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May 13, 2003

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On Sunday Sen. Bob Graham accused the Bush administration of engaging in a "coverup" of intelligence failures before and after the Sept. 11 attacks to shield it from embarrassment, and said the war with Iraq has allowed Al Qaeda and other groups to become a greater threat to Americans than ever before. This according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Graham, a presidential candidate and former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also accused the administration of jeopardizing the safety of Americans by blocking the release of a landmark congressional report on the government failures that preceded the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The Florida Democrat said the White House has withheld from the public important information about the continued existence of terrorist cells in the United States — including some with ties to foreign governments that the U.S. has been afraid to go after.

Graham’s critique in many ways is similar to one that appeared in a book that recently topped the New York Times Bestseller paperback. The book is Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Bush-Cheney Junta. The author is Gore Vidal.

Gore Vidal is one of America’s most prolific and best-known writers. He has written more than 22 books and more than 200 essays — a collection of his essays won the National Book Award in 1993.

Vidal is the author most recently of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace and Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Bush-Cheney Junta.

Taken together, the books constitute a comprehensive attack on America‚s imperialist ambitions and the military industrial complex.

Writing in the Scotsman, critic Gavin Esler called Perpetual War "the finest serious critique of America’s use and abuse of power in the 21st century that I have read."

I had an opportunity to speak with Vidal last week. We’re going to play some of that interview. He begins by discussing his thoughts about the United States post 9-11.

• Gore Vidal, essayist, critic and author of best-selling books Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace and Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta in an interview with Amy Goodman

• Gore Vidal, recorded May 4th at the Ethical Culture of Society in New York in a speech sponsored by the Nation Institute.