Sean-Paul Kelley | San Antonio | April 3

Agonist Exclusives - So, late last week Ian posed two questions to Mr. Kevin Phillips, the author of American Theocracy, about the hit piece on his book hosted by Slate and written by Mr. Jacob Weisberg.

Ian first asked:

Jacob Weisberg's piece has only a few accusations which are actually grounded in your book. One is that you never actually make the case that the Iraq war was about oil. If you were to state your case briefly, what would it be?

Mr. Phillips replied:

Oil: George H.W. Bush and James Baker in 1990-91 admitted that expelling Iraq from Kuwait was about oil; Iraq's boundaries were originally drawn around oil; most oilmen assume the 2003 war was about oil; the first major building seized in Baghdad was the oil ministry with its seismographic maps.

Ian's then asked, with a dash of trepidation:

Jacob's piece is notable for its complete dismissiveness of you as a clueless geek, and of almost all your work. In fact, Weisberg states "His biennial books have become illogical, dizzying screeds. And his diagnoses, predictions, and advice to Democrats have been consistently, embarrassingly wrong." Can you state one prediction you made in a prior book which has come true, and do you have any insight into why Weisberg seems so determined to dismiss the entire body of your work except "the Emerging Republican Majority"?

To which Mr. Phillips replied in two parts:

[As to a] prediction: I just wrote a piece citing how at the end of American Dynasty, I included a prediction that if George W. Bush was re-elected, calls would later emerge for his impeachment.

Finally, concerning his thoughts on Jacob Weisberg, Mr. Phillips wrote us:

I know very little about him. Perhaps he has rabies.

More as we stir it up.