Review: An end to Evil
| Published date | 01 September 2004 |
| Date | 01 September 2004 |
| Author | Robert Jervis |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200405900316 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
AN
END
TO
EVIL
How
to
Win
the
War
on
Terror
David Frum
and
Richard
Perle
New
York:
Random
House,
2003.
2 8 4
pp,
$37.95
cloth
(ISBN
1-4000-
6194-6)
f
you
think that
Donald
Rumsfeld
is
too subtle
and
soft-spoken,
this
is
the
book
for
you.
David Frum,
a
Canadian
former
speech
writer
for President
Bush who
helped
coin
the
phrase
"the
Axis
of
Evil,"
and
Richard
Perle,
a
leading
hawk
during
the
Cold
War
and
a
strong
advo-
cate
of
the
overthrow
of
Saddam Hussein,
mount
a
vigorous
a
defence
of
the
Bush
war
on
terror
and
extend
the
line
of
reasoning
to
areas
in
which
the
administration
has
so
far
lacked
the
courage
of
its
instincts.
Supporters
of
the
president
will
find
the
book right on
target;
critics
will
see
it
as
the
triumph
of
ideology
over
objective
appraisal.
It
is
hard
to
imagine anyone
being
persuaded
by
it.
Furthermore,
in
the
end
the
authors
do
not
deliver
on
the
sub-title,
"How
to
Win
the
War
on
Terror."
Frum
and
Perle
do
a
fine
job
of
laying
out
the administration's
case.
They
argue
that
the only
way
to
combat
terrorism
is
to
wage
war
on
it,
not
treat
it
as
a
criminal
enterprise
to
be
met
by
legal
instruments,
as
Clinton
supposedly
did.
Terrorism
itself
(not
specifically
defined)
is
the
enemy
of
civilization
and
the
us
cannot
give
a
free
pass
to
groups
like
Hamas
that
claim
to
be
acting
in
a
just
cause.
The
us
has
enor-
mous
power
and must
not shrink
from
using
it
to
coerce
countries
like
Iran
and
Syria
that
sponsor terrorists
and
yet
claim
clean
hands.
Saudi
Arabia
is
a
particular problem
since
the
regime
seeks
the
benefits
of
being
an American
ally
while
spreading
Wahhabi
extremism
through-
out
the Muslim
world.
The
us
must
make
clear
that
these
activities
will
not
be
tolerated
and
back
up
its
threats
with
the
full
panoply
of
political,
economic,
and-as
a
last
resort-military
instruments.
The
Saudi
royal
family,
for
example,
should
be
reminded
that
the
oil-rich
eastern
region
is
heavily
populated
with
Shiites
who
might
be
quite
happy
to
secede.
The
Europeans
of
course
can be
counted
on
to
oppose
any
strong
actions.
They
are
not
powerful
enough
to
do
much
on
their
own, resent
American
influence
and
idealism,
and
have
no
stomach
for
confronting
a
dangerous
world.
But
as
American
policy
succeeds
in
Iraq
and
elsewhere,
supporters
of
a
free
society in
the
Third
714
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL Summer 2004
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