The con artist who suckers people into a shell game counts on his ability to divert the eye of the bettor in order to win.

So it is that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have launched a sham war on terror without targeting the chief financier and backer of terrorism, Saudi Arabia.

In his book, "House of Bush, House of Saud," journalist Craig Unger lays out a compelling case that the Bush family is so inextricably bound up with the Saudi royal family that it could not hold them responsible for the role that many Saudi Arabians played in the 9/11 day of terror.

The shell game Bush played meant diverting the American public's attention to Iraq, which had no apparent role in 9/11. Although 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, bin Laden is a member of one of the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis financed bin Laden, Bush managed to convince most Americans that the majority of 9/11 hijackers were Iraqi and that Saddam Hussein played a key role in the attack. That's how a political shell game works. Only in this case, thousands of lives were lost in a con job in which the American people were played for suckers by their own leadership.

Unger begins his book with an incident that Greg Palast first uncovered in late 2001. Why did the Bush Cartel allow 140 Saudi citizens, including members of the bin Laden family, to be flown out of the United States, without questioning, at a time when U.S. airspace was closed and when they might have had information useful in unraveling the crime of 9/11?

It's a good question, and the answers are shocking.

In essence, the Bush Cartel has sold Americans a bill of goods. They have diverted our attention from the major nation state supporting Al-Qaeda because they don't want to attack their own business partners, including the Saudi who bailed Harken Oil out. He's the same guy that was deeply involved with BCCI, the corrupt bank that Poppy Bush and many of his cohorts were associated with. There are plenty more like him. Just read Unger's book.

It is hard to put your arms around the gravity of Bush's betrayal of our nation. Americans just don't want to believe that anyone sitting in the Oval Office, even if unelected, could be a traitor to the interests of his own country.

But, when it comes to Saudi Arabia, the Bush family's business interests and personal relationships take precedence over our interests as a nation.

Remember, the Bush Cartel censored 28 pages in Congress's 9/11 reports. The subject of those 28 pages was reportedly the Saudi financing of terrorist front organizations and "charities."

Unger concludes that Bush must believe that "the billionaire Saudi royals are somehow more worthy of the government's concern than are the victims of 9/11."

To order by credit card, click one of the buttons underneath the amount you would like to contribute. Follow the instructions and order using BigStep or Paypal. (Ignore the "non-shippable" notice. That is because, for orders shipping in the United States, we pay for the postage, not you. For shipping outside the U.S., additional charges may apply. Please contact BuzzFlash.)

To order by snail mail, send a check to:

Support

BuzzFlash.com

P.O. Box 618354

Chicago, Illinois 60661-8354

"Americans who want to understand an important aspect of what has gone wrong with the Bush 'War on Terrorism' must read Craig Unger's stunning investigative story."

-- Joe Conason, Salon.com columnist and author of "Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How it Distorts the Truth."

Book Description

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?

Hardcover: 368 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.17 x 9.34 x 6.34

Publisher: Scribner; (March 16, 2004)

ISBN: 074325337X

Craig Unger was 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.

Order "House of Bush, House of Saud" today and Help Keep BuzzFlash Buzz'n

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------