Disinformation : 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror [Hardcover]

Richard Miniter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2005

Bin Laden was trained and funded by the CIA. The Bush Administration killed 100,000 civilians in Iraq. The Jews who worked at the World Trade Center were warned not to work on Sept. 11. These are just some of the myths that have appeared in mainstream media outlets. Collectively, these myths undermine wartime U.S. morale and confuse the discussion of vital issues. Here Miniter debunks the myths of the left (and the right) with hard evidence, high-level interviews and on-the-ground reporting in more than a dozen countries.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

You’ve been fooled. If you think...

— Al Qaeda terrorists are likely to cross the Mexican border

— Suitcase nuclear weapons are a real threat

— There was no link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein (and no WMD in Iraq)

— That Halliburton made a fortune off Iraq ..then you’ve accepted some of the most prevalent myths about the War on Terror—myths that are demonstrably untrue. If truth is the first casualty of war, urban legends are the first product of America’s War on Terror. In Disinformation, investigative reporter and terrorism expert Richard Miniter punctures twenty-two myths about terrorism, al Qaeda, and the war in Iraq. He has sifted the written record, met with countless high-level sources, and traveled the globe, from Sudan to the Philippines, Egypt to Iraq, to track down and refute some of the most widely believed—and often pernicious—legends of the War on Terror. Provocative but irrefutable, with startling new reporting, Miniter reveals:

— Why racial profiling of terrorists won’t work

— Why Iraq is not "another Vietnam"

— Why Osama bin Laden is not a massively wealthy criminal mastermind, was not funded or trained by the CIA, and is not on dialysis

— Why poverty doesn’t cause terrorism Miniter gives you all the evidence to shoot down disinformation and refute those who mindlessly repeat it. If you want the truth about the War on Terror, start here.

About the Author

Richard Miniter is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton’s Failures Unleashed Global Terror and Shadow War: The Untold Story of How America Is Winning the War on Terror. A veteran investigative journalist, he was a member of the award-winning Sunday Times (of London) investigative team. Formerly an editorial page writer at the Wall Street Journal Europe and a columnist for the Journal’s OpinionJournal.com, he appears regularly on television and radio to discuss al Qaeda and global terrorism. An award-winning journalist, whose articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Atlantic Monthly, the New Republic, National Review, Reader’s Digest, and Human Events, Miniter divides his time between Brussels, Belgium, and Washington, D.C.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 275 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; 1St Edition edition (October 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895260069
• ISBN-13: 978-0895260062
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How much to believe?, August 27, 2007

By 

Lee Boyland "Author: The Rings of Allah, Amer... (Melbourne, FL United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Disinformation : 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror (Hardcover)

Miniter sets out to debunk 22 Medial Myths, and presents compelling facts for each myth. Is he correct?

I only have the expertise to evaluate his treatment of the 17th Myth: Suitcase nukes are a real threat. Miniter, like most authors, is not a nuclear physicists or engineer. He must take the representations of others as factual. Herein lies the problem. He has been trapped by using incorrect (not necessarily disinformation) to support his position. I will constrain my comments to Myth 17.

LG Alexander Lebed is referenced and ridiculed. On page 138 Miniter says, "He [Lebed] said the bombs would fit `in a 60-by-40-by-20 centimeter case' [23.6 in x 15.75 in x 7.9 in] and would be `an ideal weapon for nuclear terror. The warhead is activated by one person and easy to transport.' It would later emerge that none of these statements were true." Miniter shot himself in the foot with this statement. A small gun-type nuclear device, weighing less than 100 pounds is possible. A mock up of such a device was presented to a Congressional committee. Such devices are Special Atomic Demolition Munitions (SADMs), something Miniter acknowledges on pages 141 and 143. The U.S. SADM used an implosion warhead, not a gun-type one, which accounts for the larger size reported on page 141.

Miniter, and most other authors, suffer from a lack of understanding definitions and terms. Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is a good place to start. Weapons graded HEU is 90% or more of the isotope U-235. Reactor grade HEU is between 5% - 20% U-235. The dual definition creates problems because most authors do not specify which HEU they are writing about.

Suitcase nuke is also a vague and improper term. It is used to describe items varying is size from a briefcase to multiple trunks. Unless the KGB produced a small SADM disguised as a small suitcase, there is no such thing. There are SADMs weighing less than 100 pounds that can be carried in a knapsack. The U.S. had them, and I have no reason to doubt that the Soviet's developed them too.

Proper terminology. SADM is a man portable nuclear device with a yield of less than 1 KT (probably less than .5 KT). ADM, atomic demolition munition, is a nuclear warhead, weighing hundreds of pounds, with yields as high as several hundred KTs. ADMs could be used as mines. Their main purpose was a welcoming device for Soviet troops who had captured U.S. or NATO positions--sort of a surprise party favor.

Mr. Miniter makes my point on page 140 when he presents Rose Gottemoeller as seeing a "suitcase-sized nuclear device" that "actually required three footlockers and a team of several people to detonate." What Ms. Gottemoller saw was an ADM. She did not see a SADM, which one person can cause to detonate. Miniter continues with the assumption that because Ms. Gottemoller did not see a SADM, there were none. He concludes his argument by saying (page 148), "For now, suitcase-sized nuclear bombs remain in the realm of James Bond movies." Really? The last above ground nuclear detonation at the Nevada Test Site was a Davie Crocket nuclear warhead, the same warhead used in our SADMs.

I have no specific knowledge of Soviet SADMs, but it is reasonable to assume the early ones did not have safeties. I helped fit a prototype PAL (prescribed action link) safety device on the Davie Crocket warhead.

Miniter's worst error (page 140) is his perpetuation of another myth which begs debunking: nuclear material has to be replaced every six to nine months. Miniter refers to LG Igor Valynkin who denied [Soviet] nuclear suitcase nukes were ever produced (note he did not say SADMs), then mentions that they are technically feasible, and acknowledges that such weapons would have "a life span of only several months." At this point Miniter jumps to faulty conclusions. "Radioactive weapons require a lot of shielding," [not so] and "The half-life of the most likely materials in the infinitesimal weighs necessary to fit in a suitcase is a few months. So as a mater of physics and engineering, the nuclear suitcase is an impractical weapon. It would have to be rebuilt every few months." The half-life of pulotonium-239 is over 24,500 years. Uranium-235 is 700 million years. What LG Valynkin was referring to was the polonium-210 half of the neutron source (nuclear trigger)--a tiny gold foil packet much smaller than the blue or red sweetener found on a restaurant table. Makes one wonder what Litvinenko and his pals were doing with Po-210.

80 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but flawed work., November 3, 2005

By 

Various Artists (Salt Lake City, Utah, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disinformation : 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror (Hardcover)

This is a great but not not excellent that is definitely worth reading by everyone regardless of their position on the left-right ideological spectrum.

Among other things, he puts to rest persistant myths such as the widely touted belief (even by the BBC, of all people) that Osama bin Laden suffers from a kidney disorder that may or may not require dialysis, and also takes aim at the the post-cold war Soviet suitcase-nukes myth that I first learned about from my father while I was growing up, and is has since undergone a revival since the 9/11 terror strikes.

There is one particular problem with this book, however, that is sufficiently bad enough to force me to give it only three stars, so listen closely.

At several points in the book, Richard Miniter makes extremely blatant factual errors that seem to throw a light on his professionalism (even though this isn't Miniter's first book, this is the only one of his I've actually read), and also gives me the impression that this was either rushed out to meet a publishing deadline, or that he couldn't afford to have it edited properly.

Here are a few:
--Several times (most notably during the chapter on Bin Ladens perceived health issues), Miniter incorrectly refers to General Pervez Musharraf as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. This is way wrong. Musharraf's proper title as leader of Pakistan is President, not Prime Minister. From his seizure of power in 1999 until November of 2002, Pakistan had neither a Parliament nor a Prime Minister to lead it. The current Prime Minister is a man named Shaukat Aziz.

--During one of the later chapters of the book (I'm not entirely sure which one, but I strongly believe it's the one concerning the numerous links between Sadaam's Government and Al-Qeada), during a single sentence Miniter makes a major factual blunder concerning the territorial and ideological affiliations of several terrorist/armed-resistance groups. He misleadingly refers to the PKK as a "Turkish muslim terror group" (!!!) and claimes that the Mojedin-e-Khalq is a Pakistani terror group (double !!!).

This not only terrible, but entirely inncorrect. The PKK, whose initials in Kurdi stand for Kurdish Workers Party, are a Marxist-Lenninist resistance group by the Kurds against the Turks. Despite the fact they occasionally use suicide bombings against their enemies (possibly the only communist group to do so), there is nothing Islamist in them. This is blunder comparable to Stephen Schwartz's mistaken claim that the Hizbolloah and Hamas are identical to the Saudi Wahabbists.

The even more blatant gaffe of the two, concerning the Mojedin-e-Khalq, is even worse. The Mojedin are an Iranian resistance faction, not a Pakistani group. The reason this gaffe is even worse is because they are famously responsible for storming the American Mission to Shah Pahvali's Iran and initiating the hostage crisis that humiliated President Carter (even though the hostages were rapidly turned over by the group to the the new government under Ayatollah Khomeini who was responsible for eventually freeing them). Any American would know that! The group's other main claim to fame is that they are the only Iranian resistance group advocating the destruction and overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran through violent means (who's agenda does that sound like?). For exactly these reasons they have been funneled support by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the Republic of France, and indirectly, the United States, despite the fact the State Department still considers them a terror organization. Terrorist or not, they are not Pakistani.

There are several other such gaffes in the book, but I have neither need nor inclination to list them all. That all said, even though I merit it only three stars, it is still a must-read, until somebody does a similar job, only better.

In case your wondering where I sit on the ideological spectrum, I am a subscriber of the National Review.

49 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Radicals (from either side) need not bother., April 6, 2006

By 

Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Disinformation : 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror (Hardcover)

It is rare that a book these days is able to cover a political subject with absolute fairness to both sides of the political aisle, but Richard Miniter has managed to do just that in his book, Disinformation: 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror. Miniter attacks both liberal and conservative myths with equal research, exhaustive footnotes and fervor. The overall focus here being exposing and dispelling myths of all types regarding the War on Terror.

The book covers six main topics, all with a similar theme; myths pertaining to bin Laden, September 11, Iraq, and terrorism, as well as myths perpetrated by both liberals and conservatives. Most impressive in Miniter's work is his inclusion of enormous amounts of footnotes to qualify his conclusions.

Miniter has done the world a great service with this book. Everywhere we turn, be it network news, newspapers, magazines, radio or the internet, we are bombarded with so-called "experts" giving their version of the facts which rarely contain facts at all. Regardless of your personal political persuasion, you will be shocked by what you will learn from some of Miniter's findings, and I promise you, you will learn a lot!

Some will not be able to contain their own political agendas and will find fault with much of what is presented here, but those people are blinded by their own ignorance and nothing will ever change that. If you want an idea of whether or not what the media is telling, and what the propaganda promoting politicians from both sides are spinning is the truth, then this book is an outstanding place to start your search.

Certainly, Miniter, with this work, has squarely placed himself in the crosshairs of both political sides. For that alone, he is to be commended. This is a very informative work that reads quite well and the documentation is superb.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com