Easy 1-2 day read...a book you CAN'T put down! Excellent writing style with occasional humorous comments by Baer. An entertaining book, as well as informative!

The only negative aspect in reading many reviews here, is the failures of many to recognize that this publication is ONLY ONE example of internal causes and weaknesses of the US Government and corporate powers that I feel have led to potentially serious current and future economic concerns and failures in US policy, especially in regards to further class splitting and the more recent revelation of a diminishing middle class in the US! (The "Fall of Rome" kept resonating throughout this book!) Readers MUST remember that this is an example of a limited perspective of limited causes towards the deterioration of our nation's infrastructure...there are MANY OTHER contributing factors than just the examples Baer presents in his book in regards to "related terrorism", especially as Baer points out with regard to State Department Policy, as well as Department of Justice failures to address governmental weaknesses and lacking policy and logistics!

Baer does an EXCEPTIONAL job in pointing out the potential weaknesses that DO currently exist, especially in regards to policy cohesion (or lack thereof) between agencies, professionals, and related concerns. Personally, I feel that many attorneys and law makers are just as terroristic as "Islamic Extremists"! It seems that our "security" has become quite the political issue of the day, only to be revealed by some of Baer's direct and accurate statements!

It is awesome to see this representation of how "HUMAN GREED", not just "WESTERN GREED" exists in ALL parts of the world, as presented by Baer who addresses deeper causes of "radical religious extremism"! "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" resonates with examples of such worldly advice, not strictly against "western" ideology! A few Islamic extremists might remember that they just might be destroying innocent citizens in the west who COULD stand up against what "greed" has done to ALL HUMANS, not just their cause!!! I don't know too many Christian radicals who can justly rationalize the bombing of abortion clinics and killing of doctors as a fair representation of "right to life"!! I think that MANY Islamic extremists are also paddling upstream in a cement boat in much of that same ignorance that ANY extremist religions represent!

Unfortunately, "terrorism" has become just another "political catchphrase" and marketing strategy to distract the average citizen from deeper truths they really would want to avoid, very similar to the 'Zebras' running around in Kenya, Russia, Iran, Arabia and the Sudan, et alii...and just as freely in DC! The saddest aspect that Baer reveals is how GOOD CITIZENS are thwarted from truthful statements and records from the Zebras who are running circles around American Constitutional rights and the corruptions of "rule of law" in our courts, government and conglomerates with their own greedy agendas, absent of considerations for cause and effect, and especially towards those of us who voted for them in the first place, hoping for better integrity universally, instead of limited political and financial interests!

There is a lesson to be learned about "American Complacency"...it might just eventually put us in the same boat as the extremists who are attacking from both sides of the spectrum!

I have known many good foreigners and many bad ones...but I have known bad fellow Americans as well, especially ones with power and money to destroy our lives! I am glad to have seen Baer address that aspect of UNIVERSAL HUMAN NATURE in his book, as a recognition that "it's NOT the RACE, RELIGION or CULTURE, but it's the PERSONAL INTEGRITY within EACH OF US that REALLY matters!

The old adage, "give them enough rope, and they'll hang themselves", has really meant that the power struggle is in who is holding that extra rope! For Saudis, it's their misuses of power and wealth by a greedy Monarchy who seems to care nothing about "efficiently running a country for its own best interests" vs. personal greed. For Americans, it's those in government and corporate sectors who really are NOT looking out for AMERICA'S best interests, but simply their own greedy agendas! Decent "religious" people of ALL religions recognize this basic truth we share together! It's just too bad that so many "religious leaders" have implemented and instilled violence with a fanatical agenda to address their OWN agendas, and not truly the REAL Will of God! The same principal holds true in secular societies with relation to "good" social and personal behaviors vs. "bad" behaviors. Baer is brilliant in bringing this to light on such a large scale!

I hope some of those in power learn to do the right thing, like throw the REAL criminals in prison who are responsible for being traitors to our good country, as well as holding accountable those that Baer brings to light in his work! I think this book should be required reading in business ethics classes, as well as PoliSci classes! The 'political' implications of a national struggle for control of "National Security" vs. privacy becomes quite evident in Baer's book! Take a deeper look!

You will NOT regret buying this book, unless you can't handle the truth!

Easy 1-2 day read...a book you CAN'T put down! Excellent writing style with occasional humorous comments by Baer. An entertaining book, as well as informative!

The only negative aspect in reading many reviews here, is the failures of many to recognize that this publication is ONLY ONE example of internal causes and weaknesses of the US Government and corporate powers that I feel have led to potentially serious current and future economic concerns and failures in US policy, especially in regards to further class splitting and the more recent revelation of a diminishing middle class in the US! (The "Fall of Rome" kept resonating throughout this book!) Readers MUST remember that this is an example of a limited perspective of limited causes towards the deterioration of our nation's infrastructure...there are MANY OTHER contributing factors than just the examples Baer presents in his book in regards to "related terrorism", especially as Baer points out with regard to State Department Policy, as well as Department of Justice failures to address governmental weaknesses and lacking policy and logistics!

Baer does an EXCEPTIONAL job in pointing out the potential weaknesses that DO currently exist, especially in regards to policy cohesion (or lack thereof) between agencies, professionals, and related concerns. Personally, I feel that many attorneys and law makers are just as terroristic as "Islamic Extremists"! It seems that our "security" has become quite the political issue of the day, only to be revealed by some of Baer's direct and accurate statements!

It is awesome to see this representation of how "HUMAN GREED", not just "WESTERN GREED" exists in ALL parts of the world, as presented by Baer who addresses deeper causes of "radical religious extremism"! "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" resonates with examples of such worldly advice, not strictly against "western" ideology! A few Islamic extremists might remember that they just might be destroying innocent citizens in the west who COULD stand up against what "greed" has done to ALL HUMANS, not just their cause!!! I don't know too many Christian radicals who can justly rationalize the bombing of abortion clinics and killing of doctors as a fair representation of "right to life"!! I think that MANY Islamic extremists are also paddling upstream in a cement boat in much of that same ignorance that ANY extremist religions represent!

Unfortunately, "terrorism" has become just another "political catchphrase" and marketing strategy to distract the average citizen from deeper truths they really would want to avoid, very similar to the 'Zebras' running around in Kenya, Russia, Iran, Arabia and the Sudan, et alii...and just as freely in DC! The saddest aspect that Baer reveals is how GOOD CITIZENS are thwarted from truthful statements and records from the Zebras who are running circles around American Constitutional rights and the corruptions of "rule of law" in our courts, government and conglomerates with their own greedy agendas, absent of considerations for cause and effect, and especially towards those of us who voted for them in the first place, hoping for better integrity universally, instead of limited political and financial interests!

There is a lesson to be learned about "American Complacency"...it might just eventually put us in the same boat as the extremists who are attacking from both sides of the spectrum!

I have known many good foreigners and many bad ones...but I have known bad fellow Americans as well, especially ones with power and money to destroy our lives! I am glad to have seen Baer address that aspect of UNIVERSAL HUMAN NATURE in his book, as a recognition that "it's NOT the RACE, RELIGION or CULTURE, but it's the PERSONAL INTEGRITY within EACH OF US that REALLY matters!

The old adage, "give them enough rope, and they'll hang themselves", has really meant that the power struggle is in who is holding that extra rope! For Saudis, it's their misuses of power and wealth by a greedy Monarchy who seems to care nothing about "efficiently running a country for its own best interests" vs. personal greed. For Americans, it's those in government and corporate sectors who really are NOT looking out for AMERICA'S best interests, but simply their own greedy agendas! Decent "religious" people of ALL religions recognize this basic truth we share together! It's just too bad that so many "religious leaders" have implemented and instilled violence with a fanatical agenda to address their OWN agendas, and not truly the REAL Will of God! The same principal holds true in secular societies with relation to "good" social and personal behaviors vs. "bad" behaviors. Baer is brilliant in bringing this to light on such a large scale!

I hope some of those in power learn to do the right thing, like throw the REAL criminals in prison who are responsible for being traitors to our good country, as well as holding accountable those that Baer brings to light in his work! I think this book should be required reading in business ethics classes, as well as PoliSci classes! The 'political' implications of a national struggle for control of "National Security" vs. privacy becomes quite evident in Baer's book! Take a deeper look!

You will NOT regret buying this book, unless you can't handle the truth!

If one wants to understand at least part of the reason why things have not gone so well since 9/11 one would do well to read this book. Baer tells a woeful tale of corruption and cover-up in describing U.S.- Saudi relations. The Saudis according to Baer have put a lot of Americans on their payroll , and not only private individuals but those who serve in the CIA and State Department. Saudi bribery of Americans is paralleled by Saudi bribery done at home. The House of Saud and it's thirty- thousand princes have sold the educational system of the kingdom to the religious fanatics, who also happen to be major-exporters of Islamic terrorism. The fact that the Saudis are supposedly America's close ally while at the same time funding Terror is also underlined by the large Saudi presence among the suicide- bombers in Iraq.
Where all this is going to go is not clear, though Baer seems to feel the corrupt, oppressive rule of the House of Saud will in the not distant future come tumbling down.

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 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 descent. 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. 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 southwestern 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?

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 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 descent. 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. 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 southwestern Arabia and back home. The solutions suggested by Baer were long shots even a few years ago: 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 is 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 Shea 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?

Robert Baer has a very easy style and good anecdotes, which is helpful when entering the briar-patch of financial back-scratching relationships between US corporate leaders and politicians (all of them), with Saudi royals and businessmen, and the trickle-down of money and protection to terrorists.



Other (newer) books examine some of the specific relationships more extensively, and where Baer suggests possible unhealthy connections, he's usually understating the reality. What his book paints far more vividly than any of the others is the pervasiveness and severity of the ethical rot at the very core of both our government, and the Saudi government.



In 'See No Evil' he lambasted the Clinton White House for selling our security and our foreign policy for oil largesse -- in this book he has realized that the Bush WH is at least as bad, if not worse, and indeed all the administrations since Nixon have been up to their eyeballs in totally bipartisan oil-for-US policy trades. AIPAC can only dream.



He does have one oddly naive aspect, it seems to me -- he talks as if we introduced corruption to the Saudis. Perhaps he hangs on to the romantic fantasy of the Bedouin, but bribery, plundering, extortion and graft were part of the Arab tribal warlord culture for a thousand years before we showed up, and still is. Look at Arafat, Asad, Hariri, Mubarak, the Shah, Saddam -- we didn't teach the Arabs anything about corruption except more sophisticated banking and money-laundering techniques -- which, btw, they are now much better at than we are. If we hadn't been there, the French, Germans, Russians, or Brits would have gleefully wallowed in the same obscene level of corruption.



He makes an important point in his two non-fiction books that al Qaeda is essentially a PR front, something that gives name/face recognition to a truly vast, loose network of 'franchises.' They are all derived from and guided by the subtle, incredibly dangerous Muslim Brotherhood, which is funded by the Gulf States. AQ and Hamas are the above-ground mushrooms; MB is the vast subterranean web. The Sunni MB at times has worked very closely with Shia Iran, which directly runs Hizbullah, a group I think Baer underestimates somewhat as to global terrorist influence and impact.

Mr. Baer gives a very readable account of the ties that form an almost incestuous U.S. - Saudi relationship, in which America has for years pretended to neither see nor hear - and hence speak - no evil about the dark side of the Saudi kingdom's rulers.

Mr. Baer's book came out at the time of the second war with Iraq when many must have been wondering how the events of September 11th, 2001 justified the invasion. Fifteen of the 18 hijackers that attacked U.S. targets that day were Saudis. The other three were Egyptian.

For a fictionalized story that posits a very different U.S. - Saudi relationship, take a look at SAUDI MATCH POINT, a story that has America taking off the kid gloves in its treatment of the Saudis. In fact, the U.S. goes overboard, and in a twist, uses an impending hostage-taking as a convenient excuse to invade and seize control of Saudi Arabia's vast oil facilities and reserves. The novel is available online from Blacksmith Books.

This book will be out of date soon, because the Middle East and America's involvement in it simply cannot continue the way it's been, and we're all beginning to realize it. This book could serve as a big eye-opener if you don't know much about Saudi Arabia, oil and politics. It's probably a little shrill, but then again, the US clearly needs to review and reconsider our policies, and Baer is on-target for many reasons.

Baer has a number of interesting anecdotes you won't find anywhere else, but for information about oil policy, I recommend two books ahead of this one. One is Yergin's prize-winning The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, which is much thicker, but I dare to say you don't know half the truth about 20th century history until you've read this book. The other book I recommend, though it's a little dated now, is Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia as well as any of Ahmed Rashid's other books. Even though he focuses on Central Asia rather than the Middle East, most of the cast is the same, featuring among them Aramco, the Muhajideen, al Qaeda...

Oil, energy, the Middle East--besides the rise of China and India, these are definitely the greatest issues of our time. Baer's book is one of a nubmer to deal with them, but it is currently the best look at Saudi Arabia that I know of.

I order 3 copies, which came from 3 different vendors. They was all supposed to be Hard copy books. However, the one whose order 3 is:103-70949528-1499011 was a soft cover.

All books arrived.

I order 3 copies, which came from 3 different vendors. They was all supposed to be Hard copy books. However, the one whose order 3 is:103-70949528-1499011 was a soft cover.

All books arrived.

Compelling work with a lot of details by former CIA agent of how the U.S. government has made a deliberate decision to not understand groups such as the Muslim brotherhood (a major precursor to Al Queda) despite a long history in which these groups commit suicide and murder to achieve their objectives.

Compelling work with a lot of details by former CIA agent of how the U.S. government has made a deliberate decision to not understand groups such as the Muslim brotherhood (a major precursor to Al Queda) despite a long history in which these groups commit suicide and murder to achieve their objectives.

Oil for Security - the core of the US/Saudi partnership... Much of this has been shrowded in secrecy. This story sheds light on the history of the partnership, many secrets involved, and the dangers inherrent in the corruption it breeds. It reads much more like the inspiration for Syriana than Baer's other book, "See No Evil"

The topic, which nobody cared for 5 years ago, is suddenly topical. An author like Baer has the security chops to write about it. Is it factual? That's left for the reader - certainly the issues raised are real even if the facts are debatable.

In the broad sense, this book is very helpful for people trying to understand what's going on in the world. Why do gas prices move? What's going on in Iraq? Why does it all matter? Because of the importance of these topics in the national discussion, this is a very important book.

I like people who are not politically correct, because I am not. I like to look my enemy in the eye and tell him what I think. Baer definitely has no problem confronting the Saudis and even the US administration when it does something he thinks it should not do.
I learned a lot of things about Saudi, oil, weapons trade, and radical Islam from this book.

This is a great book that seems to blow the whistle on both political parties - America has a very sick addicted relationship with the Middle East, we are addicted to their oil and they (the Saudi's) are to our money. I feel less trusting of what goes on in Washington DC and how much we are controlled by Money! What this book did for me was convinced me that as a country we must find reasonable alternatives to oil. I also felt that the book read like a novel, the facts and figures were not like a textbook. I truly feel that this is a must read for all.

Robert Baer's second non-fiction book is another sobering call to the American consumer for rationality. Listen to this: When our unquenchable thirst for oil must be satisfied, Washington goes the extra step to acquire it!

Turning our attention to few well known (outside of the 495-beltway) facts about the American-Saudi Arabian political connection, Mr. Baer explores the consequences of a half-century's stream of money and oil between the two nations and the subsequent product of it- terrorism against democracy.

There is a complex web that has been weaved in Washington and this book attempts to untangle it, but whether it's successful I leave to you to decide (keep in mind, there are countless references to Saudi-Arabian princes and their contributions to American campaigns. There are the names of many famous politicians rumored to have been connected with some of these princes. And of course, there are also plenty of CIA `Deletions' in the book that left me to wonder what else the US government doesn't want us to know?)

Overall, I recommend this book to all lovers of true political conspiracies.

- by Simon Cleveland

The book is very factual, but the writing stile is rather boring. Interesting to people who are involved in that region.

This book by Robert Baer, the ex-CIA agent involved in the Syriana movie project w/George Cloony. The book is impassioned, and ultimately very depressing -- all the information in the book about Washington, Egypt & Saudi Arabia that we don't hear/see in the media has the ring of truth. And if the book is accurate, then Iraq and Lebanon are just the warm-up for bad stuff to come in the Middle East.

I read so much now about the Middle East & Islam, but this book REALLY informs you on what the Saudis really do & I don't really know WHY this administration is so buddy buddy with this corrupt state! They pretend they are our ally & nothing goes on there....its sad that he can't tell alot more due to this administration or whoever classifies names & other important material, but you get the idea of how secretive the Al Saud really are!

This book is a CIA operatives perspective on the dangerousness our relationship with Saudi Arabia. Specifically how the Saudi royal family could buy and sell Washington with their vast sums of money. He also talks about how the significant radical Saudi population despises the rich and corrupt royal family. Very enlightening book, and Baer's conclusions for dealing with the issues are quite surprising.

Deals beneficial to the U.S. and to individual politicians and businessmen are presented in detail with names and dates. Because of the money and kickbacks, Washington refuses to spy on the Saudis and is essentially blind to most of what goes on in the Middle East. At the same time, Washington believes that "Democracy will cure everything." (p. 201)

The author believes that the Saudi royal family is in serious trouble. "the House of Sa'ud stood at thirty thousand members." (p. 164) "The royal family kept growing by leaps and bounds--a prince will have multiples wives and sire forty to seventy children during a lifetime." (p. 163) Meanwhile, the people are desperately poor and fanatically religious. Bin Laden, for one, has sworn the destruction of the Saudi family.

Saudi Arabia's religion is Islamic fundamentalism, Mahhabis by name, and the royal family have tried to buy off the religious leaders. "Before long, Egyptian Brothers were occupying many of the important chairs in the religious faculties of Saudi Arabia's universities and madrasahs." (p. 126) Saudis have funded mosques and training schools in Europe, America, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and every other country that will have them. "Islamic fundamentalism was waging a war without fronts or faces." (p. 136)

The author believes that the situation is desperate and that we have no option but to seize the oil fields. (p. 210). (Since this book appeared, the Saudis have leaked the information that the oil fields are wired with bombs which can be blown from a central point. To make the point stick, they claim the bombs are laced with radioactive material which would render the oil fields permanently unusable. Some doubt whether the Saudis would do this, since Medina, the second holiest city, would be blown away in the process. Since the royal family have palaces all around the Mediterranean and money in Swiss banks, blowing everything away would not be a personal problem for them.)

As to the immorality of seizing the oil, British and American oil companies signed contracts with the rulers of the various Middle Eastern countries in the 1930s and 1940s. The companies pay all the costs of exploration, digging, construction, etc. and the countries get a big slice of the pie. However, sometime after the wells were operational, one after another Middle Eastern country simply grabbed the whole thing. So, how immoral would it be to take the wells back?

The PR disaster is also a mirage. These countries hate the U.S. and the West anyway, and they couldn't hate us more. If the oil were administered on behalf of the whole world, that might make a difference, especially if we gave lower prices to Third-world countries than they are getting now. They would still hate us, but maybe not as much.

Robert Baer is like Billy Mitchell in 1926 trying to persuade the government to create an air force. But Billy Mitchell lost, and it took Pearl Harbor to wake us up. On 9/11, more people were killed than were killed at Pearl Harbor and still the government is unwilling to make tough choices. So, what is it going to take? A Saudi Arabia in the hands of Islamic militants? A radiation attack or a successful biological attack? Or all three?
(War is not a pretty option, but if WWII had been avoided or had been fought with today's "no civilians killed" policy, Europe will still be ruled by the Nazis.)

Following on from his book "See no evil" Robert Baer shows how the love of money leads to moral compromise.

elint + sigint + selective humint = Unintelligence.

The message that I took from this book is that selective intelligence gathering compromises American security.

Or put another way.

The love of money leads to moral compromise, which leads to selective intelligence gathering, which leads to inadequate security, and ultimately terrorist attacks upon America.

While Baer's style can be grating at times and often he goes for the easy targets he has spent the time to really explore what the radical islamic mind is all about. Why should we care? Well Baer would say because the radicals like the wahabis in Saudi Arabia are rapping themselves around our economy's jugguler. Is he right? Who knows? But if he is half-right we have an awful lot to be worried about. The saddest part is that the big oil companies have the economic power to protect our country for us, to wean our greedy politicians off of Saudi money but don't seem interested in doing it.

One must read Robert Baer's first novel, "See no Evil" to get the real value of "Sleeping with the Devil" and how all of the players in Washington D.C. tie-in. Terror is an industry in the Middle East and we are the consummers who pay for that terror through oil. Iran & Saudi Arabia purchased the Washington elite and will forever "own" our politics to vote in their favor. I now know that my vote will never count for anything.

This book is full of innuendo, allusions and outrageous claims with virtually no evidence. It is one long conspiracy theory without proof. Lines of text are even blacked out, as if with a Magic Marker, implying that the CIA censored sensitive text. I have never seen any other book that blacks out text. That is such a cheap shot that it is laughable.

Much of the "evidence" in this book follows the formula of "George H.W. Bush is on the board of Carlyle Group, and so is a distant member of the Bin Laden family, so by transitivity George Bush must be supporting terrorism." No.

The author acts surprised throughout the book that the US has such a close relationship with Saudi Arabia. For instance, the Saudi ambassador typically has easy access to staff at the White House. But so do ALL strong allies - Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Mexico etc. and the author does not mention this. Of course the US will have a close relationship with Saudi Arabia; the US needs oil from its primary supplier. This is not a shocker.

What is a shocker is that the author uses exaggerated tabloid language throughout the book and does not site evidence to back up his statements. It is like reading the National Enquirer on foreign policy.

I read Baer's See No Evil recently in one breath; I had more trouble with this book, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's longer or somehow worse. Sleeping with the Devil is just denser, covering a wide range of Saudi Arabian history and providing facts and figures that are often difficult to swallow.

The problem I have with books like Baer's is that he weaves a tangled web of corruption, but instead of focusing on one web, he covers them all. Then, he references these webs a hundred pages down the road, and if you're not taking notes, chances are, you're going to have to go back and remember why it is exactly that the acronym "SLM" sounds familiar.

However, boiled down to what it is, Sleeping with the Devil is just another installment in the Baer adventure series, only with more historical context for the people who wanted. The book has all the makings of a weird, Saudi James Bond-type flick: corrupt princes, ambitious wives, incompetent rulers, and everyone looking to score a plank off a sinking ship. Baer's sense of adventure and interest is contagious. His writing is simple, often humorous, and sometimes, even in this second effort, a little condescending. Albeit he seems to have a very clearcut cowboy/outlaw-like image of himself, Baer is still an extremely adroit writer, no question about that.

Sleeping with the Devil is by no means a definitive account of the disaster we've been harvesting in the Middle East, but it's a great starting point. For anyone who wants an introductory course in oil politics, mixed with some of Baer's personal stories, this is the book to look into.

Jan. 24, 2006: A team of Al-Qaeda operatives attempt a suicide attack upon the Abqaiq oil production plant in Saudi Arabia.

Robert Baer details in the prologue of this book how disastrous an attack on Abqaiq would have been.

I think Bob is on to something with this book: The relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia, and the link between oil and the survival of civilization at that, is extremely fragile. The success of the attack on Abqaiq would have shown that.

Read this book to understand the significance of what nearly happened yesterday, and how important it is for it to be taken seriously.

Robert Baer has produced another step in the stairway to understanding the catastrophic clash of cultures erroneously known as the War on Terror. I reviewed all the reviews to see if there was something I could offer. As I read the other 99 offerings I found predictable responses. There were the reviewers who wrote a synopsis the entire book, and some did so very well. There were those critical of the War in Iraq who criticized the current administration. Those from Islamic lands, or who had lived in Islamic countries variously decried Baer's expertise. Some of that group justified the current upheaval in Islam over the issues attributed to the west by Islamic Fundamentalism given the recent (50 year) history of US-European involvement in Mid-East affairs and politics. Seemingly all saw what they wanted to see, a money grubbing George Bush/Dick Cheney, an evil America, an Bill Clinton desperate enough for re-election to take bags of money while al-Queda grew in strength and wealth, even a shot a Richard Nixon from the 1970's. As a former Intelligence Officer, one who believes we are in the midst of a global war between cultures, shaped by religion, I want context.

No serious book should be read in a vacuum. For me this has not been. It has been a progression from the earlier works by Thomas Friedman (From Beirut to Jerusalem) and David Shipler (Arab and Jew) to some very revealing newer works. David Pryce-Jones (The Closed Circle), who allows a reader to almost predict how Arabs, Muslims and Islamo-Fascist will behave due to their cultural imprinting in any given political-international circumstances, as alluded to, but not so clearly specified in the Friedman/Shipler writings. Bat Ye`or (Eurabia) describes the road to Dhimminitude that Europe has blindly followed, step by step (until the recent cartoon imbroglio) and the plan Islamists of whatever level of political or fundamentalist persuasion are using to craft the capitulation by nearly, but not quite peaceful means. David Spencer (The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades, or any other of several he has written) gives us a view of the teachings of the Koran used by the Fundo-Fascists and those who are emigrating to Europe and using the laws, culture, parliaments and press of their European hosts to lull/gently force them into accepting Sharia Law. Other works to place Baer's words in this book into context include Melissa Boyle Mahle's (Denial and Deception) wonderful description of the loss of human intelligence capabilities from the mid-1970''s (the Church commission and Carter administration efforts to curtail the unsavory parts of intelligence gathering) onward (not from the Reagan administration as one reviewer miscast it.) The Boyle book had all of the footnotes and references anyone could ask for. Baer's book, See No Evil, sans the extensive footnotes and references, was a magnificent second witness to Mahle's revealing testimony, although more earthy and specific about the locations where he did his CIA work than she was. Books describing the sorry state of affairs in US human intelligence (spying) capability include Bob Graham's Intelligence Matters and General Odom's Fixing Intelligence, and of course the WMD bi-partisan Senate Select committee study completed in July 2004. All of these provide some evidence, some small shards and others large pieces of the overall picture that validates the grander view, even with the polemics, grandstanding, and prejudices in every work. Sleeping with the Devil is no different. So what is it's value?

Of course it is sad to see the sorry state of affairs in which our political leaders, driven to distraction by the need to collect money for elections, accept millions in contributions. Like the Shah of Iran, brought to power by the CIA, yet who mistrusted it so because of that, who would not allow any CIA of any kind in the country, the US has been kept out of Saudi Arabia for decades by agreements cemented with cash. (The fact that the Shah was over thrown so quickly and completely should be a lesson for our allies in troubled regions.) It is a cold hard fact. Our leaders have been part of the problems (no matter as legal as in contracts or very questionable as in bags of money left under tables or in cars) of the house of Saud, and of the country of Saudi Arabia, and now of the world. Baer's numbers may be in error, but even if off by an order of magnitude, cash has still changed hands in an unseemly way. Yes, an attack on the Saudi pipelines is easy. Yes, refineries would be a small problem to dedicated terrorist warriors, especially since they live in the country, and may even work at the facility to be destroyed. Things are or have the potential to be as ugly as Baer says they are.

The most exciting issues to me, easily, were the 6th and 7th chapters. Therein we learn how the Islamic Brotherhood and the Wahhabis are aligned to bring about the next caliphate. In earlier chapters we learn of the creation of the Islamic Brotherhood after the dissolution of the Turkish caliphate by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 (although he is not mentioned in the book, but he is a significant part of a story not to be told in a vacuum). Based on the principles of Ibn Taymiyah, a 13 century cleric, Hassan al-Banna, an Egyptian founded the Islamic brotherhood in 1928 to re-establish the caliphate and purify Islam and the world. By 1947 they were burning Jewish businesses in Cairo, in 1948 they assassinated the Egyptian prime minister. In 1954 they made an attempt on Nasser's life and in 1981 they succeeded in assassinating Anwar Sadat. In 1993 they tried to kill the interior minister and the prime minister and in 1995 made an attempt on Hosni Mubarak's life. The associated history of displacement rather than to imprison for life or put to death these Fundo-Fascists, Egypt exported them to Syria, Saudi Arabia, Germany and other places. There they have festered and dispersed to yet other locations over the decades. That is what brought the Muslim Brotherhood to the arms of the Wahhabi, a staunchly fundamentalist sect, in Saudi Arabia. The end of these great chapters describes the only measurable success enjoyed by any government over the Muslim brotherhood. It makes for an exciting read!

And then we remember Osama bin-Laden was influenced by an Egyptian cleric, a member of the Egyptian Islamic Brotherhood, in the 1980's. He displaced the cleric in a classic example of the Honor-Shame-Power Dialectic in the early 1990's (from David Pryce-Jones insightful book). al-Queda, the Base, is currently the action arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Baer's conclusions are reasonable, his projections are rational given the threat, at least for an argument on how to deal with this very perplexing and complex world situation we find ourselves in. Do not discard his proposed solutions out of hand. Remember, for generations the ditty "he is not a good dictator, but at least he is our dictator" prevented the Cold War from turning Very, Very Hot. This clash of cultures is not like the war on Japan in the 1940's. It is more a culture in turmoil, which has chosen to take the world into it's struggle. Germany in the early 1930's was a country much like this religion, but when the dark side won the cultural battle in 1932, the relatively small population (compared to rest of the world) ensured that through a titanic struggle the rest of the world would eventually prevail. Now we shudder to think of an asymmetrical war, where one man kills thousands, and hundreds of thousands can not find one threatening man to kill. All the while the potential enemy, gladly willing to die for his beliefs, hides in a population estimated to be 1.3 BILLION spread to nearly every country on the globe, with rapid efficient transportation and weaponry sufficient to kill 10's of thousand's suitable for enclosure a backpack.

This is not a book that can stand alone, for the reasons pointed out by dozen's of reviewers. But it is a book that can not be missed, for it contains huge pieces of the "big picture" puzzle. If your business is defending freedom, or you are just an enquiring mind who wants to know, this is a DO NOT MISS !

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.

The house of Saud is corrupt. Yeah? What else is new. This has been known since the '60's. If a terrorist attacts the Saudi distrution network we here in the USA are scr*wed. Yup. Again nothing new.

Most of this stuff has been reported in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and several other good books.

On the positive side, we should follow the lead of Sweeden and ween ourselves off the oil teat. The sooner the better. This is not about global warming but about what our money is doing to distroy the lives of people in Saudi Arabia. After reading this you can almost side with Osma Bid Laudin's goal of bringing down the house of Saud. And make no mistake about it, it will come down, the only question is when, and how will it affect us here in gas-guzzle town.

Anway we've known that the Bush Family gets a ton of money from the Caryle Group which deals in arms sold to the Saudes. We know that the state department let all of Bin Laudin's family out of the country without so much as a wave to the FBI which would have liked to talk to them about their wayward son.

If you'd like to see the positive side of the use of all this money go read "Charlie's war" and see how they helped finnance the downfall of the USSR with our weapons and trained proxyies. Of course the downside is that now those same folks are turning their energy towards us.

Still though an interesting read.

Working my way though "Sleeping with the Devil" was a gut-twisting experience. I felt like I was reading the obituary of two corrupt civilizations, no winners to be found in the ashes.

The Prologue sets the doomsday scenario -- "We can take the last half century of oil-fired industrial prosperity and kiss it g-o-o-d-b-y-e." Given that Americans cannot even keep our auto industry afloat anyway, perhaps it won't make much difference. The final sentence is most likely an accurate prophecy -- " ... if the war in Iraq goes badly, we may be a lot closer to the day when Saudi Arabia, our most reliable ally in the Middle East for half a century, comes crashing down."

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln wrote that if this great nation should ever die, it would be of suicide, not at the hands of foreign military powers. I'm convinced now that the eventual cause of death will be recorded as "voluntary submission to corporate rape." That's bad enough, but learning how many of our esteemed leaders are hired guns and members of the board is disconcerting. I'm sorry, but I have no pity for generals and politicans who feel they can't survive on their retirement pay. Hopefully those exposed in this book at least feel some shame, but I doubt that is the case.

I came away from "Sleeping with the Devil" more fearful of our own society's failures than any threat posed by militant Islam. I suppose all nations around the world will eventually come closer together, with all of humanity dirt poor, packing either their Bibles or Qurans to give them hope of decent lives.

Working my way though "Sleeping with the Devil" was a gut-twisting experience. I felt like I was reading the obituary of two corrupt civilizations, no winners to be found in the ashes.

The Prologue sets the doomsday scenario -- "We can take the last half century of oil-fired industrial prosperity and kiss it g-o-o-d-b-y-e." The final sentence is most likely a prophecy -- " ... if the war in Iraq goes badly, we may be a lot closer to the day when Saudi Arabia, our most reliable ally in the Middle East for half a century, comes crashing down." Powerful stuff.

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln wrote that if this great nation should ever die, it would be of suicide, not at the hands of foreign military powers. I'm convinced now that the eventual cause of death will be recorded as "voluntary submission to corporate rape." That's bad enough, but learning how many of our esteemed leaders are hired guns and members of the board is disconcerting. I'm sorry, but I have no pity for generals and politicans who feel they can't survive on their retirement pay. Hopefully those exposed in this book at least feel some shame, but I doubt that is the case.

I came away from "Sleeping with the Devil" more fearful of our own society's failures than any threat posed by militant Islam.

Working my way though "Sleeping with the Devil" was a gut-twisting experience. I felt like I was reading the obituary of two corrupt civilizations, no winners to be found in the ashes.

The Prologue sets the doomsday scenario -- "We can take the last half century of oil-fired industrial prosperity and kiss it g-o-o-d-b-y-e." The final sentence is most likely a prophecy -- " ... if the war in Iraq goes badly, we may be a lot closer to the day when Saudi Arabia, our most reliable ally in the Middle East for half a century, comes crashing down." Powerful stuff.

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln wrote that if this great nation should ever die, it would be of suicide, not at the hands of foreign military powers. I'm convinced now that the eventual cause of death will be recorded as "voluntary submission to corporate rape." That's bad enough, but learning how many of our esteemed leaders are hired guns and members of the board is disconcerting.

Working my way though "Sleeping with the Devil" was a gut-twisting experience. I felt like I was reading the obituary of two corrupt civilizations, no winners to be found in the ashes.

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln wrote that if this great nation should ever die, it would be of suicide, not at the hands of foreign military powers. I'm convinced now that the eventual cause of death will be recorded as "voluntary submission to corporate rape."

I was attracted to Robert Baer's "Sleeping with the Enemy" after seeing the recent film "Syriana" which is based, in part, on this book. Like "Anonymous" (Michael Scheuer, author of "Imperial Hubris"), Baer is another ex-CIA empployee who appears to have left a career with the agency with a great deal of frustration