The Dunsmore Dossier

About the Book

The British-supplied dossier on WMDs was what the Americans were looking for to justify invading Iraq. President Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Dr. David Dunsmore was relieved as an U.N. weapon's inspector in Iraq and went back to work for the Ministry of Defense at the government's biological warfare facility. "We're at the brink of war, and I have betrayed my friends," he said. "Do you know how they deal with people who betray them? I will probably be found dead in the woods if the Americans invade Iraq."

After Saddam's defeat no WMDs were found, and the government was pressured to explain its deception. The blame was defrayed to Dunsmore, and he was ordered to reveal the names of those he had disclosed classified information to. The night before he was to testify he was found dead in the woods near his home, as he had predicted. The government concluded that Dr. Dunsmore's "suicide was regrettable."

The unanswered question remained: Who were the "friends" Dr. Dunsmore believed he had betrayed?

About the Author

Norman Gerard worked through college by directing theater. At 28 he was a first-call IATSE Director of Photography. He lectured at Art Center College and directed the film for Exxon's Pavilion at EPCOT.

Among his other books are the historical and political non-fiction thrillers: The Wreck of the Alamo and The Assassin From Stavanger.

He also wrote murder-mystery, Spider, and a non-fiction journal, The Demise of the American Independent Film Movement?about the digital age, the meaning of intellectual property in the era of rampant legal and illegal piracy.

From 1996 to '98 he wrote, produced and directed two feature films: Snake Skin Jacket and The Murder in China Basin.