Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars The American Way [Paperback]

William H. Schaap (Editor), Ellen Ray (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

While Washington contemplates "first strikes" against those nations unilaterally identified as the "Axis of Evil" and said to be stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, this controversial and timely book proves that the United States itself has been the most notorious practitioner of chemical and biological warfare since blankets laced with smallpox were given to Native Americans 250 years ago.

The editors of this book, William Schaap and Ellen Ray, are two prominent U.S. authorities on the CIA. This well-documented book backgrounds several cases of development and use by the United States of chemical-biological warfare, from Agent Orange in Vietnam to the Gulf War syndrome of the 1990s.

In their introduction, the editors offer an up-to-the-minute analysis of current events concerning the issue of biochemical weapons and the "war on terror."

Among the contributors are:
Robert Lederer (WBAI/Pacifica Radio journalist)
Tod Ensign (director of Citizen Soldier and veterans’ rights advocate)
Dr. Meryl Nass (expert on anthrax and biological warfare who has testified several times to U.S. Congress)

William Schaap and Ellen Ray were co-founders of Covert Action Quarterly, the authoritative magazine which has been a multiple award-winner of "Project Censored" prizes for its decades of groundbreaking investigative reporting. William Schaap is a New York attorney, who has worked with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and has testified as an expert witness on the CIA and intelligence matters in Congressional and UN hearings, as well as federal, state and foreign courts. Ellen Ray is an independent documentary filmmaker and was a consultant for Oliver Stone’s JFK.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a compilation of a half-dozen articles originally published in CovertAction, a left-wing activist magazine that in an earlier version established its credentials by publishing the identities of CIA officers operating under diplomatic cover. The editors, cofounders of the magazine, seek here to make a case for government hypocrisy by compiling evidence that America too has pursued research into chemical and biological warfare. That is no particular secret: numerous websites exist on various projects, justified on the grounds that the research is defensive. Rather than sponsoring detailed investigations of such projects and their justifications, the editors present eight essays-none less than ten years old-compiling factoids, inference and innuendo. The first article, for example, repeats charges that the U.S. employed germ warfare in Korea, including introducing toilet paper contaminated with "deadly microbes." Another presents evidence of possible government complicity with chemical companies in stonewalling Agent Orange victims, but gives no clue as to what developed after the 1993 story date. The Viral Cancer Program, according to one piece, "may well have" served as a cover for biological warfare research, while another article denounces the use of depleted-uranium rounds as a potential cause of Gulf War Syndrome and describes the use of two particular nerve gas vaccines as a possible war crime against "disposable soldiers." Another works to support Cuba's charge that its 1981 dengue fever epidemic was the result of a U.S. biological attack. The real problem with this book is that its poorly substantiated scandalmongering invites dismissal and works against appropriate oversight, rather than encouraging it.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Ellen Ray and William Schaap were founding editors of CovertAction Quarterly, the multiple award winner of "Project Censored" prizes for its decades of groundbreaking investigative reporting. They are both considered leading U.S. authorities on intelligence matters and have published numerous books and articles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Ocean Press (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1876175648
• ISBN-13: 978-1876175641
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,081,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Current Events > Terrorism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What the US Government does with taxpayer money, August 28, 2003

By 

Paul Lappen (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars The American Way (Paperback)

One of the official reasons for the invasion of Iraq and the creation of the "Axis of Evil" is because of their supposed stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction. This short book, composed of previously published articles from CovertAction magazine, shows that America has the world's biggest stocks of such weapons, and has used them many times in the past.

America is a signatory to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, but the first Bush Administration refused to go along with the 1997 protocol on verification of compliance. While other countries with CBW capability were expected, by the US, to allow foreign inspectors access to their facilities, the US refused to grant such access. The fear was that legitimate commercial and military secrets would be exposed.

officially, there has been a worldwide ban, since 1969, on the development of chemical and biological weapons. A loophole demanded by America allows for research on "defensive" bioweapons. There is a tiny difference between "defensive" and "offensive" bioweapons research.

Over the years, the US military has tested CBW techniques on American citizens a number of times. In 1950, a cloud of bacteria was sprayed over San Francisco by the US Navy, resulting in many cases of pneumonia-like symptoms. In 1955, the Tampa Bay, Florida area experienced a huge rise in cases of whooping cough after a still-secret CIA biowar test. In 1932, the US Public Health Service started a study of untreated syphilis using 400 poor black men (who were never told of their sickness) in Tuskegee, Alabama. Another US policy has been the forced sterilization of women in the Third World. The purpose has been to protect US business interests from the threat of revolutions brought about by chronic unemployment.

After the "ban" on CBW research, many researchers simply continued their work under the guise of fighting cancer. Also covered in this book is the story of a widespread epidemic in Cuba in 1981 introduced by the US. Thousands of veterans returned from Vietnam and Iraq with the growing degenerative effects inside them of Agent Orange and depleted uranium. They have spent years fighting the US Government for any recognition or recompense for their illnesses.

My only criticism of this book is that the articles reprinted here were first published between 1982 and 1993. The editors couldn't have found anything more recent? This is a short book, but it says a lot. It's interesting, easy to read, more than a little sickening and shows what the US Government really does with taxpayer money. It's recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal and very strongly recommended work, March 7, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars The American Way (Paperback)

Compiled and co-edited by Ellen Ray and William H. Schaap, Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars The American Way is a compendium of eight major essays combining to offering readers a diverse and shocking expose of the United States as being a notorious practitioner of both biological and chemical warfare. The accounts range from the giving blankets laced with smallpox to Native Americans 250 years ago, to modern day development and usage of anthrax, Agent Orange, nerve gas, dioxin, and depleted uranium. Essential reading for anyone concerned with current events, contemporary social issues, and the current American pursuit of a war on international terrorism, Bioterror is a seminal and very strongly recommended work -- as well as a quite disturbing wake-up call revealing America's pioneer (and continuing) role in the creation of deadly biological weapons.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book explains a lot of bad things the US is involved in., April 17, 2008

By 

Harriet M. Elliottt "social activist" (Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars The American Way (Paperback)

This book is dense. If you're looking for a critical viewpoint, this book has it. I would have been naive if I were not Group Stalked as explained by David Lawson at [...]. Although Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars the American Way says it all, more recently the intelligence agencies figured out a way to make conservatives marry us social activists! The CIA can electronically rape a man, who doesn't know he has been electronically stimulated. Instead, he thinks he is attracted to the woman he is next to. I had no romantic dates for 15 years. Without plastic surgery, I now have dozens of men flirting with me. This is the work of the CIA!