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 theongoing Middle East crisis in a new context: What

really happened when America's most powerful political family

became seduced by its Saudi counterparts?

Amazon.com Review
The perilous ramifications of the September 11 attacks on the United States are only now beginning to unfold. They will undoubtedly be felt for generations to come. This is one of many sad conclusions readers will draw from Craig Unger's exceptional book House of Bush House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties. As Unger claims in this incisive study, the seeds for the "Age of Terrorism" and September 11 were planted nearly 30 years ago in what, at the time, appeared to be savvy business transactions that subsequently translated into political currency and the union between the Saudi royal family and the extended political family of George H. W. Bush. On the surface, the claim may appear to be politically driven, but as Unger (a respected investigative journalist and editor) probes--with scores of documents and sources--the political tenor of the U.S. over the last 30 years, the Iran-Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, the birth of Al Qaeda, the dubious connection between members of the Saudi Royal family and the exportation of terror, and the personal fortunes amassed by the Bush family from companies such as Harken Energy and the Carlyle Group, he exposes the "brilliantly hidden agendas and purposefully murky corporate relationships" between these astonishingly powerful families. His evidence is persuasive and reveals a devastating story of Orwellian proportions, replete with political deception, shifting allegiances, and lethal global consequences. Unger begins his book with the remarkable story of the repatriation of 140 Saudis directly following the September 11 attacks. He ends where Richard A. Clarke begins, questioning the efficacy of the war in Iraq in the battle against terrorism. We are unquestionably facing a global security crisis unlike any before. President Bush insists that we will prevail, yet as Unger so effectively concludes, "Never before has an American president been so closely tied to a foreign power that harbors and supports our country's mortal enemies." --Silvana Tropea