"We seem to be approaching this war in the wrong way, with a vision that is too limited. This is not a war against Iraq. This is a war against the terror masters. This is a war against a nexus of countries," argued AEI scholar Michael A. Ledeen at a book forum on September 10. In presenting his new book, The War against the Terror Masters, Ledeen argued that a war against only Iraq would be insufficient because there are four states in the Middle East--Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria--that sponsor terrorism. "We have to deal with them all. . . . I cannot imagine that we can take any one of these countries and deal with it alone without the others coming after us. So I think if we begin with Iraq, which seems to be our intention, we will see the Iranians, and the Syrians, and the Saudis right away."

Ledeen placed the current battle with terrorists in the context of a longer battle against terrorism stretching back to the late 1970s. The strength of the terrorists today can be partly attributed to American weakness during much of that period. "All along we said terrorism will not prevail. This will not stand. We will take violent action. We will not permit Americans to be killed, to be kidnapped, to be taken hostage, to be ransomed, etc. And yet we did," Ledeen said. "So no one, at least up until Afghanistan, was inclined to listen to any of the warnings, or any of the bravado of one American president or another."

This failure to address the problem adequately over a long period of time contributed to the intelligence failure. The intelligence community failed in part because of "the refusal of American presidents and other policymakers to embrace the kind of action that was required to fight terrorism, and without [good] policy you don't get good intelligence. By the time we staggered to September 11, we were disarmed and mostly blinded and unable to see what was going on."

Ledeen offered a plan for addressing the continuing threat of terrorism: "Nothing tears [messianic movements] apart more effectively and more thoroughly and more rapidly than defeat, and the first blow to them was delivered in Afghanistan, which has greatly diminished the standing of Osama [bin Laden] in the Islamic world. And when we wage finally this war against Iran, Iraq, and Syria and we bring Saudi Arabia finally to terms, you will not find very much air left in the balloon of radical Islamic messianism." By defeating the terrorists in such a way, Ledeen said, America will make it "very hard for them to recruit young Muslims."

Despite the successes thus far, Ledeen expressed concern that Washington may have too narrow a vision. Changing the terror master countries through pressure and military attack will not be as difficult as some might think. Ledeen cited the desire of the people to be free of repressive tyrants and live like Americans. "The fundamental weapon we have against these tyrants are the people of the countries themselves," Ledeen said.

Ledeen was optimistic both about the chances for success in a war against the terror masters and what that might mean. The war is "about transforming the Middle East through democratic revolution, which is what America has always excelled in, so this should be an easy war for us to wage. . . . This is a war of freedom against tyranny. We are engaged in bringing down four terrorist tyrannies in order to rid ourselves of this terrible threat."