Jeremy Kuzmarov, History News Network: "In their 1964 book, The Invisible Government, journalists David Wise and Thomas B. Ross wrote that “there are two governments in the United States today. One is visible. The other is invisible. The first is the government that citizens read about in their newspapers and children study about in their civics class. The second is the interlocking, hidden machinery that carries out the policies of the United States in the Cold War. The second invisible government gathers intelligence, conducts espionage and plans and executes secret operations all over the globe.” In the 45 years since these words were written, we have learned a lot more about how the secret government operates, above and beyond the law, and continues to do so long after the Soviet demise.
"Peter Dale Scott's American War Machine represents an important contribution. Building on the themes of The War Conspiracy (1972) and Deep Politics and the Death of JFK (1996), Scott, a professor emeritus of English literature at UC Berkeley and founder of its peace studies program, highlights the influence of right-wing cabals connected to Wall Street and the oil and arms industries in driving American foreign policy in a militaristic direction. Carrying out clandestine operations financed through off-the books channels, including the narcotics trade, they exemplify the crisis of democratic accountability in the United States and have yielded disastrous consequences in contributing to the destabilization of volatile regions and to the growth of international terrorism and drug production....
"Scott has written a provocative account of CIA machinations and their link to spikes in global drug production, war and terrorism. His chapters on Thailand and the Far East are especially well-grounded and of great use to historians. …. At his core, Scott is an idealist who believes that in exposing the sinister forces accounting for the spread of unnecessary violence, an aroused citizenry can mobilize to rein them in. The stakes today are especially high, because if left unchecked, the pattern of warfare and destabilization which Scott describes may lead to a global confrontation of truly catastrophic proportions as well as irreversible environmental damage and the economic bankruptcy of the United States...."
Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Report Blog, April 25, 2011: "I just finished Peter Dale Scott's new book on the American military-industrial-intelligence establishment and its historical dependency on the global drug trade. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the real twists and turns in the global economy and master the political and media policy spin used to justify the military and enforcement intervention necessary to promote and manage the narcotics industry and related money laundering.
"Scott, a former Canadian diplomat and English professor at the University of California- Berkeley, has long been considered mandatory reading for serious students of the 'deep politics' of American power. His new book, however, is a tour de force, integrating decades of serious scholarship and unique insight and sources. Skillfully written, it abounds with the grace and forgiveness of the mature master who appreciates that positive solutions begin with transparency about the means - as well as collective complicity and denial - that delivered us into our current condition."
Richard Falk,WordPress.com, November 23, 2010: "Scott's book mounts a vital Jeffersonian eye opening challenge to the citizenry of this country. It pleads with Americans to reclaim their responsibility for a governing process that is truthful and respectful of law at home and abroad. As Scott makes clear at the end of this devastating portrayal of how these deep forces work, this country is not yet a lost cause, that there remains much that is worth saving, and that despite the structural disabilities presidential leadership has managed some peace-oriented achievements as well as dirtying its hands through its disgraceful complicity with the dismayingly dark deep forces of government." See full review at http://richardfalk.wordpress.com/category/world-politics/.
Publishers Weekly, October 2010: *American War Machine: Deep Politics, the CIA Global Drug Connection, and the Road to Afghanistan* /Peter Dale Scott, Rowman & Littlefield, $34.95 (408p) ISBN 9780742555945/ In Scott's view, the American military-industrial complex so feared by Eisenhower has grown into a military-industrial-corporate behemoth. This "overclass," often functioning independently from the official elected government, has spearheaded countless actions that it perceives to be in the best interest of perpetuating American hegemony. With exhaustive research and extremely persuasive arguments, Scott (The Road to 9/11) seeks to prove that the funding and motivation behind America's assertion of global supremacy can be traced to drugs. Drug money fueled American actions in Laos and Vietnam during the Cold War, American support of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the 80s, and defines American political action in Latin America and present-day Afghanistan. By looking at covert activity and recorded history through the lens of American global dominance, Scott makes a terrifyingly compelling case; he asks readers to consider what actions taken in the last 50 years have not benefited America's military-industrial complex, such an integral part of the global economy. While Scott can get mired in minutiae, his carefully structured arguments never fail to interest or disturb. (Oct.)
Con Carlitos, http://concarlitos.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/american-war-machine/: The book is, as I expected it would be, informative and meticulously researched. And DENSE. All the names, unless they are BIG ones, float over my head, but are necessary for proper documentation and credibility. The underlying theme, of the American War Machine developing with the aid of international drug dealing, is really what's important
Kevin Ryan, 911Blogger.com, February 12, 2011: "....Overall, American War Machine is a remarkable collection of interwoven facts and concepts that provides an understandable framework for our previously unexplained deep history. As a 9/11 researcher, I found it to be an invaluable resource for my own education and for consideration of future work. As a citizen I can say it is a tremendous achievement that will, for many years to come, be useful to members of any free society that wish to remain free. Everyone should read this book."
Marc Emery, Cannabis Culture, February 27, 2011: American War Machine by Peter Dale Scott, a new and superb analysis of the insidiousness of the global drug war, documents the real reason all this is going on in Canada, the USA, Mexico, Colombia, everywhere on Earth. It is impossible to paint a more damning picture of prohibition and the gangster governments it has created. If you want to fully understand why marijuana prohibition is a globally enforced policy, read this book.... when it comes to understanding how drug prohibition has created global politics and wars for the past 60 years and counting, American War Machine is the book."