October 13, 2009 | Press Release

Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West by FDD Freedom Scholar Michael Ledeen

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Press Release
October 13, 2009
CONTACT:
Judy Mayka

202-621-3948
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Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West
by FDD Freedom Scholar Michael Ledeen

Author Questions West’s Patience with Evil; Offers Path Forward on Iran

“Alone among Western pundits, Michael Ledeen anticipated the events of June 2009 in Iran.”
–R. James Woolsey, former director of the CIA


Washington, D.C. (October 13, 2009) – FDD Freedom Scholar Michael Ledeen’s prescient and challenging new book, Accomplice to Evil; Iran and the War Against the West, offers a raw picture of the Iranian regime, an alternative for the Iranian people, and a clear path for U.S. foreign policy.

Michael Ledeen is one of the foremost western scholars on Iran. He has followed the country closely for the last three decades. His clear-eyed appeals for a non-violent change of government in Iran have been heard throughout the region and Accomplice to Evil predicted the events of June 2009 with extraordinary accuracy.

This has been acknowledged by the tyrants of the Islamic Republic. In July, the Iranian regime’s official newspaper, Kayhan, accused former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami of “carrying out the instructions of Michael Ledeen.” Defendants in the ongoing show trials in Tehran have been asked by the chief prosecutor: “Were you sent by Michael Ledeen? What did Michael Ledeen tell you to do?” Another was told, “You are an agent of Michael Ledeen!”

Dr. Ledeen is a scholar, diplomat, writer, and philosopher who has had a voice in America’s most important foreign policy decisions of the past quarter century. “A Renaissance man…in the tradition of Machiavelli,” is Ted Koppel’s description. The Soviet Union declared him “an enemy of the Soviet people.” He was advisor to former Secretary of State Alexander Haig and National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane.

Accomplice to Evil is more than just a narrative about Iran; it is also an attempt to answer the question “why do we refuse to see evil when it is right in front of our eyes, even when it is obvious that many Americans will suffer and die if we do not defeat it?” Ledeen looks at similar failures in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, from fascist, Nazi and Communist dictators to African tribal leaders.

“The slogan, ‘never again,’ did not mean there would never again be evil in our world,” Ledeen writes; “it meant that we would not again stand aside as its power grew. We would see it early, and fight it before it became a global menace.”

Dr. Ledeen is an internationally-recognized expert on fascism, counter-terrorism, and national security. He is the author of twenty books including The Iranian Time Bomb, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, and Tocqueville on American Character. He is the Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a contributing editor at National Review Online.

News outlets including PBS, CNN, Fox News and a variety of talk radio shows regularly turn to Ledeen for insight and analysis on national security and international affairs. He posts near-daily on his blog, http://Pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen.

Accomplice to Evil will be published by St. Martins Press on October 13, 2009.
 

“The world is simmering in the familiar rhetoric and actions of movements and regimes—from Hezbollah and al Qaeda to the Iranian Khomeinists and the Saudi Wahhabis—who swear to destroy us and others like us, and we are repeating the errors of the recent past. Like their 20th-century predecessors, they openly proclaim their intentions, and carry them out whenever and wherever they can. Like our 20th-century predecessors, we rarely take them seriously or act accordingly.”

— Michael Ledeen, Accomplice to Evil

 


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The Foundation for Defense of Democracies is a non-profit, non-partisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that drive terrorism. Founded shortly after the attacks of 9/11, FDD combines policy research, democracy and counterterrorism education, strategic communications, and investigative journalism in support of its mission. For more information, please visit www.defenddemocracy.org.

 

Issues:

Iran