Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq

by Alan Friedman

For ten years, the White House, assisted by allies in London and Rome, brushed aside the law in a relentless quest to support Saddam Hussein. What were the forces that shaped this persisting embrace of a dictator whom George Bush would eventually compare to Adolf Hitler? How did Washington and its NATO allies nurture a frequently illicit rapport with Saddam, and what was the real story of why it became necessary to mount Operation Desert Storm? How did the governments led by George Bush and Margaret Thatcher seek to cover up their past dealings with the Iraqi leader after Desert Storm finally drove him from Kuwait in 1991?

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Middle East

455 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

È un giornalista esperto di economia e politica, conduttore televisivo e scrittore statunitense. All’inizio della carriera fu un giovanissimo collaboratore dell’amministrazione del presidente Jimmy Carter, poi è stato per lunghi anni corrispondente del «Financial Times», in seguito inviato dell’«International Herald Tribune» e editorialista del «Wall Street Journal». È conduttore e produttore di programmi televisivi in Gran Bretagna, Stati Uniti e Italia, dove ha lavorato per testate come RAI, Sky Tg24 e La7. Celebri i suoi scoop giornalistici e i numerosi riconoscimenti (è stato insignito per quattro volte del British Press Award, e del Premio Pannunzio nel 2014). Tra i suoi libri: Tutto in famiglia, La madre di tutti gli affari, Il bivio, Ammazziamo il Gattopardo (Premio Cesare Pavese), My Way. Berlusconi si racconta a Friedman (i cui diritti sono stati venduti in 30 Paesi). Il suo documentario su Berlusconi è stato distribuito da Netflix in 190 Paesi. In Italia è editorialista per «Il Corriere della Sera». Per saperne di più: www.alanfriedman.it

Reviews

[Patrick Eddington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever seen that now infamous picture from the early 1980's of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam Hussein's hand during a visit to Baghdad? As Alan Friedman so deftly shows, that meeting was just the beginning of an ill-fated embrace of the Iraqi dictator that would ultimately cost the United States dearly. Friedman details the political and commercial deals that would help Saddam expand his nuclear, biological, chemical, and ballistic missile capabilities--a deadly arsenal that America and a coalition of nations would have to destroy at great cost. A classic cautionary tale about the price and consequences of America sacrificing its principles for the sake of short term political expediency.

[Thomas Sonnenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There is a tendency today in politics and the media to shrug off government malfeasance on the grounds that we are so inured to such behavior that it doesn't matter. This is a dangerous way to think. If so telling a chapter of the twentieth-century history is swept under the rug-and cynics may argue that it will be-then it will not be only historians of the future who suffer as a result. Policy-makers, the public, and all those who believed in honesty in the government will be the real victims."
(Friedman, 287)

I remember my grandfather telling me about war. He served in the United States Navy during the twilight of the Vietnam War. He would spin his Irish charm and joke that he tried to avoid being on the ground. He would carry off marines from combat. He still saw terrible things.

As I grew older, I witnessed president after president fail to conduct policies that brought any sort of change to the Middle East. Ignorance blinded me; I assumed that the Middle East was just God's toilet or the Devil's playground.

Once I began to study history, not just the dull view of America, I found a dangerous weapon: truth. In all its terrible glory, I decided to chase it. Each corner I walked into, no matter how dark, took me one step closer to what I was looking for. The truth lies. The United States of America is not the world's police; it has become the world's puppet master. Under George Bush's administration, and Margaret Thatcher's stint as Prime Minister, the Iran-Iraq War was perpetuated almost endlessly. They fueled Saddam's lust for nuclear power. They stood by as the Kurds were damned by chemical weaponry. They even had the gall to scratch their heads in wonder as Saddam invaded and raped Kuwait. What was their response?

"Mistakes were made." They tried to cover it up. It didn't work. This novel is proof that government corruption stinks too much to stay hidden.

[Ryan Nary · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You have to understand something, though. These off-the-shelf operations in the Middle East occurred with great regularity. Yes, they were illegal. But people think the Irangate affair was something strange. It wasn't. It was just the one that went public. It was not at all abnormal."
--Howard Teicher, former National Security Council staffer

Before Spider's Web, I had never heard of Iraqgate, BNL, Carlos Cardoen, Christopher Drogoul, or Fred Haobsh. The eighties and early nineties have kind of been buried beneath Iran-Contra, as Teicher says above, and the Gulf War. But the entire time, the United States government, Britain, and Italy were all part of a massive operation to fund and arm the very man we would later invade Iraq to depose in 2003.

It is sometimes easy to get lost in the arms dealers, front companies, and White House staff Friedman throws at you, but this book is well worth it. A side note, as a William and Mary alum, I am disgusted that our chancellor is Robert Gates, a man implicated in both Iran-Contra and Iraqgate.

[Христо Блажев · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Мрежата на паяка” на Алън Фридман е половинчата конспирация
http://www.knigolandia.info/2010/06/b...

По принцип не очаквам много от подобен род книги по обясними причини. Все пак “Мрежата на паяка” не се оказа пълен провал и ме осветли за някои събития, с които не бях наясно.

Операция “Пустинна буря” е една от гордостите на американската външна политика – големите и силни САЩ защитиха малките Кувейт от злонравния агресор Ирак. Продължението на операцията бе отложено с над десетилетие, когато чрез използване на лъжата за наличие на оръжията за масово унищожение американски сили поставиха Ирак под окупация, продължаваща и до наши дни при благовидна колаборация с местни политици.