Synopses & Reviews
The turbulent nation of Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden is far more popular than George W. Bush, possesses a nuclear arsenal built with technology from the United States and Europe, and financed with the help of America’s allies in the Muslim world. Its dictatorial president, Pervez Musharraf, faces widespread civil opposition, and militant extremists threaten his life every day. The nuclear weapons programs in North Korea and Iran, as well as Libya’s now-defunct atomic effort, relied heavily on expertise and materials provided by the nuclear smuggling network headed by Pakistan’s national hero, A.Q. Khan. The United States – from Carter and Reagan, through Bush I, Clinton, and the current president – and other Western governments knew all along that Pakistan was first developing and then exporting nuclear technology, yet consistently turned a blind eye in order to gain Pakistan’s cooperation during the Cold War and, more recently, in the war on terror. As a result of this Faustian bargain, nuclear technology has been allowed to spread far and wide, dramatically increasing the chances that terrorists or unfriendly regimes will someday get their hands on an atomic device.
David Armstrong and Joseph Trento provide a new and unrivalled perspective on the so-called A.Q. Khan nuclear black market scandal, including exclusive accounts from customs agents, intelligence analysts, and other ground-level front-line operatives. Documented in these pages are maddening experiences of official interference and breathtaking instances of indifference and incompetence. Trento and Armstrong name names and reveal stunning new information about proliferators in an exposé that is sure to generate headlines. This secret history of how the Islamic bomb was developed and how nuclear arms have proliferated is as fascinating as it is disturbing.
Synopsis
The Carter and Reagan administrations set aside concerns about the spread of nuclear weapons in order to win Pakistan’ s assistance in a covert war against the Soviet Union, a policy that snowballed as the United States continued to turn a blind eye to Pakistani nuclear trafficking after 9/11, and has seriously compromised both U.S. and world security. Drawing on exclusive interviews, classified records, and secret government reports, America and the Islamic Bomb provides an entirely new perspective on the so-called A.Q. Khan nuclear black market scandal. It explodes the myth of Khan as a rogue scientist operating beyond the control of Pakistani officials and demonstrates that the U.S. and other Western governments repeatedly scuttled investigations that could have halted Khan’ s deadly nuclear trade years ago. The West knowingly allowed the transfer of sophisticated nuclear technology to some of the world’ s most dangerous regimes, fundamentally altering the global nuclear calculus, making it far easier for small, weak states to develop a nuclear capability, and dramatically increasing the prospects of terrorists getting their hands on an atomic device.
About the Author
David Armstrong is the bureau chief of the National Security News Service in Washington, D.C. He is an award-winning investigative reporter and has written extensively on national security and intelligence matters as well as national politics, foreign policy, terrorism, media, finance, and the environment. He was formerly the editor of the
Texas Observer and his work has appeared in a wide range of publications including
Harper’s,
The New Republic, and several journalism anthologies.
Joseph Trento is the author or co-author of seven nonfiction books, including Unsafe at Any Altitude and The Secret History of the CIA, and an internationally known investigative reporter for over thirty-five years. He now serves as the president of the Public Education Center, a nonpartisan and nonprofit foundation that conducts investigative reporting on environmental and national security matters.