Some will argue in favor of this book calling it an honest account of what happened / happens in Pakistan and some will call this book hogwash and propaganda. I believe this book has some semblence of honesty and a fair bit of it could be propaganda but assuming this book is truthful in its assessment - what a tale it is !
Well researched and written with great passion. this book is ideal material for a movie one day.

Some will argue in favor of this book calling it an honest account of what happened / happens in Pakistan and some will call this book hogwash and propaganda. I believe this book has some semblence of honesty and a fair bit of it could be propaganda but assuming this book is truthful in its assessment - what a tale it is !
Well researched and written with great passion. this book is ideal material for a movie one day.

Anyone who is interested in the real world outside of America should read this book. Even allowing for any bias of the writers, it give a chilling view of how world leaders ignore and lie about events that do not reflect their ideological wishful thinking. The true story of how Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, plus other supposed allies of America, spread nuclear technology and weapons throughout the Islamic world in defiance of treaties and agreements should be compulsary reading for all our public serbvants working for governments.

The timing was a bit unnerving as I was reading this book, Bhutto was murdered! An eye opener on the history of Pakistan's power struggles. There is just too much to explain here but bottom line --the region's stability is at a very fine balance and if power to the terrorist are able to destabilize Pakistan or if they can get their hands on a nuclear device, it won't be long before the west will see it detonated because they truly believe this is their right. It was hard to put this book down!

This book precisely details the failures of six US administrations and major World powers in preventing nuclear proliferation. It shows that our government's first priority is monetary gains for its closest supporters rather than the protection of its citizens. It shows the complicity of the US and many Major Powers in getting the nuclear bomb and technology for Pakistan and how a blind eye was turned as it was distributed through Middle East and Africa. It reveals with supportive documents the poor leadership and vision of many of our honored politicians. It details how the Pakistani leadership has always worked and supported Al Qaeda. It confirms that the political rehtoric is completely opposite of the real profit driven actions by governments. It is a must read for those who have long questioned the efficiency and effectiveness of our two party system.

a page turner; i could not put this book down. starting with the first attempts of Pakistan trying to obtain information on the construction of a nuclear processing plant, and ending with the still prevalent proliferation of Pakistan to foreign purchaser countries, this book will leave you fascinated beyond belief. unbelievably industrious was the attitude of the scientists working on this project; fatefully unapologetic was this nation to its best and brightest. an almost detailed account on the construction of the processing plant, the evidence laid forth in this book from IAEA investigations to covert intelligence secret knowledge here at home allowed Pakistan to produce a nuclear weapon. a highly recommended read. this book also briefly details Iran's current struggle with proliferation and Libya's attempted go at the nuclear field.

In 1998 Pakistan succeeded in denoting its first nuclear bomb some 24 years after India had conducted its first nuclear event in 1974. In the view of Pakistan, developing nuclear weapons and their delivery systems was absolutely necessary as a credible deterrent to a nuclear armed India. This altogether fascinating book chronicles how Pakistan managed to acquire the technology and knowledge to build its own nuclear weapons.

At the center of this story is a remarkable scientist, A.Q. Khan, revered today in Pakistan as the "father of the bomb." It was Khan who used his considerable knowledge and expertise to establish a world wide `network' of friends, associates, and businesses that allowed Pakistan to create a nuclear weapons program. China (PRC) greatly assisted this program having `tilted' towards Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistan confrontation. Khan worked tirelessly from 1975 to his forced retirement in 2001 to provide Pakistan with a nuclear deterrent capability.

The successive governments of Pakistan over the last 30 years have differed in many things, but all supported Khan and his weapons program. And, as this book makes clear, successive U.S. Governments over the same period did not directly support Khan's work, but they did nothing to hamper it either. Indeed geo-political considerations caused the U.S. not only to ignore Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear weapon technology, but to even ignore its export of that technology to countries such as Iran and North Korea, which according to this book's. authors, continues to this day. The title of the book, "Deception" refers not to Pakistan, but to the fact that every administration from 1976 on purposely misinformed the U.S. public on Pakistan's nuclear ambitions and activities.

Rather ironically, the U.S. Intelligence Community actually produced excellent intelligence on both Khan's program and the international trade in nuclear technology. His `network' was pretty well identified by 1985 and its activities were well documented. Unfortunately, as has been often observed, intelligence is only as good as the system it serves and in this case U.S. policy makers over an almost thirty year period were just not interested in this information.

A caveat is in order, the authors of this book are journalists and very good ones at that, but as such they are heavily dependent on interviews with individuals who may have their own agendas to pursue. Therefore, many of the specific details of this book are questionable. Yet it appears that overall this book presents an pretty accurate picture of how Pakistan created a nuclear weapons program under the noses of the U.S. and Western Europe.

Deception; Pakistan, the United States and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons is one of the most compelling current events accounts of recent times. Authors Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark use their years as leading investigative journalists and their vast knowledge of the topic to create a book that reads like a page-turning gripping thriller instead of a landmark book that questions the history and accounts of the Pakistani nuclear program.

Deception reveals the inner working of United States politics, foreign policy making and the secrets around the trade of nuclear weapons in Pakistan. It's clear to see how complex this issue is and how, without this book, the common American couldn't comprehend its complexities. This is a call to awareness and invites the public to pay attention to the back room meetings of those elected officials that we put in office.

Readers only need to notice the nearly one hundred pages of notes in the back of the book to recognize the level of the in-depth investigation and fact-checking which went into this fiery account of how the West continues to deceive everyone standing on the world's stage. Although it's hard to recognize how balanced the views of the journalists are, they are at the top of their field by every account. They've put their reputations on the line to produce this mind-boggling controversial and revealing chronicle. And it appears they've stayed true to the global reporting code of ethics.

Deception; Pakistan, the United States and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons is a landmark book from a well-respected journalism team. I'd love to see this book incorporated into foreign policy course curriculums globally. We have seen the evidence; it is a book that entertains readers and commands a call to action.

Title: Deception; Pakistan, the United States and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons
Authors: Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark
ISBN: 978-0-8027-1554-8
Publisher: Walker Publishing Company
Review By: Diana Rohini LaVigne, Indian Life & Style Magazine

This is an excellent exposition of Pakistani thievery and deception, along with U.S. complicity. If Carter, Reagan, Bush senior, and Clinton had read the Koran, we would never have gotten into our current mess, because they would not have allowed Pakistan to build "The Islamic Bomb."

The fact is that Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world, as Newsweek magazine recently proclaimed on its cover. It got that way because it was born out of fanaticism, and survived by double talk and deception.

Unfortunately, our past failure to read and understand the Koran (please see sites such as [...] for further information) may well result in a Pakistani nuke going off in a major American city, possibly aided by a Pakistani engineering student here who has connections back home with a jihadi military officer. Hopefully the recent report by the Stratfor group is correct, which states that Americans have firm control (though not publicly acknowledged) of Pakistani nukes.

If Pakistan splits into several smaller countries, it will be easier to defang the country of its nukes, but it will also make it easier for small-scale terror outfits to spring up.

This is an excellent exposition of Pakistani thievery and deception, along with U.S. complicity. If Carter, Reagan, Bush senior, and Clinton had read the Koran, we would never have gotten into our current mess, because they would not have allowed Pakistan to build "The Islamic Bomb."

Everyone should read the incoherent ranting and hysterical diatribe posted below by Moin Ansari on October 30, 2007 (supposedly a book review) to get an understanding of the mental level we are all dealing with in Pakistan.

The fact is that Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world, as Newsweek magazine recently proclaimed on its cover. It got that way because it was born out of fanaticism, and survived by double talk and deception.

Unfortunately, our past failure to read and understand the Koran (please see sites such as [...] for further information) may well result in a Pakistani nuke going off in a major American city, possibly aided by a Pakistani engineering student here who has connections back home with a jihadi military officer. Hopefully the recent report by the Stratfor group is correct, which states that Americans have firm control (though not publicly acknowledged) of Pakistani nukes.

If Pakistan splits into several smaller countries, it will be easier to defang the country of its nukes, but it will also make it easier for small-scale terror outfits to spring up.

The fact that the authors of Deception thank Peter Griffen in the acknowledgments of their book raises questions of credibility. In Deception, the authors quote him as saying he was duped and taken advantage of by the Khan network. Another recently released book on the subject, America and the Islamic Bomb, contradicts this portrayal and reveals that a secret British Customs paper says that Griffen was aware and involved in the network's shipments to Libya. How much did the authors of Deception rely on alleged nuclear proliferators for information?

Furthermore, the authors attribute allegations about Pakistani officials to journalist and academic Husain Haqqani, including the story that former ISI Chief Hamid Gul was in league with Osama bin Laden and Nawaz Sharif to overthrow Benazir Bhutto in 1990. Haqqani has since denied and contradicted many of these allegations in the media.

These are only a few of the most egregious examples that I found in this book.

"Deception" tells the story of American and English self-deception about Pakistan's nuclear intentions and accomplishments, the consequences of which might not become clear for decades to come. During a 30-year time period, Pakistan went from pleading for an American nuclear umbrella to creating and testing its own bomb, to running an international proliferation effort that aided Iran ('87), Iraq ('90), North Korea ('93), and Libya ('97). The authors also allege that this proliferation was not just a renegade activity by A. Q. Khan, but actually part of Pakistan's foreign policy, plotted and supervised by its military. Regardless, "Deception" contends that the "real scandal" was how successive U.S. (and U.K.) administrations covered everything up, at the expense of several who wanted to speak frankly.

Also of interest is the information on how Khan learned how to make fissile material in the first place. After earning a Ph.D. in metallurgy he went to work with a low-security rating for a Netherlands' consortium that was developing centrifuges for separating fissionable U-235 from yellow-cake - despite coming from a nation known to be seeking nuclear weapons. While there he sought and obtained a position translating German material on a new centrifuge to Dutch and English, thereby providing access to top secret material. The information was split into twelve pieces with the intent of limiting any single person's access to only a few portions; Khan, however, obtained the entire document through offering to get it retyped on site (management had been prepared to send the material back to England for typing; Khan had befriended the secretaries numerous times).

The new gas centrifuges required six foot tall aluminum tubes that were injected with a gas refined from yellow-cake. The heavier U-238 spun to the outside and slid down to a waste pipe; fissionable U-235 gathered at the center and was sucked out while the centrifuges spun at 70,000 rpm. Any sort of imperfection (including a fingerprint) likely led to the centrifuge shattering. (Many Pakistani centrifuges were lost during an earthquake around 2004.) Gaseous diffusion required all pipes and motors be made from nickel and aluminum allows, kept free of grease and oil, and a very large production facility.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's government had been humiliated by India's development of an atomic weapon, and was seeking to build its own. Khan's proposal to create the fissile material through much cheaper centrifuges instead of the much more expensive and complex gaseous diffusion method used by the U.S., China, Russia, and France, was well received, and he headed back to ('75) Pakistan with three suitcases full of stolen documents. He estimated that passing the uranium hexafluoride through centrifuges 65-70 times would provide 90% enriched uranium.

The next year Pakistan began shopping for the needed equipment - a fact noted by U.S. and U.K. intelligence analysts. Carter (anti-proliferation) was lobbied by Brzezinski to turn a blind eye because of Soviet efforts in Afghanistan and possibly Iran. Reagan did likewise. Worse yet, Reagan officials buried awareness of Beijing's gift of bomb blueprints and technical assistance. By Reagan's departure, Pakistan had a tested device ('84), partly also thanks to hundreds of millions of American military assistance to Pakistan's military that was diverted to their nuclear program.

Bush I then cut off aid after the Russians left Afghanistan, spurring Pakistan to make up the shortage with black-market deals in technology.

The final chapter deals with Musharraf's increasingly tenuous position in Pakistan - caught between the increasingly militant internal Taliban and al Qaeda, vs. the U.S. Meanwhile, large amounts of parts and centrifuges from Pakistan have disappeared, and responsible people in the U.S. are worried that Pakistani bombs (or at least working centrifuges) will be obtained by terrorists.

The biggest question of all remains unanswered - "Why didn't the U.S. pursue obtaining information from Khan on the status of Iran's nuclear program, or at least reveal what it did obtain?"

"Deception" tells the story of American and English self-deception about Pakistan's nuclear intentions and accomplishments, the consequences of which might not become clear for decades to come. During a 30-year time period, Pakistan went from pleading for an American nuclear umbrella to creating and testing its own bomb, to running an international proliferation effort that aided Iran ('87), Iraq ('90), North Korea ('93), and Libya ('97). The authors also allege that this proliferation was not just a renegade activity by A. Q. Khan, but actually part of Pakistan's foreign policy, plotted and supervised by its military. Regardless, "Deception" contends that the "real scandal" was how successive U.S. (and U.K.) administrations covered everything up, at the expense of several who wanted to speak frankly.

Also of interest is the information on how Khan learned how to make fissile material in the first place. After earning a Ph.D. in metallurgy he went to work with a low-security rating for a Netherlands' consortium that was developing centrifuges for separating fissionable U-235 from yellow-cake - despite coming from a nation known to be seeking nuclear weapons. While there he sought and obtained a position translating German material on a new centrifuge to Dutch and English, thereby providing access to top secret material. The information was split into twelve pieces with the intent of limiting any single person's access to only a few portions; Khan, however, obtained the entire document through offering to get it retyped on site (management had been prepared to send the material back to England for typing; Khan had befriended the secretaries numerous times).

The new gas centrifuges required six foot tall aluminum tubes that were injected with a gas refined from yellow-cake. The heavier U-238 spun to the outside and slid down to a waste pipe; fissionable U-235 gathered at the center and was sucked out while the centrifuges spun at 70,000 rpm. Any sort of imperfection (including a fingerprint) likely led to the centrifuge shattering. (Many Pakistani centrifuges were lost during an earthquake around 2004.) Gaseous diffusion required all pipes and motors be made from nickel and aluminum allows, kept free of grease and oil, and a very large production facility.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's government had been humiliated by India's development of an atomic weapon, and was seeking to build its own. Khan's proposal to create the fissile material through much cheaper centrifuges instead of the much more expensive and complex gaseous diffusion method used by the U.S., China, Russia, and France, was well received, and he headed back to ('75) Pakistan with three suitcases full of stolen documents. He estimated that passing the uranium hexafluoride through centrifuges 65-70 times would provide 90% enriched uranium.

The next year Pakistan began shopping for the needed equipment - a fact noted by U.S. and U.K. intelligence analysts. Carter (anti-proliferation) was lobbied by Brzezinski to turn a blind eye because of Soviet efforts in Afghanistan and possibly Iran. Reagan did likewise. Worse yet, Reagan officials buried awareness of Beijing's gift of bomb blueprints and technical assistance. By Reagan's departure, Pakistan had a tested device ('84), partly also thanks to hundreds of millions of American military assistance to Pakistan's military that was diverted to their nuclear program.

Bush I then cut off aid after the Russians left Afghanistan, spurring Pakistan to make up the shortage with black-market deals in technology.

The final chapter deals with Musharraf's increasingly tenuous position in Pakistan - caught between the increasingly militant internal Taliban and al Qaeda, vs. the U.S. Meanwhile, large amounts of parts and centrifuges from Pakistan have disappeared, and responsible people in the U.S. are worried that Pakistani bombs (or at least working centrifuges) will be obtained by terrorists.

Blaming Pakistan first for all evils on the plant is ruse to attack another country. Selective amnesia is a wonderful thing. There is no way that the CIA can be absolved for creating and training the Taliban. During the House Committee on Foreign Affairs discussion recently. Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher named the Clinton administration, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for creating the Taliban. "Let me repeat that: The Clinton administration, along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, created the Taliban,"

Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark, Walker teutonic bloviations are an admixture of discredited Neocon assertions, unsubstantiated, or outright distortion, and pure unadulterated balderdash. His nauseating fixation upon and paranoid conspiratorial delusions about Pakistanis are a transparent attempt to justify the murderous rampage, carnage and barbarism faced by West Asia. The twaddle fails to illuminate the confusing deluge of eerily inept and counter-intuitive claptrap masquerading as fact in the clumsily stage-managed "global war on terror" environment. The author's selective amnesia fails to consider the fact that more than 1000 Pakistanis have died fighting the so called "war on terror", and Pakistan has been a US ally since 1947. Pakistanis say "we don't want your favors or your hate". Leave Pakistan and Pakistanis alone.

The Pakistani people also have some questions for Congress. Pakistan paid $450 million for F-16s. She neither got the planes nor the money, and the planes were resold for additional Dollars to Pakistan. What kind of friendship is this?

More than 1000 Pakistani soldiers have died in the "war on terror", but India got a Nuclear deal. What kind of friendship is this?

Pakistan has been an ally of the USA for more than 60 years, a cold war ally, a founding member of SEATO and CENTO and currently a Major Non-Nato Ally (MNNA). However Pakistan get lectures to "do more" while the USA is unable to crush her enemies in Afghanistan and the NATO soldiers are unable to provide security to the Mayor of Kabul, the incompetent Mr. Karzai. How about more democracy for the Pashtuns of Afghanistan.

Pakistan was instrumental in defeating the USSR, and liberating Afghanistan. As a reward Pakistan faced multi-faceted sanctions. What kind of friendship is this?

Israel got $30 billion in aid. Pakistan got peanuts for waging this war. What kind of friendship is this?

President Ayub Khan said it best in his book: We need "Friends Not Masters".

Pakistan was the only state dismembered after 2nd word war (45-71). Pakistanis pledged "never again". A.Q Khan and Pakistan's clandestine nuclear program in the face of world sanctions was an achievement which prevents the enemies from crossing Pakistan's borders ever again. Other countries like India, Korea, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Israel also ran similar secret programs banking on the under-word trade of arms and part. To blame Pakistan for all evils is ridiculous.

Pakistanis refuse to take foster parentage of the morass of foreign policy failures that perpetuate this cycle of blowback and violence. Empire building and Imperial hubris has repercussions.The powers to be have to think of the consequences of creating evil. The Frankenstein monster like Rabbi Eliyahu of Chelm's mythical "Golen" came after it's maker. How many remember the lessons from the broomstick in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

We want to anathematize this mantra of "holding Pakistan responsible" for the actions of the scum that was nurtured in the augean stables of national corruption (CIA's drug trade, First Afghan war against the USSR, Iran-Contra etc), trained as anti-communists in xenophobic camps during the 80s, and used as human cannon fodder against the USSR by the likes of the hedonistic Charlie Wilson who were luxuriating in leafy complexes on the Potomic.

Few political scientists have fully identified the inherent risks of direct US action in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Not only will this generate a tsunami of anti-Americanism, and anti-British feelings, this action will also push the miscreants to the urban areas of Pakistan destabilizing the country. Al-Qaeda will thrive in chaos and threaten the government and the people of Pakistan.

The push theory (pushing miscreants out of one area) does not work. When the Police raids a street gang on a street, they simply move over to the next street. The solution is a comprehensive plan to interdict drugs and create alternative employment for the youth. Similarly fighting terror is a two pronged strategy. An unstable Pakistan is bad for the entire planet. The solution is a massive "Marshall Plan" for Pakistan, which creates incentives for the people to earn a proper living. To start with, the US should abolish the quotas and subsidies on textiles. This will enhance Pakistani exports and provide jobs to the youth.

Action in Afghanistan pushed many people into the tribal areas of Pakistan. Pushing them out of FATA will push them deep into Pakistan. When an anti-Pakistan government was installed in Kabul, surely Pakistanis were not happy. The geo-strategic interests of Pakistan have to be taken into account. Neither the government, nor the people of Pakistan have signed up for indentured servitude to carry on the follies of a broken foreign policy that supports an incompetent and corrupt non-representative non-Pushton, minority "government" (actually institutionalized narco-warlordism) in Kabul. The NATO troops are teething on annihilation by the anti-occupation insurgent (wrongly labeled as "Talibaan"). All of Afghanistan is in revolt against the "occupiers". All this has created immense problems for Pakistan, and Pakistanis are not too happy fighting Pakistanis......neither Musharraf nor anyone else supports Pakistanis fighting Pakistanis. The Tribal areas are "tribal". They joined Pakistan under treaty obligations that allowed them total autonomy...that was the deal for joining the Federation. They have helped Pakistan for the past 60 years. The articles of the confederation of the constitution of Pakistan cannot be changed because of failed US policies in Afghanistan. NATO and America needs to build peace by wining the hearts and minds of Afghans not by cluster bombs and missiles.

Blaming someone else for the Neocon inspired foreign policy failures is a favorite pastime of losers in the USA. Blame China for the problems in North Korea, blame Libya for the issues in Chad, Blame Cuba for the anti-Americanism in Venezuela, blame Iran for the fiasco in Iraq, blame the Palestinians for the war in Israel, and blame Pakistan for the incompetence of the puppet Vichi like Karzai war lordism misnamed a "government" and the failures of NATO in Afghanistan. You can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time. The American people see thorough the smoke screen of demonizing all Muslims everywhere. America and world recognizes that the failed Neocon policies will not get better by blaming others.

Already all the roads to Kabul are in Talib control. America made a critical mistake in imposing a non-Pashtun Northern Alliance anti-Pakistan Karzai government in Kabul. Pakistan and Pashtuns will never tolerate a Northern Alliance government in Kabul. The worst thing America can do right now, is to invade the FATA areas. This will unite the Talibs as never before, and the fall of Kabul will be expedited.

American policy makers are blind to all this. Just like they never found WMDs in Iraq, they will never find OBL in Pakistan. Pakistani cooperation is crucial in this part of the world. They are destabilizing a country of 150 million people which will have long term consequences for India, China, the Central Asian republics and Iran. If attempts to destabilization continue, the "Plan for a new American Century" (PNAC) will be further discredited as Pakistan will join revolutionary Iran and create a nexus with the economic powerhouse China or even a resurgent Russia.

We need to develop a "Pull theory" which would pull the insurgents into more productive endeavors like employment and economic prosperity. The only solution is a "Marshall Plan for Pakistan and Afghanistan". Build bridges, don't blow them up.

A fascinating account of AQ Khan - self-styled "father" of Pakistan's bomb - and his extraordinary relationship with Pakistan's military rulers, who encouraged him to supply nuclear technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran; then denied that they had any part in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The authors' central thesis that, successive US administrations ignored the intelligence regarding Pakistan's nuclear programme and lied to Congress in order to obtain funding for Pakistan at the time of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and, more recently, during the 'war on terror' is supported by compelling evidence. A big book - but an easy read - I bought it at an airport and read it on two flights. If (when?) a major US city is destroyed by terrorists using a nuclear bomb, readers of this book will at least have the benefit of knowing whom to blame.