Last Wednesday I heard Annie Jacobsen talk about her book, “Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base,” with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Then, the next morning, I heard her on Morning Jo’. I was intrigued. I downloaded a 30-page sample onto my Nook, was hooked, and then bought and downloaded the entire book. Four days later, and just six days after the book was released, I’m finished.

Yes, it was a good book.

Jacobsen is an investigative reporter who outdid herself on this book, learning all kinds of stuff she probably wasn’t supposed to learn. She tracked down persons involved with secret Area 51 projects from decades ago, and plowed through masses of formerly classified documents, assembling the pieces of a fascinating story.

Area 51, of course, is a part of Nevada which the government still denies exists. It’s part of a larger section of Nevada which includes other “areas” which have been home to nuclear testing, space research, and many other super-secret government projects since the 1940s.

Annie Jacobsen

Jacobsen starts the book in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico. Two flying discs crashed there in 1947. She unravels the story. They weren’t from outer space, but came from Russia, using technology developed by German scientists during the war. The book ends with the same story, but now including details of the comatose humans aboard those craft–grossly deformed teenagers with large heads and eyes, surgically modified by German doctors at Stalin’s request. It’s a gruesome tale, and gets even more gruesome. I won’t go further into that.

In between, Jacobsen tells about the U-2 and SR-71 (called the Oxcart originally) spyplane projects; about numerous nuclear tests–hundreds of them–conducted both in Nevada and the Pacific; about the development of drones going back to the 1950s; about deception after deception regarding numerous projects, including the CIA’s secret investigations into UFOs; and about the continual infighting between the CIA and the Air Force for control of Area 51 projects. Area 51 was initiated by the CIA, but the Air Force has taken it over.

There are some great stories about test flights, and about the early missions of the U-2. The very first mission resulted in a treasure trove of information about Russian military preparedness. Also, throughout that mission, the Russians sent up fighters to intercept the high-flying U-2, but none could get close enough to take a shot. The Gary Powers shoot-down is told at length; but many other U-2s were also shot down (two Taiwanese U-2 pilots, shot-down over China, were imprisoned for up to 19 years before being released in 1982).

Jacobsen was tenacious in questioning people with secret information. In the end, she leaves us with a lot of questions. There is missing information which eluded her intrepid reporting. But the story she tells, mostly told in the context of the Cold War, illuminates decades of secret US history. Truly a fascinating read.

This, by the way, is a good companion to SkunkWorks, the 1996 book by Ben Rich which told about the development of the U2 and SR-71 planes. I read that book when it came out, too. But it was more of a memoir, not an investigative book intent on uncovering secrets.

I loved this book. I’ve read a number of books about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and most have been very good. “The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda,” published in January 2011, represents extensive reporting of the whole history of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Bergen, a TV and print journalist, was the CNN producer who arranged bin Laden’s first interview with the Western press back 1997. He’s been working the story ever since.

The book covers plenty of ground which was already familiar to me from book (Thomas Ricks, Bob Woodward, Jane Mayer, and others) and other magazine and online reporting. But Bergen illuminated other aspects of the bin Laden/Al Qaeda story which I’ve not seen addressed elsewhere.

• Bergan reports on numerous Al Qaeda plots and attacks that were new to me—probably because they didn’t involve the US, and therefore received scant coverage here. Many of these plots targeted other Arab countries, like Saudi Arabia, or Europe. Al Qaeda has been far more active than I thought.
• He describes Al Qaeda as “one of the most bureaucratic terrorist organizations in history.” This was quite fascinating. Al Qaeda was sophisticated organizationally. Their bylaws covered annual budgets, salary levels, medical benefits, furniture allowances, provisions for persons with disabilities, and even vacation policies (with requests submitted at least 2.5 months in advance). Really fascinating stuff which was totally new to me.
• Bergen showed (much to my delight) how Al Qaeda was scammed several times by persons who, knowing Al Qaeda’s interest in nuclear weapons, sold them worthless information and materials (all of which we captured in Afghanistan).
• He debunks the notion that bin Laden was on dialysis. That was never the case.
• He addresses the claim, frequently heard on Fox News, that Al Qaeda is against the American way of life. Bergen documents how from the 1990s, bin Laden has consistently maintained that his beef was with American foreign policy as it related to Islamic countries (especially positioning US troops on Saudi soil, which ended in 2003). Bin Laden himself sarcastically stated, in a tape, that if he was against the Western lifestyle, why hadn’t he attacked Sweden?
• He describes bin Laden as an effective leader tactically (pulling off a single attack), but a failure strategically. He never expected us to invade Afghanistan. At the most, he expected cruise missile attacks or air strikes. While 9/11 was a spectacular success, it backfired spectacularly in that it destroyed nearly everything he had built to that point–turning millions of Muslims worldwide against him because of the killing of civilians, bringing a greater US presence in Arab countries, enhancing the relationship between the US and many Muslim countries, losing his whole infrastructure and safe haven in Afghanistan, and causing a backlash against militant extremists in some Arab countries.
• Bergen examined every piece of “evidence” linking Al Qaeda with Iraq. None of it held water. A CIA report described the relationship between Al-Qaeda and Iraq as two rival intelligence agencies, each trying to use the other to it own advantage. There was much animosity between Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden.
• Another aspect we don’t hear about: the denunciations of bin Laden by Muslim leaders around the world, particularly in recent years. Bergen spent a lot of time on this, combing through Arab publications and media. Some former close associates and mentors of bin Laden, people with solid jihadist credentials, have publicly denounced bin Laden for targeting civilians. They have called him immoral. Very strong stuff.
• He described some agreements put into place under Bush which have helped extricate us from Iraq.
• Bergen writes that “the graveyard of empires metaphor belonged in the graveyard of clichés.” He pointed out various foreign powers that had had success in Afghanistan. He also debunked the common assumption that Afghanistan is a disjointed collection of tribes. Actually, Afghanistan has been a nation since 1747—older than the United States—and Afghanis have a strong sense of nationhood. What they DON’T have is a strong central government.
• Bin Laden, from his early days in the Sudan, was obsessed with being prepared for a life on the run. Bergen, through information gleaned from bin Laden family members and others, explains how he continually prepared his family. For instance, he wouldn’t let his kids drink cold water, or use refrigeration of any kind, because if they were forced into hiding, they would be denied such creature comforts.
• In a prophetic vein, he explains evidence from videotapes from bin Laden and Zawahiri that made it clear that they weren’t living in caves.

This is a great book which will enormously enhance your understanding of the conflicts which have engulfed the US since 9/11.