The Weapons Detective

In The Weapons Detective, Rod Barton tells of a professional life replete with adventure, urgency and achievement. From the chaos of Somalia to the inner sanctums of the UN, Barton has more than once been at the eye of the historical storm. He describes interviewing Iraq's Dr Germ and painstakingly uncovering a biological weapons program. He also tells of resisting political pressure from the CIA and MI6 in the aftermath of the 2003 war, when WMD failed to appear.

The Weapons Detective describes the fascinating chess-game of weapons inspection, with its mixture of detective work, scientific analysis and mind-games. It offers a fresh look at figures including Richard Butler, Hans Blix, Scott Ritter and David Kelly. Written with humour and authority, it reveals an unsung Australian hero and sheds new light on a vital chapter of contemporary history.

With a foreword by Robert Manne.

Rod Barton is the author of The Weapons Detective: The Inside Story of Australia's Top Weapons Inspector. Since the first Gulf War in 1991, Barton's unique expertise has been sought by the CIA, Canberra and the UN. A principal investigator with UNSCOM, he was invited by Hans Blix to be his special adviser in the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq war. In December 2003, Barton returned to Iraq to become for a time the de facto leader of the Iraq Survey Group. In 2005, ABC TV's Four Corners devoted a program to Barton's story and his public stand against prisoner abuse in Iraq, which led to an Australian parliamentary enquiry.