Well, it’s not censorship in it’s strictest terms (meaning the guy wasn’t denied the right to publish). But when a government purchases 9,500 copes of a book just so it can be destroyed, it’s a bit worrisome, to say the least. That doesn’t sound like something that happens in the United States.
Pentagon officials bought and destroyed thousands of copies of an Army reservist’s memoir about fighting in Afghanistan over fears it revealed military secrets, a spokeswoman confirmed Saturday.
The Department of Defense trashed 9,500 copies of Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s “Operation Dark Heart” because it could harm national security, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. April Cunningham told CNN.
“The whole premise smacks of retaliation,” Shaffer, who won a Bronze Star medal while leading a black-ops team fighting the Taliban, told the network news station. “Someone buying 10,000 books to suppress a story in this digital age is ludicrous.”
The Pentagon has already redacted large portions of Shaffer’s 299-page book, which is being published by St. Martin’s Press.
Pentagon officials said last month that Shaffer and his publisher didn’t get the okay to publish all the topics the soldier covers in “Dark Heart” – and took matters into their own hands last week.
