Operation Paperclip

[Joseph Tracy]

One of the problems with the uncovering of deceptive, secretive or criminal operations is the implied sense that all hidden operations have or will come to light. This is like presuming that all murders will be solved.  Also, when investigators suggest a conspiracy they can easily be labeled paranoid and nutty  until the proof is on the table at which point it will suddenly always have been obvious.    
    
On Feb 27, 2014, at 9:47 AM, Monte Davis wrote:

> "These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine..."
> 
> Well, primarily the brains behind an ineffective if scary last-ditch "wonder weapon" that began operations after Germany's defeat was inevitable. (Paperclip eventually involved nearly 2000 German technologists in aeronautics, electronics, synthetic fuels and other fields, but the Peenemunde crew was the only team targeted and imported _en bloc_ with a coherent body of expertise and experience.) 
> 
> "...a startling, complex, nefarious, and jealously guarded government secret of the twentieth century."
> 
> Assuming that by "jealously guarded" you mean "not known to people who ignored dozens of news reports and books from 1946 on, not to mention Wernher von Braun's nefarious talks to top-secret Chamber Of Commerce luncheons in New Mexico, Texas and Alabama."
> 
> I'm quoting the Hachette publicist's blurb, which may not fairly represent Jacobsen's book. But the former certainly makes the latter sound like yet another faux-"now it can be told" expose. As I've argued here before, the real Paperclip-WvB story is not 
> 
> "Look how They kept a deep dark secret from innocent, trusting Americans"
> 
> -- which is simply, provably false -- but 
> 
> "Look how smoothly we -- government, press and public together -- replaced the 'Nazi wizards of war' narrative with the 'shiny science defends us from Commies' narrative."
> 
> 
> On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 10:48 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/annie-jacobsen/operation-paperclip/9780316221047/
> 

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l