End to Evil

Richard Perle; David Frum

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1400061946 ISBN 13: 9781400061945

Publisher: Random House USA Inc, 2003

Two foreign policy experts provide a conservative, inside look at the continuing threat of terrorism, discussing the current crisis with North Korea, Chinese aggression, American vulnerabilities, the status of the intelligence community and military, and other dangers, as well as what the U.S. needs to do to protect itself and its citizens. 100,000 first printing.

Review:

Some observers see the global political landscape as a complex amalgam of divergent world views, shades of grey that usually move in harmony but sometimes collide with violent results. David Frum and Richard Perle, authors of An End to Evil think it's a great deal simpler than that: the United States is good, those who pose a threat, current or future, are evil and must be neutralised or destroyed. Frum, the former speechwriter for George W Bush credited with coining the term "axis of evil", and Perle, a former assistant Secretary of Defence who was still serving on the Defence Policy Board at the time this book was published, advocate an aggressive, activist approach to stomping out terrorism both within America's borders and in other countries. Their plan, described with forceful and urgent language, calls for the United States to overthrow the government of Iran, abandon support of a Palestinian state, blockade North Korea, use strong-arm tactics with Syria and China, disregard much of Europe as allies, and sever ties with Saudi Arabia. Domestically, the authors say, several federal agencies need to be overhauled, a national ID card system needs to be put in place, and the government and its citizens need to realise the gravity of the terrorist threat and step up the effort, as the title indicates, to end evil. Frum and Perle place blame for American ineffectiveness in the fight against terrorism on some political targets one would expect (Congressional Democrats, Bill Clinton) but also point fingers at the present-day intelligence community and even the State Department. It's a broad-ranging political opinion book--one might even use the words "screed" or "manifesto". Perhaps because it tries to cover so much ground, the individually compelling arguments don't hold together as coherently as one might hope. Still, for those who believe that the threat of terrorism is immense and that not nearly enough is being done about it, Frum and Perle offer a stirring call to arms. --Charlie Williams, Amazon.com

Review:

"A not completely crazy case can be made that the most influential thinker in the foreign-policy apparatus of the Administration of George W. Bush during its first two years was not one of the familiar members of the gold-shielded Praetorian Guard--not Dick Cheney or Colin Powell, not Condi or Rummy, not Tenet or Wolfowitz--but, rather, a forty-two-year-old Canadian named David Frum." --Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker

"[Richard Perle is the] intellectual guru of the hard-line neoconservative movement in foreign policy. . . . [He] has profound influence over Bush policies and officials in the competition for the hearts of the president and his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice."
--Dana Milbank, The Washington Post

From the Hardcover edition.