Rating: 
Summary: Bad writing, bad sources, bad hawkish ideas.
Review: This book illustrates why Americans have to take agressive actions towards the rogue states in which he calls "evil". His approach is to be agressive towards these countries and use force when it is needed, in the case of Iraq. He gave good details on how we can deal with terrorists such as denying them entry into the US, curtail their freedom of action and unplug their material and moral support. However, the policies are easier said than done because by implementing these policies, they will adversely destroy the human rights all Americans have. By denying the terrorist entries, it will prevent some problems, but at the risk of investigating every American's personal information to weed out the bad. We can only deny terrorists if we know they are terrorist. We can not fill in the action and intention of Joe Shmoe who will turn terrorist. By curtailing terrorist's freedom of action, we have to identify who are the terrorists, which is obviously a problem. In one example, a person who converted himself to Islam by growing a beard was reported as a suspicious terrorist. Frum/Perle said "we must destroy regimes implicated in anti-American terrorism (97)." This is an aggressive policy that only works temporarily but blinded by the long-term effects. The U.S. government does not have the right to infringe a country's sovereignty or attack a country because it does not comply. The short term plan will work fine, but in the long run, the U.S.'s international trust will decline. On Iran, they said "But the mullahs are plenty bitter as it is. They are determined to destroy us, and they will do their utmost to achieve that end whatever we do. In their paranoia, they will believe that we are hiding their dissidents whether we do so or not (112)." This is self-fulfilling prophecy and predictions of action. Thus, it is unsound and speculative. On the Saudi, "it's hard to explain why we would care whether they survive. The Saudi qualify for their own membership in the axis of evil (138)."
Most sources are from conservative thinktanks and news reports. Perle/Frum connected Hussein and Osama by citing sources from two investigative reports from the newspapers, one based in London. Bad writing, bad sources, bad hawkish ideas. It does open the conservative view to the eyes of the liberals, but it does not worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Handbook for the 21st Century Crusade
Review: In a nutshell, authors Frum and Perle advocate what can only be characterized as a 21st Century crusade against Islam. While the authors suggest immigration reform, budgetary constraint and other aspects of 21st Centry America that may have left us susceptible to terrorist attack, it is clear that the proverbial 'fountain of all evil' is situated in Riyadh with the Saudi Royal family and what the authors characterize as their hypocritical embrace of Wahhabist Islam in order to maintain their grip on power. A significant part of what the authors discuss in this book is true in general terms: the Saudis are perhaps not the "true friend and ally" of America that they portray themselves to be but are rather hypocrites who have financially supported terrorist groups from Al-Qaeda to Hezbollah and Hamas; the Wahhabist brand of Islam is the most fundamentalist and anti-Western and is arguably the breeding ground for most of the jihadists who threaten America's security; the biggest threat to the security of America and our allies emanates from rogue governments such as that of Kim Jong Il in North Korea; and America's lax immigration policies essentially opened the door to terrorist infiltration of our society. However, in attempt to apportion blame for 9/11 for example, the authors oversimplify the Clinton Administration's alleged failure to react to the terrorist threat. Contrary to what authors Perle and Frum suggest, at no time would it have been possible for the United States to "invade" Afghanistan to decapitate the Taliban regime even after the attack on the U.S.S. Cole or the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Only the horror of 9/11 and a direct attack on U.S. soil provided the United States with the popular mandate and impetus to launch an invasion of another country at the inception of the war on terror. In the view of authors Perle and Frum, the antidote to the evil of terrorism is not a critical re-examination of America's role in the Middle East (because according to the authors America is essentially blameless), but rather an exaggerated hybrid of an application of the Monroe Doctrine through the eyes of the Bush Administration which is an aggressive program of regime change beginning with the authors' advocated overthrow of the Islamic government in Iran, the Ba'athist Assad government in Syria, to tacit support for the succession of the eastern province of Saudi Arabia that is predominantly Shi'ite and the location of 90% of Saudi Arabia's petroleum reserves. The authors are correct that the United States needs to reexamine critically its relationship with Saudi Arabia. The authors are also correct that the Islamic world needs to critically reexamine such issues as its treatment of women as well as the the tendency of Islamic societies to close themselves to western ideas. The authors are also correct that the United States needs to restructure its immigration program. Finally, the authors are correct that the United States should use its power and influence to promote a resolution of the Palestinian problem once and for all. However, contrary to the positions of the authors, the solution will not necessarily come from simple elimination of Hezbollah and Hamas but also from promoting mutual rerspect between the Palestinians and Israelis. As a sidenote, the authors are correct that the Palestinian issue has been exploited by various anti-Western forces in the Middle East who have done nothing to promote lasting peace in the region. The biggest failure of the authors' argument is that it ignores the essential principle of American society which is that America is not an imperial power in the 19th Century sense nor is the American military the bulwark of a new crusade against Islamic fundamentalism. The authors also ignore the basic reality that that such an aggressive use of American power under the guise of stopping terror in its tracks would find little if no support among America's allies. Even the Iraq War was "legally" justified by enforcement of U.N. Resolution 1441. Regime change by force of arms in Teheran, Damascus, Pyongyang and Riyadh lacks even an arguable legal justification. Terrorism is a global problem. An isolationist, "go it alone" approach is doomed to failure.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful Must Read for Open-Minded People
Review: Frum and Perle deal with the realities of combating terror in the modern world in this insightful book. I also was fortunate to see both authors take questions on Cspan for over an hour. Their calm, logical and knowledgeable responses to the questions put to them by the press expose the intellectual bankruptcy of many of the leftist and Bush hater reviews included on this site. I was a Democrat for many years but the party has lost it's way and I think it will be a long time before the American people will elect a Democrat President. In any case, the authors will give you a lot to think about.
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Summary: radical Islam
Review: I completely agree with Perle and Frum. AS a refugee from Libya, during the Arab Israeli War of 1967, I seen this all coming. Al Qaeda will never give up, CNN ran a story about it on 1/11/04 and said the same thing. Radical Islam will never give up, we don't listen, at our own peril. Something is wrong with the Liberals in this country, they want to turn us over to radical Islam, I for one, never want to live under a government controlled by them. I have seen what it can do and it terrifies me. Our worst nightmare is on our doorstep.
Rating: 
Summary: Shoddy and dishonest work
Review: these two authors have produced a dispairingly thoughtless piece of work. Their strategic thinking does not seem to transcend the slogan "we have might therefore we are right". A simple glance at history should have told them that powerful and undefeatable empires were brought down again and again by this sort of blind crusading. I asked myself as to how two think tank scholars could produce such shoddily put together foreign policy strategy. After some research I came to understand the backgrounds of the authors. Frum was an obscure canadian right wing columnist until he gained prominance with his "brilliant" "axis of evil" term (a two year old could do better), and since then seems to have deluded himself into thinking that he is qualified for defining the foreign policy of the United States. As for Perle, well there seems to be enough questions around his motivations and qualifications. Too bad, for the missed opportunity of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Agreed: Spot-on
Review: The leftists who've panned this book as part of some 'paranoid neocon agenda' are, of course, part of another paranoid agenda: One where the US retracts from the Middle East, the WTO, globalization, and pretty much all worldwide pro-democracy policy initiatives (including the war on terror). This agenda is the true reactionary movement of modern days, and manifestations of its success will certainly doom the Middle East to remain under the impoverishment and gloom of the developing world's myriad kleptocracies, the very states that allow terrorism to flourish. Frum and Perle are terribly maligned here on Amazon, and it's just sad. Ideas as they're forwarding here are at least providing a blueprint for hope for those living under the thumb of terrible leaders, and hope for a world without terror.
Rating:
Summary: Perle's not being very up front
Review: Perle has been advocating overthrowing governments in the Middle East - Iraq, then Syria and Iran - for years. His reasons had nothing to do with U.S. security, but since 2001 he has exploited the 9/11 attack to promote them as important for American security. You can read about Perle's real intent from this manifesto he took the lead in writing seven years ago...m
Rating: 
Summary: Great prescription
Review: I'm surprised by the number of otherwise intelligent people who typically condemn the strategies Frum and Perle proffer in this book. The fundamental point these people forget is that you can't negotiate with an irrational and unreasonable enemy with little conscience and bent on killing us. That is one of the salient points of AN END TO EVIL and the authors present a comprehensive strategy to deal with these people. I don't think the book presents anything particular new, and I wish the authors had included more references for many of their assertions, but overall it's an excellent review of where we're at in the War on Terror and what should come next.
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Summary: A one dimensional world
Review: These two insiders and would-be intellectuals provide an analysis of world affairs worthy of a 12 year old school yard bully. They seem not to understand that violence breeds violence, belligerance breeds resentment, and imperialism breeds resistance. They disparage the UN, because they say it was set up to deal with state to state violence and can't handle non-state violence perpetrated by terrorist groups. However, all known terrorist groups get their most fearsome weapons from governments of sympathetic states, or use such states as bases of operation. Think about Al Qaeda and Afghanistan. No known terrorist group has the technical capacity to manufacture biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons. They seek these weapons from countries that are sympathetic, or bribable individuals within countries that possess such weapons. Thus, the role of the UN in working with nations to prevent proliferation of state possession of WMD is absolutely crucial to preventing their dissemination to terrorist groups. That Perle and Frum don't even vaguely recognize this fact indicates their blindness, and their arrogance in the belief that power is always the answer. This book is a waste of any thoughtful person's time.
Rating:
Summary: Wiser Words
Review: The oldest advice is usually the best: "Depart from evil,and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it."
Psalms 34:14
Yet Perl and Frum assert: "The determination of the State Department to reconcile the irreconcilable, to negotiate the unnegotiable, and to appease the unappeasable is an obstacle to victory." (pg 221) The very fact that the world was NOT annililated during the Cold War belies that statement. The Iron Curtain quietly died from patient diplomacy. The Berlin Wall was torn down by hand without a shot. However,it may be that the duplicity of the US, with her publicly supported peaceful policies being undermined by covert ones unknown to her own citizens over the years, has given rise to the anger she now experiences. Mr. Rogers says, "Be a good neighbor." Two wrongs DON'T make a right. Everybody knows that. In any case, the last piece of advice a democratic government should take is from page 227: "Next, we should increase sharply the number of political appointees in the State Department and expand their role." Yeah, right! Open more critical positions to the Executive's favorites with lockstep minds and dollar signs in their eyes. No need of educated professionals with independent minds there!(Perhaps this would be believable if their husbands or wives, sons or daughters were drafted into the active military service overseas in the war theatre at the same time.) Give peace a chance. No one wins a nuclear war. North Korea's got nothing going for it; it's in the arms business because it sells - which some Americans must understand. If a coalition of allies made North Korea an offer - training or factories or farming or utilities for disarmament, certainly that would be the more tempting offer for them. And the U.S. Win peace by pursuing peace. Sound advice.
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