Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsThe causes and consequences of 9/11
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 October 2006
I first read this book not long after it came out; several years on, I thought it deserved another look. My old review has now been deleted.
Michael C. Ruppert (publisher of the now-terminated From the Wilderness) 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 is divided into a prosecutor's means, motive and opportunity and the quality of the various chapters varies widely. The first part of the book is generally very good (Motive) and the first chapter on Peak Oil is particularly excellent - indeed, this was the first book that really opened my eyes to this most urgent of issues. For helping to bring this subject to much needed public attention, Ruppert is to be congratulated. However, section two - Means - is erratic and quite poor in many places. The chapter on PROMIS software is confused and badly written; it is rather difficult to fathom what Ruppert's point actually is and the evidence he produces is vague. Another section on Delmart "Mike" Vreeland, is not worth the time or space he devotes to the subject, an interesting character though he is. Ruppert's rambling and incoherent style continues into Part Three - Opportunity - unnecessarily lengthy sections on the From the Wilderness reporters 'bravely' confronting Congress and the 9/11 Independent Commission, pages and pages on descriptions of Pentagon Wargames, the TRIPOD II scenario and so forth. Interesting but again, not worth the amount of space he devotes to it.
Essentially, there is some excellent material in Crossing the Rubicon but this is buried in amongst some bad and incoherent writing. Perhaps this is the editor's fault, as the book could be vastly improved with some judicious editing.
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 eradicated 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.
Crossing the Rubicon is, in places, a fascinating read for getting behind the headlines and the day-to-day gossip that passes for political analysis; the intention of the author Mike Ruppert 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.
