(Bob Aldridge, the author previously of First Strike! The Pentagon's Strategy for Nuclear War, has a new book out; America in Peril. The foreword is written by David Ray Griffin, and Griffin has supplied the text for visitors here to see. -rep.)

Bob Aldridge’s America in Peril is a wake-up call for Americans. Several such wake-up calls have been published recently. But this book is different.

Aldridge not only points out that many developments since 9/11 have moved us toward fascism; he also discusses in detail these post-9/11 developments---such secret detentions, military commissions, extraordinary renditions, torture, the loss of habeas corpus, the Patriot Act, extraordinary military spending, unprecedented government secrecy, and unprecedented claims for presidential authority---all in the name of “national security.” He also shows how the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have been justified on the basis of 9/11 and demonstrates that these wars and most of the other developments are in line with neoconservative ideology, which 9/11 allowed the administration to turn into official policy.

Aldridge’s book is distinctive because, besides highlighting all these things, he resists the standard explanation, even among left-leaning thinkers, according to which the Bush-Cheney administration simply took advantage of the shock created by the 9/11 attacks. Rather than portraying these attacks as merely good fortune from the point of view of the Bush-Cheney administration, Aldridge comes right out and says what millions of Americans---including growing numbers of architects, engineers, pilots, scientists, and former military and intelligence officers (see the Patriots Question 9/11 website) believe---namely, that the 9/11 attacks were planned and carried out by this administration, precisely for the sake of putting its preestablished agenda into effect.