Swiftian Report Book Review

“Why the World Still Needs to Worry About An Attack by America” by Benjamin Swift
Black House Books

Long-time political analyst and publishing icon Benjamin Swift has come out with his first major book in some time and it’s a knockout. From the opening paragraph -- citing the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed in US-led bombing raids, invasions and other military operations over the past two decades -- to the closing call to action against the greatest threat to world peace and security since Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich, Swift has produced an eloquent and terrifying indictment of the nation once considered a beacon of democracy.

There’s almost too much information in “Why the World Needs to Worry,” and in less-capable hands, the book would certainly be overwhelming, in both scope and raw data. However, Swift manages to tell the story of America’s reckless, xenophobic rise to power with all the drama and suspense worthy of such a tale. At the same time he deftly weaves in such diverse and complex topics as the rise of misogyny and racism in American pop culture, the crises in health care, housing and jobs, outsourcing, obscene corporate excesses, privatization of essential human services, the multibillion-dollar business of marketing violence to America’s youth, and the disastrous decline of America’s educational system.

Swift also drops a few bombs: backed up by convincing evidence from both public and private sources, Swift contends that the top echelons of the Republican and Democratic Parties joined forces in a sort of corporate merger as far back as 1992, when George Bush Sr. was president. 

According to sources deep within “both” parties, former President Bill Clinton was approached by representatives of the Saudi royal family while he was still Governor of Arkansas. Clinton, who had already formed a right-wing splinter group of the Democratic Party -- the Democratic Leadership Council -- was presented with an offer he would scarcely refuse: join forces with certain Republicans with similar interests, and the Saudis would bankroll not only the DLC, but Clinton’s bid for the presidency.

Although public evidence wouldn’t begin surfacing until shortly after George W. Bush was handed the presidency by a junta of judges and well-placed politicians, Swift’s well-researched documentation of events leading up to the 2000 coup leaves little doubt as to where Clinton’s allegiance lay.

From Clinton’s dismantling of social services to his legislation that laid the groundwork for today’s PATRIOT Act, from his military and financial aid to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and the Taliban to his massive expansion of American military and economic dominance throughout the world, it is almost anticlimactic to learn that, during the 1999 Rambouillet peace talks with Yugoslavia, Clinton’s State Department negotiators were instructed to “raise the bar” and present non-negotiable, impossible demands in order to prevent any settlement from being reached with Milosevic.

Swift ends by telling some hard truths: Neither moderate Republicans masquerading as Democrats nor the multinational corporate hegemony will hand us back our democracy and humanity. By all means necessary, it is up to each one of us to prevent the next pre-emptive strike, the next occupation, and the next holocaust because the excuse, “We didn’t know,” rings as hollow for us as it did for the Germans.

©2004, Mimi Yahn. For subscription information about the political satire ‘zine, the Swiftian Report, write to P.O. Box 102, West Mifflin, PA 15122, or check out the new website at www.swiftianreport.com.