1353 replies to this topic

[B Jenkins]

Just finished The Samson Option by Seymour M Hersh. Fantastic read and I thought I'd share the Author's Note at the front of the book:

This is a book about how Israel became a nuclear power in secret. It also tells how that secret was shared, sanctioned, and, at times, willfully ignored by the top political and military officials of the United States since the Eisenhower years.

In it, you will find many senior American officials being quoted - most of them for the first time - about what they knew and when they knew it. These officials spoke to me not because of animosity toward the Israeli government, but because they realized the hypocrisy of the American policy of publicly pretending that Israel's nuclear arsenal does not exist. That policy remains in effect as this is written.

I chose not to go to Israe while doing research for this book. For one thing, those Israelis who were  willing to talk to me were far more accessible and open when interviewed in Washington, New York, or, in some cases, Europe. Furthermore, Israel subjects all journalists, domestic and foreign, to censorship. Under Israeli rules, all material produced by journalists in Israel must be submitted to military censors, who have the right to make changes and deletions if they perceive a threat to Israeli national security. I could not, for obvious reasons, submit to Israeli censorship. Those in the past who have broken the rules have been refused reentry to Israel.

Those Israelis who talked were not critics of Israel's nuclear capability, nor would they feel secure without the bomb. They spoke because they believe a full and open discussion of the Israeli nuclear arsenal - and of the consequences of its deployment - is essential in a democratic society.

Seymour M Hersh
August 1991
Washington, D.C.


I am now reading Israel's Lebanon War: The First Inside Account Of A Disasterous Military Adventure And Its Ongoing Consequences by Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari

Here is piece from this book's forward:

...

Not all of what we intended to publish in this book was cleared by the Israeli military censor, to whom we were obligated to submit the manuscript. The excisions have not, in our view, changed the gist or spirit of the final product, though occassionally they cut deeply into the substance of our argument. We are convinced, however, that in the course of time a reappraisal of what does and does not prejudice the true interests of national security will result in the release of the presently classified material.

...

Ze'ev Schiff
Ehud Ya'ari

March 1984
Jerusalem, Washington

[StarMountainKid]

The Castle, by Franz Kafka. It's online in PDF as are all of his stories. That's good as I can't find the real book. I'd much rather have a real book.

[Odd Requiem]

Odd Apocalypse - Dean Koontz

[Wordless Wanderer]

Inferno by Dan Brown

Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer