Thanks to Greg, Craig and Greg (hey, I feel outnumbered in the "similar name department" ;-] ) for participating. All three are distinguished figures. I would like to particularly tip my hat to Greg Mitchell, who was kind enough to admit up front that he has not read Family of Secrets. From the relatively narrow comments of the others, it seems as if they have not either.

That's perfectly understandable. But our audience should know this: the book is not a polemic or a conventional analysis of the Bushes' politics in the normal framework of liberal vs. conservative. It is a voluminous work of investigative reporting--500+ pages of almost all new revelations about the Bushes, based on documents and interviews. The thrust of Family of Secrets is that our standard discussions of the Bushes fail to take into account a secret history. That secret history positions both George Bushes, H.W. and W., in the service of power elites in finance, resource extraction, and other industries, with a significant overlay of covert operations that have undermined democracy here and abroad. These activities long predated their rise to the presidency, and are therefore of enormous importance in understanding their political success.

For example, I explore the background of the elder Bush and establish, I think, very persuasively, that he was a lifelong operative of the intelligence services, much like Vladimir Putin. This predates his one-year service as CIA director in 1976 by decades. If that is not a significant revelation and cause for concern, then I do not know what is. Further, I study George H.W. Bush's peculiar public admission that he does not remember where he was on November 22, 1963. I discuss three relevant declassified documents. One has him working in the oil business in the early 50s with a "recently retired" CIA officer who goes on to have contact in 1963 with George de Mohrenschildt, a man of considerable interest to the Warren Commission who functioned as a kind of father figure to Lee Harvey Oswald. Another memo has the elder Bush working for the CIA and participating in briefings related to Cuban exiles and the JFK assassination. A third has the same George Bush, now claiming to be a private citizen, calling an FBI office on Nov 22, 1963 (the day he can't remember) to offer a tip on a possible shooter--a tip that I show was a red herring designed to confuse, not help. In addition, I reveal that the elder Bush had a longtime friendship with Oswald's mentor de Mohrenschildt dating back to the 1930s. There is much more here about our 41st president and the assassination of our 35th - four chapters of new material.

I also explore the elder Bush's activities after 1963, including new information on why Richard Nixon felt obligated to keep promoting Bush Sr. into positions for which he was seemingly not qualified--an obligation Nixon had to Prescott Bush, the grandfather of George W, dating back to the beginning of Nixon's own political career. This leads us into a discussion of H.W.'s little-known role in the events leading up to Nixon's removal as a result of Watergate. Several chapters on this, again, full of new, documented information. I provide important new information on a secret back channel with the Saudis, participation in an effort to destabilize Jimmy Carter's presidency, and more.

I do address the religion issue discussed by Craig Unger--I show that the year prior to the year that George W. Bush himself claims to have been born again, the Bushes were receiving memos from a religious adviser on the need to prove one's bona fides to the fast-growing religious right bloc. There's an entire chapter on this in Family of Secrets, complete with memos and extensive quotes from the adviser. I also reveal how the people backing the Bushes covered up George W. Bush's failure to complete his military service, how they scared off the media and coopted establishment gatekeepers, how they hid an abortion, and much more. As regards George W., the thrust of the collected evidence is that, while he certainly acted differently from his father, he was very much of a soldier in an operation that launched when his grandfather's business partner, Robert Lovett, created the blueprint for the new CIA and set it up as a proactive covert operations force in spite of President Truman's intent that it merely be an intelligence gathering outfit. The point of all this is that the Bushes, through multiple generations and a wide range of personal operating styles, have been knowingly serving the interests of power elites that have shaped--and continue to shape-- this country's history in ways we do not see and do not discuss. This construct transcends party and ideological labels.

I would hope that anyone who cares about the truth would take the time to read Family of Secrets, review the mountain of documented facts, and decide for themselves what it all adds up to, and how concerned we should be about the health of our democracy.