War Without End

The View from Abroad

A sobering meditation on the consequences of America’s engagement in Iraq, from one of Europe’s keenest observers and strategists on international affairs

“The struggle between us and them . . . began centuries ago, and will continue until judgment day.” —Osama bin Laden

“. . . it may never end. At least, not in our lifetime.” —Richard Cheney, October 19, 2001

Is the war in Iraq the beginning of a war without end? As the country seeks to decipher the White House conversations that led to war, Bruno Tertrais, one of Europe’s leading defense analysts and former RAND Corporation fellow, takes us on a deeper investigation of American global strategy and its long-term consequences.

War Without End offers a comprehensive examination of the ideas and policies that may have led us into a century of combat. An international authority on nuclear nonproliferation, Bruno Tertrais is uniquely able to look at American political and military thinking since World War II and to trace the ideology that has created the present impasse, including the most thoroughgoing account available of the neoconservative players and ideas that guided the Bush administration into Iraq.

Far from being a “war for oil,” War Without End demonstrates that the Iraq invasion is part of a global strategy whose negative consequences are already apparent. Have we unleashed forces, here and abroad, that will trap future generations? These are the questions raised by this brilliant and disturbing book.

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