The Exclamation Point at the End of the Story

Americans have a desperate need to believe. We want to trust our government and our leaders. Our default position is to accept without too much questioning the assertions of our presidents and the institutions of our government. Few of us are easily convinced yet today that America was involved in assassinations and the deposing of democratically-elected leaders of other nations, and as Hamas drops rockets into Israel and Israeli troops sweep through Gaza we conveniently ignore the incontrovertible fact that it was the policies of our outgoing president that put Hamas into power.

Our citizens are not big on context. When the Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers overthrew the U.S. puppet Shah Reza Pahlevi in 1979 and occupied the American embassy, we accepted the characterizations our leaders gave us that the Ayatollah was a madman. Perhaps, he was, but he was a madman of our own devise, whose foundational power grew from the CIA's overthrow of a democratically-elected leader in the early 1950s, a man who was nationalizing energy company assets. The Shah became our boy, bought billions of dollars of our armaments, let us have his country's oil, tortured his opposition with U.S-trained forces, and was no real threat to Israel. High school history class, however, leaves out that part and the journalism that covered it, rare though it was, went largely ignored. The Ayatollah was a lunatic, our enemy, a threat to global peace, and that was all the American taxpayers needed to hear. Give us a bad guy so we can be good.

America's role as the unwavering good guy is a mythology that has sustained us but may ultimately be our ruin. We are not the knights of perpetual goodness on steeds of democratic glory saving the world from tyranny. Often, we have played the opposite role. Unfortunately, as the eight years of the Bush administration are coming to a close, we seem to still want to believe in our own righteousness, instead of scrutinizing our government's behavior in our name. The founders, of course, had a different construct in mind. The United States became a nation on the premise of the simple notion that there was nothing more patriotic than the act of questioning authority, and that is the only way it will survive as a country of free people.

Working people tend to turn to the media to handle this responsibility for our democracy. This is our mistake. There is, of course, as the wise man said, "no such thing as a free press unless you own one." America's media are generally owned by the corporate entities that have interests that do not serve the public. Consequently, when Brit Hume and Brian Williams and Wolf Blitzer intone their stenographic journalism based upon the White House's message of the day, we are all misled. Those who go further are shouted down or vilified as unpatriotic and ridiculed for not wearing flag pins on their lapels. Global conflict is reduced to the simplicity of a football game under the Friday Night Lights.

We cannot easily undo our failures as a democracy. We can, however, reduce the odds of repeating them, and the best place to start that process is by reading Russ Baker's epic new book Family of Secrets. Baker is independent and unafraid, two characteristics needed for unfettered journalism, and he has been relentless in pursuing the damning details that other reporters have either misunderstood or ignored. Baker's investigation into the Bush family and its self-serving influence over American policy is profoundly disturbing and immediately important as the spinners try to reframe the disaster of George W. Bush's tenure in the White House. As an investigator and as a writer of compelling narrative, Baker has created, in my estimation, an almost unequaled standard in political reportage. He has refused to accept conventional wisdom regarding the Bush family and the failed son they made president. There is no way any reasonable person can reject what Baker reports.

I confess that I was prepared to be dismissive. When Baker first approached me about an interview and to offer what little insight I had on years of covering the Bushes in Texas, my reaction was that he was too late and that the public had been worn out by the publishing deluge prompted by George W's incompetence and lying. Why did we need another book on the Bushes? After reading Family of Secrets that answer is abundantly obvious: we did not know the truth. I think we do now and Russ Baker has given it to us in a brilliant book that that will be impossible for any sensible American to ignore. In almost every key moment of American history over the past half century, Baker has turned up witnesses and documents that lead to a different view of everything from Watergate to Vietnam, the Kennedy assassination, George W's National Guard fiasco, and the disinformation that led to the invasion of Iraq.

I considered myself well informed on both Presidents Bush but Baker has proved that even those of us close to the subject need to reconsider the facts and to do otherwise is to jeopardize the value and purpose of our democracy. In the years that it has taken him to create this masterwork, Baker has uncovered new evidence and witnesses, which both offer a different perspective on the political ascent of the Bush family and how their greed and lust for control has affected our democracy. The reporting in this book will leave any reader doubting everything they have ever heard from the news media and they will become convinced, page after page, footnote after footnote, quote after quote, that everything we thought we knew about the Bush family and American history in the past 50 years was wrong.

As Karl Rove, Joe Allbaugh, Karen Hughes, Mark McKinnon, Dan Bartlett, Condoleeza Rice and the rest of the outgoing administration go about their immoral task of trying to secure a more positive Bush legacy, let them confront the truths as revealed in Family of Secrets History will not abide any further distortions of the Bush record, and when researchers seek to understand what happened to our country under the Bush family regime, let's hope they find their way to the phenomenal work of Russ Baker. Family of Secrets is much more than a non-fiction narrative of political history; Baker has created an historical document that is, ultimately, an act of courageous patriotism for a nation in need of self-examination and the truth.

Comments

[SiberianRat]

Thanks, James--important stuff that needs to be said.

[daffey]

Wow, a book that suggests America hasn't always been the good guy. That's right up there with all those books suggesting water is wet, or the Pope is really Catholic. Of course, there is always room for more interesting tidbits. But I would suggest that a big problem, at least with some people, is the inability to see anything that America ever did right. Mention the Founding Fathers? Racist slave owners. How about the Civil War? All Americans were racist anyway. We opened our borders to immigrants! Yeah, and look how we treated them. And don't forget discrimination and segregation. And how we treated the Native Americans. Well, we did fight Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Yeah, we nuked two cities with innocent people and carpet bombed entire cities on top of it. And don’t forget, the whole Pearl Harbor thing was really a big conspiracy. Plus, we let the Russians take over Europe. Well, we are charitable. Nah. Most countries give more than we do if you look at the numbers the right way. We won the Cold War, right? What? We started the Cold War! And besides, it was mostly the Russians themselves who did that. Why would the last 50 years be any different!
If you are wanting to corner the market, I suggest either a book that starts examining other cultures more critically, or one that focuses on the better parts of our history. Talk about a good chance of establishing a literary monopoly.

[miriada]

Let's be logical here and not apply one-dimentional approach to russian history too. I'd look at you when you had 2 devastating world wars a revolution and civil war in between and you had to rebuild from riuns twice.. study history, but not your history rewrited by churchill . otherwise it's all predictable and boring like a hollywood blockbaster.

[miriada]

"blockbuster", of course... my apology

[daffey]

So, the US and the USSR were the same? I'm just wanting to make sure I'm getting you. I wouldn't want to comment on one thing if you meant something else.

[FogBelter]

"or one that focuses on the better parts of our history."

The Hula Hoop was pretty cool ... and so was the invention of Jazz. How's that?

[daffey]

And that illustrates my point better than I could ever have hoped. Thanks.

[nothingmusic42]

i think the creation of blues/ jazz is one of the better parts of our history. created by oppressed blacks in the segregated south, blues/ jazz is the foundation that built rock 'n roll. when it was combined with gospel, we got elvis and johnny cash, then we exported it to a bunch of poor english kids and got the beatles. then another poor english kid lost is fingertips and had to change his guitar style (which was blues) and we ended up with black sabbath. that's right, ozzy osbourne, the prince of darkness, started in a blues band.
not trying to belittle your very amusing sarcasm, but i gotta say, louis armstrong is one of the best parts of our history =)

[GrainOSand]

What was the John Wayne era if not one long propaganda campaign? Of course America's history is not all dark but for some reason, as one who has felt the sting of racism, seen the damage of sexism, who detests the savagery of those who enslaved and stole land from native inhabitants, I desire the whole story...if not reconciliation, atonement, and acknowledgement. I guess I am funny that way -- I believe in order to get beyond a mistake you have to first admit making a mistake or grave error, otherwise how do I know a nation has really learned and is not doomed for repetition? I have rarely heard the words “I am sorry” or, “Yes, we were involved” for many atrocities but I have heard the words "the greatest" this, and "the best" that concerning America related to just about everything. If dissent and hype were in a race, from my vantage point -- hype is winning.

Would you rather pass a bubble of hype or a history of true healing and reconciliation on to those who follow? Which will be more beneficial?

[daffey]

I would suggest that the bulk of the story of our history focuses on the slavery, sexism, failures, and shortcomings of our country. But I see scant little attention to things like, Western culture was the first to eliminate slavery in all forms, the first to draw equality between people from the top down and side to side, the first to put forth the notion that men and women could be equal across the board, the first to put forth the ideas of liberty, Democracy, and equality in a world where ritual torture, slavery, human sacrifice, infanticide, matricide, patricide, and practically any other -cide was part of the fabric of reality. Look at our sins, sure. But keep it in perspective, look at what the rest of the world was doing at the time, and look at some of the amazing gifts that came from Western, and yes, American, culture. Try finding the good once in a while (and that’s not the PC version of ‘America is good in some bizarre, abstract concept, but only when we have embraced the glorious post-modern vision,’ or some rot like that). Find the real, substantive, ‘wow, the Founding Fathers were unique in that they did what few if any revolutionary leaders throughout history ever did: they kept their promises after getting power.’ Things like that. Sure some of them owned slaves. So did 95% of the rest of the world. What was amazing is that there were those who didn’t.

[SeriousBlack]

One little problem with your observation. It is mostly the "good" America that is taught to every student in our middle and high schools. Not exactly being kept a secret, is it? Next argument.

As an adult, every thinking, critical, and yes, PATRIOTIC American can research/i­nvestigate the harsh realities of our history more thoroughly and critically, using such books as this one, for themselves. And hopefully (as in THIS liberal's case) using that information to try to keep us from making the same mistakes over and over - one of the most important PURPOSES of history.

[SiberianRat]

True. What you're talking about is research and critical, objective analysis which informs our views and decisions. There's a painful lack of that these days. You know, if the US were a person and the world a city, we'd be a multiple felon (robbery, embezzlement, murder, conspiracy, etc.). Here's hoping we can be rehabilitated!

[FogBelter]

Even in college history the entirety of the United States relationship with the Philippines can be summed up in "You may fire when ready, Gridley" and "I shall return." Nowhere is it discussed the deceit with which the Philippines were acquired by McKinley. Nowhere is it discussed how a million Filipino civilians died during the course of Philippine pacification by the United States. Nowhere is it discussed the mismanagement of resources and collapse of Philippine industries and Banks due to such notables as Governor General Henry Stimson. Nowhere is it discussed that, despite citation by military experts like General Patreaus, the counterinsurgency in the Philippines failed with the US ceding the Provinces to Warlords and merely maintaining control of Manila and a few port towns ... exactly as the Spanish had prior to their collapse in the Islands ... leaving the US Commonwealth authorities as dubious of Filipino loyalty on the eve of WWII in 1941 as they were when they first arrived in 1899. Nowhere is it discussed how FDR was convinced to abandon the US Commonwealth of the Philippines, its garrison, its American community, and its American Nationals of Philippine descent ... in essence the US's own territory in favor of defending England.

Nowhere is the US Philippine Colonial experience commonly celebrated for its success or analyzed for its failure ... likely because it would have put doubts in the minds of the American people when it came to other Imperial endeavors ... Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

[ellwood]

The links to Family of Secrets are currently broken. Here's one that should work:

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secrets-Dynasty-Powerful-Influence/dp/1596915579

[twofish]

Here's a better one

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781596915572-0

Powell's is a real brick and mortar bookstore in Portland Oregon that also does an online business. Support independent bookstores!

[FogBelter]

Americans know far less than they should about the United States and any work that offers a peek behind the veil of perpetual disinformation we have been conditioned to accept as "the Truth" has immeasurable value has we attempt to dig ourselves out of the hole we have permitted ourselves to be put in.

I look forward to reading "Family Secrets".

[Querent]

Nice review, James. Thanks for the great work you have done ever since Bush was Governor of Texas. I think your new picture is a big improvement. Never did like that one of you in a cowboy hat. Happy New Year, and keep on keepin' on.