American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: Book review

AMERICAN THEOCRACY: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century

BY KEVIN PHILLIPS VIKING 2006, 462 PAGES, $26.95

Former Republican strategist, political and economic commentator for more than 30 years, and author of 13 books, Kevin Phillips writes for the Los Angeles Times, Harpers Magazine, and Time. In American Theocracy, he examines "the coalition of forces that threatens the nation in the 21st century"; significantly, he dedicates the book to the millions of past and present Republicans who have opposed the "Bush dynasty and the disenlightenment of the 2000 and 2004 elections." Topically arranged in three parts--Oil and American Supremacy, Too Many Preachers, and Borrowed Prosperity--the book has a 16-page preface, and 33 pages of chapter notes with interesting comments. The title reflects the author's opinion that religion's new political prowess in the "projection" of military power in the Middle Eastern Bible Lands has effected a "potent change" in U.S. domestic and foreign policymaking. The Republican Party has led the country in a theocratic direction: for the first time in U.S. history, "ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington."

The author introduces the section on oil with a brief history of Western "Fuelishness." The U.S. always has played the "oil supremacy game" to win; oil, foreign policy, and overseas military intervention have come together as "petro-imperialism." Phillips suggests the U.S. already has "embraced" military seizure of portions of the Middle East: both the war to expel Iraq from Kuwait and the current Iraqi war exemplify U.S. oil-related "gunboat diplomacy." Basically about access to oil, the invasion of Iraq also had other motivations: to align oil objectives with the global war against terror, "cement" the dollar's role in global oil sales, and make the purpose broad enough for the biblically-minded Christian right to see it as destruction of the "new Babylon" towards "Armageddon and redemption."

The author accuses Washington and London of having cooperated clandestinely to provide Saddam Hussein with dual-use materials making possible pursuit of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; subsequently, the two powers "lubricated" the invasion by deceit similar to the "Big Lie" used by Germans to begin World War II. In all fairness, the author blames former Pres. Bill Clinton as well as George W. Bush for oil-related actions against Iraq...