The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets from the Early Cold War and Korea

by Edward Hagerman and Stephen Endicott

Book Overview

The United States and Biological Warfare] is a major contribution to our understanding of the past involvement by the US and Japanese governments with BW, with important, crucial implications for the future. . . . Pieces of this story, including the Korean War allegations, have been told before, but never so authoritatively, and with such a convincing foundation in historical research. . . . This is a brave and significant scholarly contribution...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253334721
• ISBN13: 9780253334725
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.4"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Must read book on how U.S. conducted the germ war in Korea

The book used multiple sources 1) original studies and reports from China and Korea, including medical studies, photos, reports of the germ war activities, the symptoms the bio analysis, etc, etc; 2) confessions of U.S. pilots (including officers), which provided great detail of the U.S. germ war program, with names, places, dates, types of bio-agents, policies, delivery methods, etc etc. The book proved that the US POWs provided the information without being physically abused (in any case, the Chinese could have not made up those details); 3) recently declassified US documents and germ war programs, including the use of bio weapon in Korea. The picture was: 1), 2) and 3) matched exactly. And then it analyzed the recantation of the POWs who made the confessions after they returned to the US, and found that (1) they were made under threats of severe punishment; (2) the contents of recantations were inconsistent with the declassified US documents. The book is well researched. Read it for a correct understanding of history.

Detailed proof of US war crimes in Korea

This fascinating and deeply researched book examines whether the USA used biological weapons when it attacked Korea. It shows that the US Government, in collaboration with the British and Canadian Governments, spent $500,000,000 between 1951 and 1953 developing such weapons, based on those used by the Japanese Army in its attack on China.In February 1952, the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for ?a strong offensive biological warfare capability without delay? and for developing ?all effective means of waging war without regard for precedents as to their use.? The biological weapons were incorporated into the Strategic Air Command?s strategic plans for general war. The US state has never ratified the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning biological weapons.The US state fought its war against Korea with no regard for legal constraints. It threatened to use nuclear weapons. It used chemical weapons - 70,000 gallons of napalm a day in 1951, and phosphorus bombs - despite having ratified the Protocol against chemical weapons. The USAF bombed civilians mercilessly: as General Curtis LeMay boasted, ?We burned down just about every city in North and South Korea both ... We killed over a million Koreans and drove several million more from their homes.?The authors examine the evidence of germ-bearing insects, feathers and other carriers found after USAF bombing raids and look at the consequent outbreaks of unusual illnesses. Many captured US pilots confessed to dropping bombs containing these materials. They later retracted their confessions, claiming that their captors had ?brainwashed? them. A US Army study found no evidence of this. The pilots retracted under threat of death: the US Attorney General said that American POWs who collaborated with the enemy might face charges of treason.The authors write, ?we are led to the conclusion that the United States took the final step and secretly experimented with biological weapons in the Korean War.? Read the book and decide for yourself.

A must read for those interested in Korean War history

This book used a lot of declassified material to show it was highly possible that US used bio-weapons in Korean war. US would have used anything it had in its disposal to finish the war: it bombed the big dams to flood the North Koreans and destroy their crops, it contemplated using nukes (which scared the allies). Washington had the technology and the talents from Unit 731, it is logical that US tried to test the effectiveness of the germ-weaponry. Had it worked, it would have been a very cost-effective and low risk way (compared to using nukes) to end the Korean conflict.

Very interesting

I found this book highly interesting, especially in the light of other publications on that subject (e.g., "The eleventh Plague") and think it is a valuable basis for discussion. One has to agree to a certain extend with Professor Crane, though, that some of the claims made in the book seem not very well substantiated, although I would not fully dismiss them. More thourough references might have added credibility. Except for that minor detail - an important book. It would have been nice of Prof. Crane, by the way, to suggest a book that he finds more "balanced" (or does that mean "mainstream U.S. military propaganda oriented"; I hope not!).

a well documented and disturbing book

This is a well documented piece of work by two authors with an excellent grasp of their subject matter and considerable experience in China. They have a careful collection of declassified historical data as well as eye-witness testimony which makes the account compelling