"There are certain books that, once read, alter one’s mind permanently. This is such a book. Naïve readers and patriots beware: You will never think about the world in the same way after you have read just the first two chapters of American War Machine..... American War Machine ... paints the clearest and starkest picture of any book I have ever read about the true nature of US foreign policy, covert operations, and the linkages between war, resources (particularly oil), paramilitarism, tyrannical and repressive governments, financial institutions, and the trade in illegal drugs. Read it and understand reality."

[In French]: 'Le livre est non seulement interessant mais important. Il leve le voile sur une "histoire de l'ombre", certes peu glorieuse et peu honnete, de Truman a George W. Bush, mais (helas) aussi vieille en realite que les Etats organises depuis qu'il en existe. Il faut egalement souligner que le livre est enrichi d'une utile liste des acronymes utilises, ce qui permet au lecteur peu au fait de toutes ces subtilites de s'y retrouver dans le dedale des organisations, et de 130 pages de notes, bibliographie et index. Un travail militant marque par une opposition ancienne a l'interventionnisme americain (l'une des dernieres phrases precise : "Ma derniere acclamation va aux pacifistes americains qui nous ont donne, en pleine guerre froide, des exemples exceptionnels de la facon dont une societe peut etre refaconnee de maniere significative par la persuasion non violente issue de la base"), mais sous cette reserve un travail d'une rare densite et d'une particuliere richesse.'

[in French]: "Ce livre stimulant et extremement bien documente explore les aspects secrets de la politique etrangere americaine. Analyste politique de premier plan, Peter Dale SCOTT rassemble des preuves accablantes afin de lever le voile sur la violence autorisee par l'Etat, illegale bien que largement r©pandue, qui regne dans le monde de la politique et dans celui des affaires. "

[This stimulating and extremely well-documented book explores the secret aspects of American foreign policy. Leading political analyst Peter Dale Scott assembles overwhelming evidence in the service of lifting the veil on the state-authorized violence, as widespread as it is illegal, which prevails in the worlds of both politics and business. --trans. by davidgn]

"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...."

"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."