlyle Group, the giant investment firm where the House of Bush and the House of Saud each has a major stake.
Like Bob Woodward's The Veil, Unger's House of Bush, House of Saud features unprecedented reportage; like Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country? Unger's book offers a political counter-narrative to official explanations; this deeply sourced account has already been cited by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, and sets 9/11, the two Gulf Wars, and the ongoing Middle East crisis in a new context: What really happened when America's most powerful political family became seduced by its Saudi counterparts?

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - justindtapp - LibraryThing

A good book about the relationship between many high-ups in the Republican party and the royal family of Saudi Arabia and the Bin Laden family who own a large construction company. An unexpected star ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - gmicksmith - LibraryThing

The book reveals just how closely the ties are between the U.S. and the Islamic dictatorship of Saudi Arabia. The one key criticism of the work is that Ungar wants to postulate that the connection is ...

Contents

• The Great Escape: 1
• The HoustonJeddah Connection: 19
• The Ascendancy of George H W Bush: 37
• ThreeDimensional Chess: 57
• The Double Marriage: 83
• Another Frankenstein: 97
• Friends in High Places: 113
• War Drums: 129
• The Breaking Point: 143
• Masters of the Universe: 155
• A House Divided: 171
• The Arabian Candidate: 191
• Lost in Transition: 217
• 911: 247
• Print the Legend: 271
• Appendices: 283
• Acknowledgments: 299
• Notes: 303
• Selected Bibliography: 337
• Index: 341
• About the Author: 357
• Photos: 359

About the author

Craig Unger is the author of the New York Times bestselling House of Bush, House of Saud. He appears frequently as an analyst on CNN, the ABC Radio Network, and other broadcast outlets. The former deputy editor of The New York Observer and editor-in-chief of Boston Magazine, he has written about George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush for The New Yorker, Esquire, and Vanity Fair. He lives in New York City.

Bibliographic information

• Title: House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties
• Author: Craig Unger
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 2004
• ISBN: 0743266234, 9780743266239
• Length: 368 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / General