The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots' Quest for Destruction

by Michael A. Ledeen

The War Against the Terror Masters is a must-read guide to the terrorist crisis. Michael A. Ledeen explains in startling detail how and why the United States was so unprepared for the September 11th catastrophe; the nature of the terror network we are fighting--including the state sponsors of that network; the role of radical Islam; and the enemy collaboration of some of our traditional Middle Eastern "allies";--and, most convincingly, what we must do to win the war.

The War Against the Terror Masters examines the two sides of the the rise of the international terror network, and the past and current efforts of our intelligence services to destroy the terror masters in the U.S. and overseas. Ledeen's new book also visits every country in the Near East and describes the terrorist cancers in each. Among many revelations that will attract wide *How the terror network survived the loss of its main sponsor, the Soviet Union. *How the FBI learned from a KGB defector--twenty years before Osama's bin Laden's murderous assault--of the existance of Arab terrorist sleeper networks inside the United States. *How moralistic guidelines straight-jacketed the FBI from even collecting a file of newspaper clippings on known terror groups operating in America. *How the internal culture of the CIA, and severe limitations on its ability to operate, blinded us to the growth of terror networks. And much more.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2007

About the author

Michael Arthur Ledeen was an American scholar and neoconservative foreign policy analyst. He was a consultant to the United States National Security Council, the United States Department of State, and the United States Department of Defense. He held the Freedom Scholar chair at the American Enterprise Institute where he was a scholar for 20 years, and also held the similarly named chair at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He was very close to Italian politician Antonio Martino. Ledeen was also noted to have done work for Italian intelligence agency SISMI, having received over $100,000 in payment to offshore bank accounts for services including but not limited to training Italian intelligence operatives. Ledeen denied these allegations but admitted that he did do work for SISMI and was paid for it.

Reviews

[Charles Blumberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tells the story of how the Iranian gov't has been at war with the US and western civilization since taking power in 1979 and our gov't continues to think it can negotiate with them. Starting with the US embassy seizure in 1979, Iran has been behind nearly every on the US (1983 Beruit Embassy bombing, 1984 Lebanon kidnappings, 1985 TWA flight killing of Navy diver, 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, facilitating Hezbollah Al Qaeda funding and training including 9/11 terrorists, and Iraq and Afghanistan insurgency).

US response (or lack thereof) is partly due to our belief that "peace is the normal condition of mankind"), that all people are good, all problems can be solved through patience and negotiation. Its our failure to understand that Iran is totally committed to our destruction and that they embrace death instead of mourning it.

But there is an answer - FREEDOM. The citizens of Iran are ready for change. Iran can be "peaceably" be changed from within without firing a bullet. It just needs the the voice of our gov't to say we want and will support Iranians to live in a free society and provide the hope, information, and material support.

[Kashayar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great arguments about the state of affairs of Iran by a leading scholar of the current Iranian affairs. If you have no clue about the Iranian situation, this is a great thing for starters. Michael Ledeen argues for a tougher stance towards the Iranian regime and argues for giving legitimate support to the Iranian dissidents inside and outside of the country. There are a few historical misstatements that might hurt the book but other than that, it is a great and simple read for every concerned citizen. Highly recommended.

[Avi · Rating 3 out of 5]

a must read....highly informative and important knowledge, but not the best written book