US Govt buying entire publication of reservists' memoir to destroy it

[Bill Mattocks]

This is interesting. Seems an Army reservist wrote a memoir about his experiences in Afghanistan, got it cleared by the military, published it, and now the US is all up in arms about what's in the book. It has been published and is sitting in a warehouse, and the government is negotiating with the publisher to buy all existing copies and destroy them. The publisher has agreed to an expurgated second edition. Now I want to read the first edition. What don't they want us to know?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...907746.html?wprss=rss_nation/nationalsecurity

U.S. wants to buy 1st printing of reservist's memoir


By Peter Finn and Greg Miller
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 9, 2010; 11:28 PM
The Defense Department is attempting to buy the entire first printing - 10,000 copies - of a memoir by a controversial former Defense Intelligence Agency officer so that the book can be destroyed, according to military and other sources.

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, an interesting question indeed, Bill.

 

[elder999]

Downloadable version is available on Amazon, and the kindle software for your computer is free.....

EDIT: 20 minutes later, it's gone.....

 

[seasoned]

Downloadable version is available on Amazon, and the kindle software for your computer is free.....

EDIT: 20 minutes later, it's gone.....

Along with many of our other freedoms. There are a lot of singular issues happening across a wide spectrum of our lives as a whole. By the time we connect the dots, we, as a nation, will be unrecognizable. Every time someone stands up and says enough, they are criticized, mocked, made fun of, and called crazy. If you are over 60 years old, you lived then and now, so you can compare. I just look and shake my head, about how sad it all is. Some people look laugh and say good, the US had it coming. Maybe it was from arrogance on our part, (we lost humility), Maybe we lost patriotism, (patriotic is not in vogue). Somewhere, love for our follow human beings, has all but vanished. All, most of us care about, are ourselves. Rant, yes. Truthful, hopefully some will agree, others, may just laugh.

 

[crushing]

When censorship and capitalism collide:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Operation-Dark-...261?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item43a197cded

 

[Bruno@MT]

Yes, well, technically, no freedoms are being violated in the case of the paper release. Afaik they are allowed to buy those books. And perhaps they bought the rights for the electronic version as well.

But I would surprised if the e book hasn't been downloaded already by someone who will throw it on bittorrent or something similar.

I have to admit that they are making me curious. Otoh it could simply be a diversion in order to distract us from the fact that wikileaks is slated to release an even bigger pile of leaked army documents.

 

[Bruno@MT]

When censorship and capitalism collide:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Operation-Dark-...261?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item43a197cded

This means the entire government book buy is pointless. As soon as the first activist gets a copy, he'll scan it and upload it, at which point everyone will find out what the fuss was about. And it will even be worse than if they had let the book ship. Because now everyone will be looking for it.

 

[Empty Hands]

What don't they want us to know?

Probably nothing even that exciting. According to several pieces I've read from people that work with classified data, most of it is completely banal. It is information that is in many cases already in the public domain, or it is information that is embarrassing to a government official or to government officials we want to keep cozy with. For instance, one piece of classified information I read about was about how an official for the government of a trading partner we wanted to keep happy was corrupt. Problem is, his corruption was already an open secret.

I'm guessing it is something embarrassing, but would otherwise not endanger troop security or anyone's life.

 

[elder999]

I'm guessing it is something embarrassing, but would otherwise not endanger troop security or anyone's life.

It allegedly uses real names of DIA agents (military) currently in the field, among other things.

The disputed material includes the names of American intelligence officers who served with Colonel Shaffer and his accounts of clandestine operations, including N.S.A. eavesdropping operations, according to two people briefed on the Pentagon’s objections. They asked not to be named because the negotiations are supposed to be confidential.
By the time the D.I.A. objected, however, several dozen copies of the unexpurgated 299-page book had already been sent out to potential reviewers, and some copies found their way to online booksellers. The New York Times was able to buy a copy online late last week.