Podcast: The Jordan Harbinger Show
Episode: We Could Be on the Brink of Nuclear Annihilation | Annie Jacobsen
Here’s a list of all the books mentioned in this episode, complete with an Amazon buy link and quotes from the episode.
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"The only solution is – I have to tell you – I'm way more scared of nuclear conflict than I was before reading this book."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And like your book was like, "Actually, we'll get into all this, but it's like actually, if one person gets really suicidal or homicidal, there's pretty much nothing anyone can do about it.""
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"Then you begin to learn in the course of the book about all of the other insane situations which occur in seconds and minutes, not hours, were nuclear war to become a reality."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"Yeah, and that – I mean there's a reason why I began the book with what is known as a "bolt out of the blue" attack."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"You mentioned in the book that something like two billion people would die as a result of this, and we know this because the US has been planning for this general nuclear war."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And bit by bit, I began piecing together this shocking, terrifying scenario based on all these interviews with all of these people from various generations now saying to me, "Yep, yep, that is not hyperbole. That is how it ends in your scenario in the book.""
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And by the way, if people buy the book, please use the links in the show notes; it does support the show."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"The scenario in the book is – I'm going to overuse the word "terrifying" in this episode – but that's just the way it is, right?"
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And as I make very clear in the narrative and then specifically clear in my notes, of course, there's a hundred pages of notes at the end of the book like all my books."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And it's the first three seconds – I mean, it's just like the...I'll, of course, leave it to folks to read the book."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"As you know from reading the book in advance – and thank you for reading it so closely – this is something that is horrifying in great detail."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"But the average Joe or Jane – me, or you, doesn't know about any of this, or at least didn't; I certainly didn't in such detail until I wrote this book,and that I think is the point and the power of all of this: like understand about this, know about this, look at it face it, and then join a conversation!"
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"I mean, those are other conversations; those are offshoot conversations that I hope would happen from people reading this book."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"First and foremost, when they get it from the book in this incredibly narrative form, just like tick-tock: here's what happens; here's what happens in the first second; here's what happens in the second second."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"But I always found that funny, of course until I read the book – I was like, why are you telling us you're going to launch the thing?"
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"But the idea that we tell each other we're going to do this, in 20/20 hindsight after reading your book, is probably a really good idea."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And as I write in the book, you know, so while the rest of us are sleeping or going about our days, that's happening."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And then, as I show in the book, oh my God, what would happen were the nuclear command and control structure in the United States to figure out one of those ICBM tests isn't a test; it's actually headed for the United States?"
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"So big takeaway from the early part of the book is there's no way to win a nuclear war because it just happens too darn fast."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And okay, it's six or so minutes, but like, for example, and again, just sharing with listeners about how I reported this book based on facts in President Reagan's memoirs, he talks about the six-minute window; he describes it as irrational."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And that's where even more chaos is likely to ensue as I write in the book because you have these competing interests."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And he really encouraged me in this, in my process here, writing this book, 'Nuclear War: A Scenario,' because he said, 'Annie, the people should know.'"
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And then you also can read analysts like Bruce Blair, a former ICBM miser himself for the Air Force when he was younger, and then he became a powerful spokesman all about nuclear weapons, and he wrote lots of really interesting papers, and his theory was, 'If North Korea were to launch a nuclear weapon at the United States,' which I use in the scenario, 'the response would be 82 nuclear weapons from the United States.'"
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And that’s what I write in the scenario because, you know, Secretary Panetta and others told me about some of these very serious flaws that could result in a full-scale nuclear war, and we’ll get to some of those in a second because I’m of course curious."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"Now, I mean, not to mention the fact that if you really start to nerd out about warheads, as I do a little bit in the book, but again, read my notes."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And so you can have misreadings, and that is a disaster because as a number of experts describe to me in the scenario, and I relay, you can have, let’s—okay, so going back to the scenario whereby a bolt-out-of-the-blue attack from North Korea which is what I propose in the book, and then the 80 nuclear warhead response, okay?"
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"So from coast to coast would be effective, and I describe in length in the book what this would mean, you know, what a nuclear weapon exploded in space would happen."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"And this is why I use this narrative in 'Nuclear War: A Scenario' because it’s a very real fear for some in the United States government, and again, others will say that’s fear-mongering."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"The destruction from nukes, from EMP; it’s just so horrific, and I want to say you do a really good job in the book describing it without being crass."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"Um, and well, I’m interrupting for a second because what I also tried to do is not try to do what I did, do is pull any scene I was writing from a factual text."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"You mentioned in the book that a lot of people would die of things like radiation poisoning and disease, and the description of that is quite gross as well, like your blood won’t coagulate, your intestines rupture, and you’re essentially poisoned by the gut contents that you have."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"I hope people read the book and join this conversation while we can still have it."
Nuclear War
Buy on Amazon"I have to say before we go, I was reading the acknowledgment section of your book and found it funny; the stuff that's buried in there."