Greg Palast's latest book (follow up the perennial bestseller The Best Democracy Money Can Buy) is Armed Madhouse: Who's Afriad of Osam Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War. If the cover artwork doesn't grab your eye (we think it will), check out the inlays at the front and back of the book which remind us of pages from a child's encyclopedia set (not a complaint, it's a nice visual provided) as you're walked through the basics on "A Secret History Of The War Over Oil In Iraq."
Palast is an investigative journalist and if that's news to you and you're about to tune out, hold on a minute, he makes jokes that the US Patriot Act outlaws investigative journalism so he has to do his for the BBC. If you're familiar with his work, you know that even the serious topics rarely result in a loss of humor. As the title indicates, he's covering a lot of ground in this book which retails for $25.95 and provides 341 pages of text.
Palast opens with a comical doomsday look at a future where Jeb Bush is president and Health Insurance Riots break out. Chapter two addresses Iraq specifically (pp. 50 through 135). In it you'll learn of the February 2001 gathering in California where the replacement of Saddam Hussein was discussed and, from there, learn a multitude of details rarely, if ever, covered that would leave your head spinning were it not for the fact that Palast can and does keep you laughing.
Working from interviews with insiders (named) and government documents, Palast provides an in depth look at the inner workings of The Gang Who Couldn't Cakewalk. You'll learn why an oil rich nation must be kept in poverty and how that's been the plan since . . . the creation of Iraq basically. You'll learn that the Council on Foreign Relations called Saddam a "swinger" (and you'll learn why). He'll offer his argument of why Peak Oil is an intentionally faulty hypothesis (and how it is used to manipulate oil prices). He'll fill in you in on the "Chicago Boys" and how they impacted the illegal war. You'll find out who some of the 'winners' were and who some of the 'losers' were. You'll grasp why he quotes Henry Kissinger's comment on Salvador Allende's election in Chile all those years ago: "The issues are too important to be left for the voters."
Although the quote appears in the chapter focused on Iraq, it figures into the rest of the book as Palast responds (in examination of issues if not in actual words): "The voters are too important to be left out of the issues."
The last six years have zipped by and no matter how closely you've paid attention, we'll bet that even the most zealous will find every third page to reveal a detail or aspect that they're hearing of for the first time.
("We'll bet"? The winner gets to give a foot massage to Barbra Bush -- Big Babs, the elder. What? No one wants to take us up on our bet? Okay then.)
That's every third page of the book, not just every third page of chapter two. If you're someone who's paid close attention, you may find more. And if you've spent the decade thus far in a beer soaked haze, turn the pages quietly but don't blame us when your own laughter reminds you of the hangover.
It's a book you'll want to read once for the details (at least once) and new evidence Palast has unearthed and then want to read repeatedly so you can enjoy the humor and his writing style.
Highly recommended at any time of the year but especially when Iraq has fallen off the media radar.