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Army buys, destroys memoir copies

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department bought up thousands of copies of an Army officer's memoir and destroyed them, saying the book revealed state secrets.

CNN reported Saturday Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer labeled the destruction of his book, "Operation Dark Heart," "ludicrous."

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Lt. April Cunningham, a Defense Department spokeswoman, told the U.S. news network military officials oversaw the destruction of about 9,500 copies of the memoir on Sept. 20.

"DoD decided to purchase copies of the first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to national security," Cunningham said.

Shaffer said he found out about the Pentagon's purchase Friday.

"The whole premise smacks of retaliation," Shaffer told CNN. "Someone buying 10,000 books to suppress a story in this digital age is ludicrous."

Shaffer's publisher has released a second printing of the book. St. Martin's Press said it made some changes the government wanted "while redacting other text he (Shaffer) was told was classified."

Blacked out lines appear throughout the book's 299 pages.

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