Hey, we paid for all those damn facts gathered by "the leader in international research" -- we might as well have them in book form

"Need to know the chief political pressure groups in Burkina Faso?"

"Want to know the military service age and obligation in Australia?"

by Ken

These eternally riveting questions grabbed the attention of our pal Al Kamen -- as he reports in today's Washington Post "In the Loop" column -- in a promotional blurb from Skyline Publishing for its newly published CIA World Factbook 2010.

The Skyhorse version, printed in Canada, has "nearly seven decades' worth" of facts and stats, the blurb says, calling the CIA "the leader in international research." (Probably true, but not something that comes immediately to mind.) And they have ways of getting "facts" that the Encyclopaedia Britannica doesn't.

The paperback's Amazon.com ranking yesterday was No. 21,558, which may be because the information, regularly updated by the agency itself, is also available free at http://www.cia.gov. (Go to "Library" on the left side of the home page. The World Factbook gets 3 million visits a month, an agency spokesman said.)

The Government Printing Office also sells the Factbook, but it's priced at $80. Since it's a government publication, you can download and print as much of it as you like. Skyhorse published the whole thing.

The 904-page book tells you, for example, that there are nearly 16,000 people living in Akrotiri and Dhekelia, two areas in Cyprus kept by the Brits when Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. [That's Akrotiri, in southwest Cyprus, at right. Wikipedia also has a map of Dhekelia, in the southeast. -- Ed.] They have their own court system and laws. Half the population is British military and contractor personnel and their dependents, and the remaining folks are Cypriots. The two bases have a total area of about 97 square miles -- more than 1 1/2 times the size of the District of Columbia -- and 60 percent of the land is privately owned and farmed. The areas have been reported to be part of a British-U.S. signals intelligence system -- something the Factbook doesn't note.

There are great trivia nuggets amid the very detailed country-by-country reports. Have you ever heard of Jan Mayen, described as a "desolate, arctic, mountainous island" northeast of Iceland and a bit more than twice the size of the District? Home to the famous Haakon VII Toppen/Beerenberg volcano, the island, a territory of Norway, was named for the not-very-famous Dutch whaling captain who discovered it. No one lives there save some employees of Norway's radio and meteorological stations.

So "whether you want to learn about your next vacation spot or you simply don't trust your research to online references," the Skyhorse blurb says, in what could be a slap at Wikipedia and maybe Frommer's, you'll have the "CIA's knowledge right at your fingertips."

Look for the hidden clues in the index to find those elusive weapons of mass destruction. (Decoder ring not included.)

Note: If you don't need the absolute latest world facts, Amazon.com vendors are selling The CIA World Factbook 2008for as little as $2.97 used ($3.95 new) plus shipping, or The World Factbook 2000: CIA's 1999 Edition(back then the thing was published all the way back in June, and so was always explained to be the CIA's previous-year edition) for as little as $.53!


DOES THE CIA ANSWER ALL OUR QUESTIONS?

When you think about it, the CIA has answers to a whole lot of questions we've wondered about over the years. You don't suppose they're included in the Factbook, do you?

Like right off the top of my head, I'd like to know:

* Is it true that in 2001 the CIA actually knew all about the threat to American security posed by Al Qaeda but left the information in its other pants?

* Did the CIA mastermind a plot to drive then Chilean President Salvador Allende to suicide by having dozens of unordered pizzas delivered to the presidential palace in Santiago in 1973?

* Was Fidel Castro behind Lee Harvey Oswald's being in Dallas on that fateful day in November 1963? Is it true that Oswald's real mission was to have a large quantity of "decent barbecue" shipped to Fidel in Havana?

* Did the real Felix Leiter ever play himself, or appear on-screen in any other capacity, in any James Bond movie?

* Is there an easy mnemonic device to help remember which of those damn little Central American countries is which, and where? Like we all know Panama has the canal, and Nicaragua the Sandinistas, and now Honduras has the military junta, but really, just between us, how is the shopping down there? What would you say is a really good buy in each country?

I'm sure I'll think of other questions. Meanwhile, feel free to add yours to the list.


UPDATE: SO YOU'RE WONDERING ABOUT
THAT AUSTRALIAN MILITARY BUSINESS?

Al never did check out those Burkina Faso pressure groups, but he just had to have that Australian military-sevice information. "The Factbook," he reports, "says 17-year-olds, with parental consent, can serve. There is no draft."

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