Germs : Biological Weapons and America's Secret War($12.00Value)

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Three New York Times investigative reporters present a powerful and gripping account of germ weaponary around the globe, from the Soviet Union's biological weapon's program that contains an abundance of anthrax germs and other countries who are searching for the ultimate weapon to the United States' attempt to put an end to these efforts. 35,000 first printing. Three reporters from The New York Times survey the recent history of biological weapons and sound an alarm about the coming threat of the "poor man's hydrogen bomb." Germs begins ominously enough, recounting the chilling attack by the followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1984 on the Dalles, Oregon--no one died, but nearly 1,000 were infected with a strain of salmonella that the cult had legally obtained, then cultured and distributed. While the U.S. maintained an active "bugs and gas" program in the '50s and early '60s, bio-weapons were effectively pulled off this country's agenda in 1972 when countries around the world, led by the United States, forswore development of such weapons at the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The issue reemerged in the early '90s thanks to Saddam Hussein and revelations of the clandestine and massive buildup of bio-weapons in remote corners of the Soviet Union. The book's description of the Soviet program is horrific. At its peak the program employed thousands of scientists, developing bioengineered pathogens as well as producing hundreds of tons of plague, anthrax, and smallpox annually. The authors conclude that while a biological attack against the United States is not necessarily inevitable, the danger of bio-weapons is too real to be ignored. Well-researched and documented, this book will not disappoint readers looking for a reliable and sober resource on the topic. --Harry C. Edwards International treaties are intended to keep us safe, but as the authors, New York Times reporters, show, confidence in international law may be misplaced. The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention was systematically violated on industrial scales by the Soviet Union and Iraq. Each of these legal reprobates manufactured (as did the U.S., before President Nixon terminated U.S. production in 1969) pathogens in quantities sufficient to annihilate humanity. Reconstructing the Soviet and Iraqi germ warfare programs, the authors recount how these violations impacted the debates and actions of U.S. government officials. Some doubted the Soviets were flouting the convention; others, convinced they were, insisted the U.S. continue "defensive" research on anthrax and its ilk. Because the hard-liners were vindicated, focus since the Soviet collapse has been on keeping scientists from selling their expertise to the Iraqs of the world. Meanwhile, Iraq tried to bamboozle the UN disarmament commission about its involvement in germ warfare, prompting the U.S. military to worry about whether it should vaccinate troops. Though some of the authors' conclusions are being challenged by other experts, Germs provides chilling context about a nefarious weapon. Gilbert Taylor Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Judith Miller, a correspondent for The New York Times since 1977, has reported from throughout the world and concentrated on the Middle East and the former Soviet republics. Her most recent book is God Has Ninety-nine Names. Judith Miller et al., Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, hardcover