The Long War Ahead and the Short War Upon Us is a frightening and pessimistic account of the recent terrorist acts already performedin the world and those the author, Wohlstetter, believes will happen in the years to come. He takes a hard-line view of the causes of such terror and how countries should deal with apprehended terrorists. He would "pull few punches." His basic premise is that unless we ("civilized" countries who condemn terrorists) get the information we need to prevent future attacks and to capture the current crop of terrorists (whatever their political, cultural, or religious affiliations), we all will succumb to the fear and anarchy they will spread in the world.
He makes some good points, but it is still a question of shall "civilized" people resort to uncivilized means of obtaining such information. He believes we must and states, further, that modern "torture" techniques are not as harmful as the oldtime methods--just more scary. I would not recommend this book for anyone younger than teen years; the ideas are definitely worth cogitating upon, but an adult knowledge of the world is needed to do rational thinking about this subject. Prof. Opal