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Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World

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I hate not being able to finish a book.

Jonathan Kwitny, a former NYT reporter, describes in excruciating detail U.S. foreign policy disasters in Zaire, Angola, Iran, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Cuba, The Philippines, China, Lebanon, El Salvador, Vietnam, Korea, Ethiopia and elsewhere -- and frankly after a couple hundred pages of this I was simply too dispirited to continue reading.

I'm probably naive or idealistic or both, but I want to believe my country stands for the principles expounded in our Declaration of Independence. Reading this exhaustive, carefully-researched, emotionally-detached and factual account to the contrary turned out to be painful and destructive to my civic pride.

Kwitny's book, written at the end of Reagan's first term, makes it clear that economic meddling has been going on at least since WWII, and so I guess it should come as no surprise that it's in full swing again, as detailed by John Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." Stephen Kinzer's "All The Shah's Men" tells more of the story of Iran (which is heavily censored here due to lawsuits at the time of publishing).

One lesson taken from this book is that it's not just the conservative Republican administrations which have sent troops to further the economic interests of financial contributors. Apparently ALL politics is infected with the virus of economic imperialism -- a sad truth I'd rather not have learned.

Although this book is over 15 years old, everything it states still seems to stand to be true- Which only shows as a Country how much we aren't changing in the areas we should be. I was very impressed with this book, the knowledge and the variety of views. Great reading, and grab your highlighter!!

This is an excellent and thought provoking guide to American foreign policy. This is one of those muckraking books that not only shreds the conventional line, but also forms a clear and convincing synthesis in its place. If you want to understand how business interests, the World Bank, the IMF, and Cold War politics fit together to make the world we have today -- read this book.

One of the best books written about the true nature of US foreign policy. BUT if you are going to buy it get the first printing of the hardcover edition. The Rockefeller family got a judge to act as post publication editor and force the removal of a number of sections related to their activities in Iran in later editions.

As indicated in the other reviews, this book is superb. Do try to get the original Congdon & Weed print.

I met Kwitny at a book signing for the Penguin version. He explained why the book had a rather large number of blank pages. In 1953, Kennett Love was the New York Times's man in Tehran during the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of Mossadegh. Preparing for the book, Kwitny had obtained Love's notes on the event, which were archived at Princeton under the control of a former CIA officer. In his notes, Love had somewhat gleefully described his friendly advice to an anti-Mossadegh tank crew that was sitting on its collective thumbs at the height of the attack on Mossadegh's compound. Love also recounted his cooperation in distributing anti-Mossadegh "firmans" on the street.

Love sued Kwitny and the publisher for infringement of copyright. The Penguin edition came out during the lawsuit, and one condition was that any references to Love would be whited out. Kwitny had some remainders of the original edition, and for $10, I was able to get one from him. Kwitny made no mention of involvement by the Rockefellers, but this of course does not mean that they might not have been operating behind the scenes. The lawsuit was finally settled in Kwitny's favor, but I think by then Congdon & Weed had gone belly-up.

Somebody needs to reprint the original version.

Is that this is out-of-print and I am the first reviewer of it.

Written by a Libertarian stalwart, the late Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathan Kwitny, it contains detailed history of US foreign commitments, especially in the early 1980s.

That even from a laissez-faire perspective American foreign policy is both misguided and criminal did not sit well with our corporatist media.

If you read and memorize the history in this book you will automatically gain 25 IQ points in any discussion of world events. Astound your friends, who will nickname you "commie," "creepy" and "that person who thinks too much."

This book was published in 1984, and it's no longer in print, although there are plenty of used copies available. It deserves at least one new review every year. It appears as though I will be the first for 2008.

I agree with the first Amazon reviewer of this book (Marion Delgado in 2002) that reading it will increase your IQ significantly in any discussion of world events. That is even truer today than it was when the book was first published. It's that good. If there were only one book I would make required reading for every United States citizen, this would be the book. It has the advantage of being written and published before the occurrence of the absurdly extreme political polarization of our two party system. That's not to say that republicans and democrats weren't quarreling in 1984, they were. But they're not quarrelling today, they're demonizing their opponents and expressing desires to execute them for treason. That's a big change in just 25 years.

Unfortunately, this book demonstrates clearly and succinctly why today the United States is in extreme decline, and why it is probably too late to effect much reversal of fortune. Mr. Kwitny's concept of the United States is essentially the same one I learned growing up - that our country is fundamentally sound and noble, that it is fundamentally free and open, that it is fundamentally a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. Our strength and nobility derive from the fact that our government and culture are based on basic principles of freedom and democracy as stated in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. And from that basic concept, Mr. Kwitny demonstrates, with astonishing insight, understanding and documentation, how the US has almost systematically deviated from those principles since the Second World War with regard to foreign policy, substituting instead an extreme fear and hatred of communism. This displacement of our basic principles in favor of a shortsighted (indeed blind) conflict-by-conflict struggle against a largely mythologized enemy (the USSR), has slowly converted the world neighborhood into a very distrusting and sometimes even hostile planet. Our values, principles and way of life, rather than being well served by this deviation, have been severely damaged, with direct consequences (both political and economic) to the American people. Our foreign policy has been a total failure not only in terms of the harm it has done to the rest of the world, but also equally in terms of the harm we have done to ourselves. And world events since the time of first publication have shown dramatically how true that was then, and still is today.

What is frightening however, is that Mr. Kwitny showed us all this in 1984, when it still appeared possible to mend our ways and find our way back to our founding principles. Since then, US foreign policy has evolved from awful to terrifying. The evils perpetrated then as a result of a culturally ignorant, misguided and narrow-minded government, are being perpetrated today by willful greed, lust for power, and a completely conscious disrespect (bordering on contempt) for the very principles that Mr. Kwitny (and millions of Americans) hold out as our only hope.

The world today was eminently foreseeable in 1984. "Endless Enemies" saw it all too clearly, even predicting (unknowingly) very specific world events that actually unfolded (Afghanistan > the mujahadeen > 9/11). I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone with one caveat - reading it may induce a profound sense of loss, sadness and nostalgia for an American zeitgeist that was still present in 1984. The world that "Endless Enemies" warned us was coming if we did not rectify our foreign policy is upon us. But I don't think Mr. Kwitny is shaking his finger at us from the far side of the grave and mumbling "I told you so". I think he is weeping, as many Americans are, for the great light and hope in the world that has been extinguished.

Jonathan Kwitny (1941-1998) was born into a Jewish family who then became devout Catholics. He studied journalism in college and earned a graduate degree in history. Jonathan Kwitny (JK for the sake of convenience)was an uncompromising historian and journalist. His historical studies gave him insight that many current shallow journalists sadly lack and do not even know of their lack of historical knowledge. JK's book titled ENDLESS ENEMIES was first published in 1984, and the book is a solid precise of actual events that have plagued stupid U.S. foreign policy at the expense of the many unfortunate victims overseas and now U.S. citizens.

JK began this book with a summary of U.S. blunders in Africa, the Orient, Western Asia, Latin America, etc. The start of the book is an outline of what to expect. JK wrote clearly and was blunt and terse in his diagnosis and prognosis of failed U.S. foreign policy capers that often exploded into such rebellion as to shock the stupid policy makers who created such resentment.

JK's analysis of events in parts of Africa during the late 1950s and early 1960s undermine the lying propaganda that somehow the wicked Soviets had their minions there to spread commumism. The facts were that U.S. diamond executives used such lying nonsense to keep the price of diamonds and other natural resources high. The Africans, especially those in the Congo, wanted a more equitable exchange for diamonds and other natural resources. The media and government claimed that parts of African were in the interests of the American citizens. The fact was that Ameicans were not remotely threatened,and the only interests that were threatened were those of the directors of diamond cartels. One sad anecdote was the reporting of some poor African woman who thought she had a fortune with $65 worth of diamonds which sold for millions on international diamond markets. Events in Zaire, Angola, etc. were politically violent when such violence was unnecessary. The only reason the Soviets had any influence in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s was due to U.S. intervention which caused so much political upheaval and misery for many Africans.

American policy makers never learn from the blunders of others or their own blunders. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Soviets foolishly believed that they would be welcomed as saviors and heroes by the Afghan people. JK explained that the Soviets faced fierce armed resistence which led to a "tar baby" war and Soviet defeat. Yet, the Americans tried the same stunt by intimidation in the late 1990s and invasion in the early 21st. century with predictable results.

Other events that JK examined were in Iran. JK undermined U.S. media and political lying that Mossadegh was a communist. The reality was that the Iranian president Mossadegh was opposed to the Soviets and pressured the Soviets to get their troops out of Northern Iran in the early 1950s. These troops were in place to insure oil supplies to the USSR during W.W. II. Yet, because Mossadegh insisted the Exxon, Mobile Oil, etc. pay more for oil royalities, he was suddenly designated as a communist. In fact, Mossadegh outlawed the Iranin Communist Party (the Tudeh)which got no attention in the U.S. press or political announcements. The CIA moved against Mossadegh who died as a result and ushered the Shah's tenure of power in Iran from 1953 to 1979. What is interesting is that U.S. policy and support of repression (the torture happy SAVAK Iranian secret police)eventually undermined the Shah and U.S. influence. Both U.S. policy makers and the CIA were taken by surprise. The CIA were simply too stupid and arrogant over their intial successful coup in 1953 and displayed no understanding how U.S. policy was resented in Iran.

JK then turned his attention to events in Latin America and drug dealing. When Fidel Castro & co. got power in Cuba in 1959, Castro tried to get U.S. diplomatic support only to be rebuffed. U.S. policy makers stopped trade with Cuba and ended sugar imports under the guise that Castro was a communist. Castro played this card very well and got support from the USSR. The CIA,with their usual blundering, said that an invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro would result in a Cuban uprising. There was an uprising AGAINST the U.S. invasion. Whatever creditility Castro may have had in Cuba, the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion gave Castro & co. credibility and support that they may never have had otherwise.

JK's reporting of the CIA and Latin American drug trade shows just how corrupt U.S. policy is. In the 1962, supposedly anti-Castro thugs were arrested on charges of murder and weapons violations only to be released by CIA intervention. In 1978,the Broward County, Florida police arrested men on charges of drug trafficing and weapons violations. Those arrested were aquitted due to CIA intervention into the trial. The undersigned recommends JK's book THE CRIMES OF PATRIOTS re the U.S.government, the CIA, and international drug trade for a more comprehensive examination of this sordid business.

JK had much to report re events in the Orient. He undermined the nonsense that the Chinese Communists wanted to expand their boundries in the Orient. JK undermines a lot of false notions re the Korean War (1950-1953)which made many of the self appointed Cold Warriors look foolish. He demonstrated that U.S. policies undermined Phillipine good will toward the U.S.

What may be more familar is the Vietnam War. The press and media lying re the start of U.S. intervention in this war was clearly exposed in this book. Supposedly, the North Vietnames attacked a ship called THE MADDOX in 1964. The members of the U.S. Senate foolishly gave then Pres. Johnson carte blanche power to conduct the Vietnam War based on false reporting. What actually occured is that U.S. Naval forces had shelled North Vietname coastal areas. THE MADDOX was not attacked until the men on that ship fired first. Yet, the U.S. had to lose over 57,000 young men and women and retreat all based on lying and cowardly political posturing. A brief summary yet very good summary re Communist China and Vietnam can be found in Hannah Arendt's book THE CRISES OF THE REPUBLIC (page 29). As an aside, Arendt reported documents that Ho Chi Minh and Mao Tse-tung approached U.S. Presidents Roosevelt and Truman for diplomatic and political support because of fears of colonialism and Chinese fears of the USSR. None of this was ever brought to the public's attention until 1969. JK could have enhanced his book by citing this material.

JK concludes the book with commentary of whom Americans should be as opposed to U.S. policy. American policy makers have ruined and destroyed countless lives of innocent men, women, and children. U.S. reputation has been badly damaged, and Americans should at least ask why. In other words, American ideals have been badly undermined by American actions.

This is an important, well researched, well written book. The undersigned strongly recomments that readers get the cloth bound edition of ENDLESS ENEMIES which is uncensored. Many of the paperback editions have been badly censored due to legal actions, and there are either blank pages or missing text in paperback editions. Anyone who has "residual intelligence" can appreciate this book.

James E. Egolf
May 2, 2009

Precursor to Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins- but more info and from the point of view of a terrific reporter and Peace Corps person...how the IMF & them really work (fer only about 3 rich people)- depressing & eye opening

Kwitney, as a professional journalist (Wall Street Journal), does an excellent job of presenting the facts that tell the ugly side of U.S. international politics. Kwitney does not always go into the motivations for certain policies - that would border on conspiracy theory and a good journalist must stick with the facts - but he does present plenty of evidence to prove that the motivations are in interest of groups other than the American public.

For insight on earlier U.S. international relations, reads book by or about General Smedley Darlington Butler.