Customer Reviews

The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secrets...And How We Could Have Stopped Him

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This frightening book traces the development of the "Islamic Bomb," from the partitioning of Pakistan and India thru its present day implications. The authors do a superb job of running parallel story lines including an exploration of the motives of A.Q. Khan, who rose from a marginal clerk to the world's first nuclear black marketeer, and the missed opportunities the US had thru multiple administrations to retard Pakistani nuclear ambitions and prevent proliferation.

It's hard to put this book down once you pick it up. I was hooked in the prologue. An easy-to-read style backed up with copious research.

No one has penetrated the shadows surrounding A.Q. Khan as thoroughly and incisively as Frantz and Collins. Their extraordinary access to key players, witnesses and other original sources especially elevates Nuclear Jihadist. It is a remarkable work of journalism by masterful reporters. More than that, the book's rich detail -- filled with intriguing politics, colorful characters and clashing motives -- contributes to a fascinating tale, a great read, even for those who thought they knew the story.

Subtitled: The true story of the man who sold the world's most dangerous secrets and how we could have stopped him.

The events begin in 1972 when Khan started working for a Dutch technology firm that designed and manufactured centrifuges used for enriching uranium. Authors Frantz and Collins describe how he contacted Pakistani diplomats and offered his services to his country. He also displayed such an insatiable curiosity about nuclear related products that some of his coworkers eventually became concerned enough to report him.

In 1975, Khan moved to Pakistan where he set about making his country a nuclear power. As Pakistan realized its nuclear ambitions, Khan accumulated wealth and power and become a national hero in 1998 when Pakistan detonated five nuclear devices underground. By then, Khan had established foreign markets for his expertise and his ability to deliver tightly controlled materials. The "Pakistani Pipeline" (an operation to procure restricted materials and provide technical expertise) had expanded its operations to newer markets.

The U.S. administration ignored the nuclear threat because it needed an ally in the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan and later in the war against terror, after 9/11. The Pakistani authorities arrested Khan in 2003. Parvez Musharraf pardoned him after a written confession and placed him under house arrest. By this time, no one knew who has nuclear capability.

The book is well-written; it reads like a spy novel and its great strength is that it gives so many details that readers can see the complexity of the issue. The authors' bias that it is bad for nuclear weapons to exist at all does come through, as does their liberal slant on American politics. The authors do not acknowledge that the Iraqi invasion (blunders aside) does curtail nuclear proliferation in the Middle East (something that the authors' work on Iraq and Libya shows).

The book's title is misleading. Khan was motivated by wealth and power, not by religious conviction (as one would expect of a "jihadist"). This is made clear as reader read the book.

Overall, it's a great read, but leaves little room for optimism. It enumerates the dangers we all now face partially due to the cast of characters they profile. What is less clear is what we do now.

Armchair Interviews says: A book that details the dangers that exist worldwide.

A passage on pages 86-87 describing a key character might as well be a description of this book. "He was not naive enough to believe that sanctions alone could stop a country determined to build the bomb..." it reads, "He knew that the real solution was to address the underlying political and security motivations that led countries to acquire nuclear weapons."
This book is a window into the motivations of those seeking to acquire the bomb or keep others from doing so.
The above description happens not to be of Khan, but of an American scientist and Congressional staffer determined to stop him. Their battle of wits makes a great read.
The authors show us the motivations driving Khan --from the arguably noble political, nationalistic and religious causes, to the more common pursuit for personal status, wealth and success.
The thorough portrait of Khan --a complex, fascinating figure formed by both the West and Pakistan-- provides a dramatic, readable narrative that pulls one quickly through considerable historic, poltical and technical background.

Methodically detailed and documented, a must-read.

Scary as well - you have to wonder what elements of the network are still out there peddling the nuclear technology. On the upside, the CIA's successful effort to end Libya's nuclear ambitions is fascinating and something I don't even recall being covered by the media.

The book has arrived but seems to be a book from a public library and bears its many stamps.
But book is in reasonable condition.

We Americans are so unread about what has truly been allowed to go on in the 60-80's, under the watchful eye of many US Presidents. There is enough blame to go around for both parties. If Khan can build nuclear war heads without interruption from his government or ours, what is happening at the moment? So many mistakes over such a long period of time. It is matter of fact, no exaggeration that I can tell. Well worth reading - a MUST! I just wish it were mandatory reading for high schoolers.

An interesting read but there is no doubt about the attempts to smear Dick Cheney and President Bush in this book. No mention at all of all the stuff the Clinton administration gave to the North Koreans that has helped their program and the amount of times the IAEA was totally snookered and yet they seem to be the heroes of this book. The IAEA alway seem to give these regimes the benefit of the doubt..unlike the Big bad Bush administration.
One quote tells you all you need to know about the slant of this book: page 359 'Given the savage devastation occuring next door in Iraq, which had no nuclear weapon, .....(&) particularly given the Bush administration's contempt for diplomacy.' AH..how many resolutions condemning Iraq did the UN pass? So the liberal elite slant of this book is obvious. An interesting read but it would have been nice if they could have left out their little obvious digs.

Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins' THE NUCLEAR JIHADIST: THE TRUE STORY OF THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS SECRETS AND HOW WE COULD HAVE STOPPED HIM is a key title nonfiction audio collections must have: it tells the story of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the 'Islamic bomb', and the methods he used to obtain his information. In adding the knowledge of intelligence authorities and how they could have stopped him, this goes a step further and proves a gripping report fueled by Bob Craig's powerful reading.

The underlying story of A.Q. Khan and his life story from unimportant scientist in Europe to organizer of the Pakistan nuclear bomb projects to international trader in nuclear secrets is well researched and exceptionally interesting. It is a book of some importance.

However, the book goes over the top in its allocation of bad press to Republican administrations between Eisenhower and Geroge W. Bush. Recognizing lots of mistakes by all sides and a realistic level of understanding of the reality of impotence by the United States would have made for a better presentation. (The book virtually ignores all of the years where a Democrat was in the White House and blames virtually all events in the Republican years.)

A Republican or independent will need to hold his or her nose to get through the book. That being said, it is a very interesting book.