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Summary: Another Heavyweight Exposé
Comment: Truth campaigner Michael C Ruppert throws his hat into the ring with a comprehensive examination of the murky world of American politics and the tragic events of 9/11. Ruppert is a former narcotics investigator, and has used his detective's powers to leave no stone unturned in his quest to discover who was behind the shocking events and why.
As the title of the book implies, he covers the world oil situation in depth, and delivers the stark forecast that the declining supply of oil will drive the powers-that-be in America to ever greater efforts to maintain their global dominance, and not necessarily by legitimate means.
Ruppert expertly covers the by now well-known elements in the scenario of 9/11 - the inexplicable military and governmental inaction, the "insider trading" on Wall Street immediately prior to the events, and so on. One interesting aspect which I hadn't considered previously, is the role of the "PROMIS" computer system - did someone break into it and knock out the Pentagon's defences? The 9/11 Commission is covered in depth - shades of the Warren Commission surely? For example, the mysterious collapse of Building 7 in New York was apparently ignored completely - unbelievable.
Ruppert highlights the pre-9/11 stonewalling and obfuscation that prevented many FBI agents from getting their findings to the top, notably concerning the flight school attendees in Arizona and Florida. This adds to one's suspicions that these people were being "run" by some group or groups within the intelligence agencies, and were being cultivated in their roles as hijackers to fit in with the plot.
No doubt the authorities are hoping that the public will shrug its shoulders and consign 9/11 to history. Michael Ruppert joins his fellow campaigners like Webster Tarpley, Barrie Zwicker, David Ray Griffin and the others, in ensuring that this will never happen.
Ruppert's book comes in at over 600 pages of smallish type - so be warned, it's a heavy read. One criticism for me is the lack of illustration, which adds to the slight feeling of stodginess. Nevertheless, Ruppert is a major player in the burgeoning truth movement. Only time will tell whether his forecasts turn out to be correct, but I've an uneasy feeling that he is very much on the right track.
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Summary: Superb Detailed Analysis of World Events + 9/11
Comment: Crossing the Rubicon was one of the first books I read in this subject area, but I've subsequently realised it is the best. Michael Ruppert was someone I found out about when, like many, I tried finding out about the realities of 9/11 and the politics and manoeuvring behind the scenes. I watched one of his lectures delivered at a University in which he covers, at a high level, all the major topics addressed in Crossing the Rubicon.
Rupert uses the massive interest in the attacks of 9/11 to get the reader interested, and then begins on his analysis. The core issues discussed in the book are:
- The role 'Peak Oil' plays in the geopolitical world
- US markets dependence on the 'liquid cash' of drug money
- Links between wall street and CIA - to the point where he concludes 'wallstreet is the CIA, CIA is wallstreet'.
- CIA drug trafficking and money laundering, including details of covert operations and how they were covered up.
- US tactics used to destabilise governments and support coups in strategic areas
- Mike Vreeland - who predicted the 9/11 attacks in details months prior and tried warning the government - something that is officially recorded.
- PROMIS software and the its role in the world of high tech crime.
- Blow-by-Blow analysis of the events of 9/11, and the best timeline I have read to date. Ruppert details the chain of command on the day, other events scheduled for that same day, the role of war games being played out on the day also.
- Biological warfare is looked at, exploring who was behind the 'anthrax' samples spread to people in the US via mail, and a look at the scary world of forced vaccinations and their results
- We end with another look at 'Peak Oil' and predictions about where the 'war on terror', which is really a 'war on oil and drugs', will go next.
This book has been a massive education for me. It is a disturbing book and its details will make readers very uncomfortable and at times just plain angry that such information is not being broadcast to the masses on TV. I cannot say that I checked all the hundreds of references in this book, but the ones I did check out were all credible. Reading this books gives you a much clearer picture of what is really going on in the world today and what are its driving forces
and who are the key players.
Many people are misdirecting their criticism of the 'war on terror' and as a Muslim I know many feel its a war on Islam. After reading this book I can know say confidently 'Its not a war on Islam, as the US need Saudi Arabia as a strong ally to get at Saudi oil, to have them as a key supporter of it Persian gulf area. They are key as approximately $700 billion of Saudi Money is invested in the US economy'. Before reading this book I could not have given, nor would have given that answer.
There are two small things that detract slightly from this book in my view and they are the following:
1. Using 9/11 to get people interested.
Ruppert talks about a lot more than 9/11, but he continually refers to it to keep the readers interest. The same can be seen in his lectures. This is a minor point, but at times it is a bit irritating for the readers who are prepared to wait and do not need to hear 'ok - we are going to get to the juicy part in a few pages!' constantly.
2. Self Importance + Promotion of From the Wilderness Magazine
Ruppert is constantly quoting from his magazine 'From the Wilderness' which is a subscription only publication, and many times he talks about how his predictions were right, how 'From the Wilderness' readers had this information in advance, and there is a lot of self promotion. This, again, is a minor criticism as he is selling products, like all of us he has to make a living etc. It does not detract from the material, but at times it can be frustrating.
Its interesting to note that in the US this book on Amazon has mixed reviews from readers, with some angrily opposed to its content. In the UK based Amazon reviews its has 100% 5-star record. The reason is simple - the book paints a very negative picture of the US government, and its foreign policy, and for some this is just too much to deal with. Denial is then the only path to avoid massive guilt for Americans who support - or have supported - the current administration.
To conclude this book is a must read for everyone. Its 600 pages, so that will immediately limit its appeal, but its the most rewarding political book I have read to date. Its analysis fits world events and it opens the readers eyes to the real issues in the world today.
I recommend anyone considering this book should buy it read it right till the end - as there are some special bits of information saved till the very last chapter.
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Summary: The causes and consequences of 9/11
Comment: Michael C. Ruppert has written, in Crossing the Rubicon, an in-depth analysis of the probable causes for both 9/11 and the ensuing invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
He reasons, with much evidence and justification, that world oil production will peak within a decade or two, a concept that has become known as Peak Oil (even mentioned in The West Wing episode entitled, "Hubbert Peak"). This awareness by the United State's planners, led to an obvious military scramble for most of the world's remaining supplies and their pipeline routes, ensuring that oil reserves will be in the hands of the population that counts, as seen from an elite U.S. perspective. The terrorist attack of 9/11, according to Ruppert, was engineered by some of the same U.S. planners, or at least those who had access to that intelligence and shared the same opinions.
This is obviously highly incendiary material. However, Ruppert's sources are often drawn from quite mainstream material, including the national press.
Ruppert's book (divided into a prosecutor's means, motive and opportunity) has numerous sections, some stronger than others. Whilst I found the lengthy sections on PROMIS software could have benefitted from some judicious editing, the section on the Pentagon's wargames being conducted on the morning of 11th September, 2001, was most revealing (at least four that we know of, including Operation Vigilant Guardian and Vigilant Warrior, which included simulated aircraft hijackings and interception, none of which were mentioned in the official Independent Commission report).
Other sections in the book include the by now, well documented relationship betwixt the Central Intelligence Agency and the international drug supply, how the Taleban erradicated approximately 95% of the heroin crop in Afghanistan and the impact this had on the CIA/Wall Street's profits, intelligence penetration of Al Qaeda and many others.
This book is a fascinating read for getting behind the headlines and the day-to-day gossip that passes for political analysis; the intention of the author was to provide a roadmap for comprehending the driving forces behind current events so as to correctly interpret forthcoming events. Whether it has succeeded in that is a judgement for other reviewers but the book certainly demands to be read. For assembling many of the controversial facts into one publication and putting them into the public domain, Michael Ruppert has at least to be congratulated. Read and make your own mind up.
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Summary: Fascinating survey of US politics
Comment: This thought-provoking book by an independent American investigator gives us some useful snapshots of the US economy in the era of capitalism’s decline. Capitalism now depends on the $1.5 trillion a year profits from organised crime, laundered via big business complicity and political laissez faire. The drug trade alone generates $700 billion a year in cash, largely from heroin (70% from Afghanistan, after US forces let the opium warlords out of Taliban prisons in November 2001). Drug traffickers were pioneers of globalization. Capitalists are looting everything: industry, jobs, pensions, education, health, Iraq and Russia - from 1997 to the end of 1998 Russia’s GDP fell by two-thirds while $500 billion was looted out of Russia, cutting its population from 160 million in 1991 to 145 million in 2001. Ruppert then turns to look at the US ruling class’s efforts to save itself by seizing the world’s oil. In 1997 ex-Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski said that the USA needed ‘a new Pearl Harbor’ so that it could secure oil across the world. Ruppert shows how Bush permitted, if not connived at, the 9/11 crime. This is not new: in 1962, the US Chiefs of Staff drew up Operation Northwoods, a plot to stage a terrorist attack in the USA and blame it on Cuba. Also, the US state, through the CIA, has trained and used thugs like Noriega, Saddam Hussein, the Kosovo Liberation Army, the Chechen rebels and Osama bin Laden to start wars or provide pretexts for them. In June 2001, Bush put Vice-President Dick Cheney in charge of all planning for a terrorist attack. Then the French, German and Russian intelligence agencies all warned Bush that Al Qaeda intended to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center in the week of 9 September 2001. Ruppert shows how the US government managed to fail to arrest the hijackers, and how its actions before and during 9/11 enabled the crimes to be accomplished.
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Summary: War is the most profitable business
Comment: In this book, Michael C. Ruppert attempts to find the masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks. For him, the prime suspects are a group of people operating within certain government agencies, including the White House, for the benefit of major financial US and foreign interests. The only possible thread is the intelligence community.This book is more or less a compilation of the author's contributions to the internet site 'From the Wilderness'. It lacks the solid structure of the works of N.M. Ahmed and M. Chossudovsky, on which it heavily draws. The style is rather egocentric (a lot of 'I's). Nevertheless, it throws a shrill light on some major aspects of the framework wherein the 9/11 attacks took place.
Clearly exposed are the links between the CIA, Wall Street and 9/11, through the heavy buying of put options on airline shares before the attacks (2.5 M$ profits on one bet were not claimed!).
He shows also clearly that there was sabotage within the US intelligence services and that those services had infiltrated Al-Qaeda. More, US government services shielded the hijackers from being arrested. Still more baffling is the fact that a third tower in New York collapsed without being hit!
A very murky affair is the organization of 'wargames' on 9/11 apparently in order to paralyse information channels. There is also the Cleveland mystery: the landing of two unidentified planes. Still more outlandish are the claims that some of the alleged hijackers are still alive or that the planes flew under remote ground control. The paramount question is: cui bono? After the 9/11 attacks the US defense budget was raised by 48.1 billion $. Indeed, war is the most profitable business. For the author, the US government crossed the Rubicon after 9/11. From a republic, the US became an empire, a hegemon.
In order to defend its national security, the empire now can make preemptive strikes (war is peace) and create artificial terrorist activities in order to stimulate reactions which could serve as a pretext to invade other countries.
The Total Information Awareness asks the whole population to become spies (Big Brother in the nth degree), while the Patriot Act undermines general civil liberties. On the economic front, the author stresses the importance of oil and 1.3 billion Chinese consumers. However, he sometimes formulates extremely important issues without developping them. One example: the policy that 'the world population must be reduced by as much as 4 billion people is secretly accepted and is being acted upon by world leaders.'
Nevertheless, this book is a goldmine for those who want to understand the 9/11 massacre. Michael C. Ruppert poses at the end the right questions: who are we really? And why are we here? A must read.
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