War Against the Terror Masters

This occasionally simplistic polemic calls for a ""revolutionary war"" on the ""coherent terror network"" organized by the governments of Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the ""driving force behind international terrorism,"" Iran. Ledeen, a member of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute and a former National Security Council consultant, persuasively details the links between these regimes and terrorist groups, and castigates previous presidents (particularly the ""corrupt"" and ""self-indulgent"" Bill Clinton) for discounting the terrorist threat and tolerating the complacency and bungling of U. S. intelligence agencies. His unnuanced theory of terrorism, however-the ""terror masters"" are ""tyrants"" who loathe America because of its mere ""existence"" as a symbol of freedom-downplays political complexities and ignores America's tarnished record in the Middle East. And while Ledeen urges the United States to help the citizens of terrorist states overthrow their despotic rulers, he warns that to do so-i.e., to be ready for war-Americans must give up their faith in ""radical egalitarianism"" and ""the perfectibility of man"" in favor of Machiavellian principles (""The only important thing is winning""; ""It is better to be feared than loved""). Some readers will applaud Ledeen's hard-nosed demand to ""reconcile our democratic values with the necessity of imposing our will,"" but others may think the compromise too great.