The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security and Stability

What is the optimal strategy for the United States and its allies to pursue in Afghanistan? Observers across the political spectrum agree that military operations alone are not enough to secure Afghanistan against a powerful insurgency linked to global jihadism. There is increasing consensus as well that Pakistan - a refuge for important al-Qaeda figures, and also under attack by insurgents who identify themselves as Taliban - is deeply involved in this conflict. ...more

Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West

Acknowledging the existence and actions of evil enemies means accepting that we are at war, and then designing and conducting a strategy to win. Accomplice to Evil takes a compre hensive look at the errors we have made in the past when dealing with a mounting enemy force, why we’ve refused to acknowledge the implications of a rising evil, and how we can defeat the forces that threaten us today. ...more

Energy Victory

In this compelling argument for a new direction in US energy policy, world-renowned engineer and best-selling author Robert Zubrin lays out a bold plan for breaking the economic stranglehold that the OPEC oil cartel has on our country and the world. A senior fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Zubrin presents persuasive evidence that our decades-long relationship with OPEC has resulted in the looting of our economy, the corruption of our political system, and now the funding and protection of terrorist regimes and movements that are committed to our destruction. Debunking the false solutions and myths that have deterred us from taking necessary action, Zubrin exposes the fakery that has allowed many politicians to posture that they are acting to resolve this problem while actually doing nothing significant toward that goal. ...more

Willful Blindness

An FDD Senior Fellow and director of its Law and Counterterrorism Center, Andrew C. McCarthy takes readers back to the real beginning of the war on terror--not the atrocities of September 11, but the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993 when radical Islamists effectively declared war on the United States. From his perch as a government prosecutor of the blind sheik and other jihadists responsible for the bombing, Andrew McCarthy takes readers inside the twisted world of Islamic terror. ...more

 

The War of Ideas

From Afghanistan and Iraq to Europe and the U.S., we are engaged in one of the most heated wars of all time. In this incisive book, terrorism expert and FDD Senior Fellow Walid Phares shows that the most important battle of all is taking place in the hearts and minds of people across the world. This is the War of Ideas, where ideology is the most powerful weapon. Phares looks at the two opposing camps, one standing for democracy and human rights, the other rejecting the global community and calling for jihad against the West. He reveals the strategies of both sides, explaining how new technology and the jihadists' media savvy have raised the stakes in the conflict. And most urgently, he warns that we are in danger of losing the war, for while debate and theorizing rarely lead to action, ideas and deeds are inextricably linked for the forces of jihad. ...more

 

Future Jihad

This Foreign Affairs bestseller from terrorism expert and FDD Senior Fellow Walid Phares allows a frightening look into the future of jihad. Phares--who has served as an expert with the Justice Department, briefed the Defense and State Departments, and testified to Congress--shows that there has been a fundamental misunderstanding about al Qaeda's ultimate goal in the West and what victory means to jihadists. Future Jihad shows how our defenses have been infiltrated, identifies the future generation of home-grown terrorists and points the way for America to win the ideological war at the heart of jihad. ...more

 

The Confrontation

In Future Jihad, terrorism and Middle East expert and FDD Senior Fellow Walid Phares gave a definitive account of the historical and cultural forces that led to September 11 and the rise of radical Islam. In The War of Ideas, he revealed the conflict of ideologies that underlie the War on Terror. Now, in The Confrontation, he identifies the clashes to come and provides a blueprint for defeating the forces of jihad. Moving from the ravaged villages of the Sudan to London’s Muslim neighborhoods to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, he illuminates the vast and complex world of the global Jihadist movement. He offers a multi-pronged strategy, global in scope, and calls on the world’s diverse local and international institutions to come together and coordinate their efforts. Pointing the way forward, this book shows how we might reclaim a world that is safe for freedom and democratic societies. ...more

My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir

Born into a spiritually ambiguous family (his parents are nonpracticing Jews who follow the "Infinite Way"), Gartenstein-Ross, now Vice President of Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, grew up in the 1980s, in Ashland, Ore., a bucolic, posthippie paradise with a live-and-let-live ethic. Spiritually adrift through his teens, he discovers Islam through a classmate at Wake Forest University. Gartenstein-Ross—young and searching, like so many Americans of his socioeconomic class—quickly falls under the spell of fiercely committed Muslims. He begins working for al Harman, a radical Islamic charity that would eventually be linked to al-Qaeda, and soon starts a simultaneous process of being drawn deeper into the world of radical Islam and being repulsed by its brutal realities. ...more

Freedom Betrayed: How America led a Global Democratic Revolution, Won the Cold War and Walked Away

In this call to embrace the worldwide democratic revolution, this book argues that global democracy should be the centerpiece of U.S. strategy....more

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

Ledeen, a well-known conservative pundit on Iran, argues passionately for a bolder, better-reasoned American policy toward the Islamic republic. He presents compelling evidence that the Shiite regime has collaborated with al-Qaeda and other Sunni terrorist organizations, and that Iran's Supreme Leader has considered the goal of killing Westerners and Jews throughout the Middle East.....more

 

The War Against the Terror Masters: Why It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We'll Win.

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.....more

Tocqueville on American Character: Why Tocqueville's Brilliant Exploration of the American Spirit is as Vital and Important Today as It Was Nearly Two Hundred Years Ago

In 1831, Alexis De Tocqueville, a twenty-six-year-old French aristocrat, spent nine months travelling across the United States. From the East Coast to the frontier, from the Canadian border to New Orleans, Tocqueville observed the American people and the revolutionary country they'd created. His celebrated Democracy in America, the most quoted work on America ever written, presented the new Americans with a degree of understanding no one had accomplished before or has since. Astonished at the pace of daily life and stimulated by people at all levels of society, Tocqueville recognized that Americans were driven by a series of internal conflicts: simultaneously religious and materialistic; individualistic and yet deeply involved in community affairs; isolationist and interventionist; pragmatic and ideological......more

Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are As Timely And Important Today As Five Centuries Ago

Niccolo Machiavelli, one of the eminent minds of the Italian Renaissance, spent much of a long and active lifetime trying to determine and understand what exceptional qualities of human character-- and what surrounding elements of fortune, luck, and timing-- made great men great leaders successful in war and peace......more

 

From Energy Crisis to Energy Security

American dependence on oil sends hundreds of billions of dollars overseas every year, forces the U.S. to put its troops in harm's way, and undermines American diplomatic efforts. As the United States experiences rapidly increasing oil and commodities prices, coupled with sluggish economic growth, it is critical that American policymakers address this challenge in a thoughtful and systematic manner...more