The diminutive
co-founder of Code Pink has become famous for fearlessly tackling
head-on subjects the left and right studiously avoid. Sometimes, she
does so in person--as at President Obama's speech at the National
Defense College, or in Egypt, where she was assaulted by police.
Here, she's researching the sinister nature of the relationship
between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
In seven succinct
chapters followed by a meditation on prospects for change,
Benjamin--cited by the L.A. Times as "one of the high profile
members of the peace movement"--shines a light on one of the
weirder, and most important, elements of our foreign policy. What is
the origin of this strange alliance between two countries that have
very little in common? Why does it persist, and what are its
consequences? Why, over a period of decades and across various
presidential administrations, has the United States consistently
supported a regime shown time and again to be one of the most
powerful forces working against American interests? Saudi Arabia is
perhaps the single most important source of funds for terrorists
worldwide, promoting an extreme interpretation of Islam along with
anti-Western sentiment, while brutally repressing non-violent
dissidents at hom