Author: Webster Griffin Tarpley

ISBN: 0930852370

Third edition

I live in a country in which real power is wielded behind the scenes and which, late last year, organised a military coup to depose the democratically elected government. It is a country where disappearances can take place and large numbers of killings take place without proper investigation. It is also a country in which the majority of the people fail to question the conditioning they have been given since school days and who have few friends in the media willing to provide incisive and objective views of reality. Consequently, I should really welcome books like this one and the minds that produce them. Author Webster Griffin Tarpley has assembled a great deal of information and has marshaled it into a coherent approach to understanding complex events. His method includes not just assembling and interpreting data but the application of a critical framework. This is that a shadow government within the US establishment that has attempted to mount something of a coup d’etat in order to inspire global war to counteract the declining power of the US dollar. The shadowy cabal is dominated by financiers from Wall Street and the City of London. Tarpley explains that in the course of his researches his position has moved from LIHOP (‘let it happen on purpose’) to MIHOP (‘make it happen on purpose’). To enable this to happen, a large conspiracy involving unknown numbers of military and government agents.

Indeed, there is a great deal of the story of 9/11 which is subject to questioning. Was the United 93 plane shot down by the US air force as evidence would seem to suggest? Why were those identified as highjackers not present on the passenger lists? Why is there so much secrecy about specific details? What happened to the media to neuter them so effectively? What happened to the Democrats? Readers interested in these issues could do worse than to read this book, which seems to be one of the more complete and well-written of that sub-genre of literature dealing with the attempt to expose the ‘truth’ of the events of that day.

And yet …. Having said all of this, I am still not persuaded that, although there clearly are some bad eggs wielding influence in American politics, the vast conspiracy outlined by Tarpley is the way he claims it is. For a start, the need to keep so many people quiet for so long seems to be an undertaking of impossible scope. Secondly, many people seem to have a tendency to see patterns in chance events which are not there – the books about the collapse of the World Trade Centre towers and this must have been caused by explosions set by the USA government or elements within it come to mind. Above all, I find it difficult to believe in the ability of those involved to bring off plans of this scope. It may not make me popular to say so but the myth of American military competence is exactly that, a myth. The technology they may have is very advanced and spectacular and so forth and the people in the forces may well be well-meaning and honest, by and large. But they still make many mistakes – the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brought home to many Americans, I believe, exactly how well Americans are able to deal with disasters (I make no claim that any other nation would do much better). When asked to choose between cock-up and conspiracy, I see cock-up.

The above review was contributed by: John Walsh PhD:  Professor at Shinawatra International University CLICK TO VIEW  John Walsh's Reviews