"Imaginary Weapons" Sharon Weinberger... (Pentagon's Weird Pursuits)

[KoKo]

Just heard an interview with the author on NPR's "Fresh Air" and she was very interesting...imagine the book is a good read.

She brought out the lack of MSM's ability to report on scientific issues because reporters are trained to get two sides and report whereas the Scientific Community uses peer review to first test a theory and then have a panel review the results leading to a consensus rather than a "he says/she says" non-commital approach.

Her descriptions of what the Pentagon has wasted money on is fascinating (including years of study on "pshyic's" and cold fusion,voice of God microwave technology, among other programs) and she talked about our buying cheap laser parts from the Chinese that could cause blindness which is against international law. She makes the constant point that this administration isn't listening to Scientific Consensus and that weapons programs and gagets that have been proven to not work keep getting brought up again with this administration as "new toys," to be funded.

Anyway, maybe some of you have read her book, but I thought I'd post about it down here.

Here's a snip review from "Nation."

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Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld
by Sharon Weinberger
June 2006 - ISBN: 1560258497

Despite its dubious origins--a fluke experiment involving a used dental X-ray machine and a dab of radioactive material called hafnium--the isomer bomb was conceived in 1998 as the next wave of cutting-edge military technology, a futuristic weapon so powerful it would rival the nuclear bomb. With dark humor and access to original source materials--including interviews, e-mails and internal Pentagon documents--author Sharon Weinberger exposes the ideology-driven "true believers" in the Pentagon who, for five years, ignored scientific experts to pursue this fictional weapon of mass destruction.

Imaginary Weapons exposes the decline of scientific expertise within US security agencies and the government's increasing susceptibility to outlandish claims about the technologies of war.

Sharon Weinberger is the editor of Defense Technology International and has reported on national security and defense technology since 2001 for publications including Slate and the Washington Post Magazine.


http://www.nationbooks.org/book.mhtml?t=weinberger

[elehhhhna]

1. Is she Cap's daughter? IIRC she is.

[rfranklin]

2. Mostly, it's about money...

The reason these boondoggles keep rising from the dead is because they ARE boondoggles--someone stands to make a lot of moola working on these Don Quixote type projects.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Might follow up with "The Men Who Stare At Goats" ...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743270606/qid=1150272696/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-0373018-1985550?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Just when you thought every possible conspiracy theory had been exhausted by The X-Files or The Da Vinci Code, along comes The Men Who Stare at Goats. The first line of the book is, "This is a true story." True or not, it is quite astonishing. Author Jon Ronson writes a column about family life for London's Guardian newspaper and has made several acclaimed documentaries. The Men Who Stare at Goats is his bizarre quest into "the most whacked-out corners of George W. Bush's War on Terror," as he puts it. Ronson is inspired when a man who claims to be a former U.S. military psychic spy tells the journalist he has been reactivated following the 9-11 attack. Ronson decides to investigate. His research leads him to the U.S. Army's strange forays into extra-sensory perception and telepathy, which apparently included efforts to kill barnyard animals with nothing more than thought. Ronson meets one ex-Army employee who claims to have killed a goat and his pet hamster by staring at them for prolonged periods of time. Like Ronson's original source, this man also says he has been reactivated for deployment to the Middle East.

Ronson's finely written book strikes a perfect balance between curiosity, incredulity, and humor. His characters are each more bizarre than the last, and Ronson does a wonderful job of depicting the colorful quirks they reveal in their often-comical meetings. Through a charming guile, he manages to elicit many strange and amazing revelations. Ronson meets a general who is frustrated in his frequent attempts to walk through walls. One source says the U.S. military has deployed psychic assassins to the Middle East to hunt down Al Qaeda suspects. Entertaining and disturbing. --Alex Roslin --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.