Empire of Terror

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps increasingly poses an existential threat to Western security and to Sunni and the few non-Muslim civilizations remaining in the Middle East. Empire of Terror captures this. Empire of Terror is the strategic and political drama of our day. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Guards, Iran's praetorian force, increasingly poses an existential threat to Western security and to Sunni and the few non-Muslim civilizations remaining in the Middle East. Empire of Terror captures this. It will update current academic literature and provide insights gained from the author's 35 years as an analyst in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Community. It will offer the rigor of academic scholarship and an engaging writing style that will appeal to college students, as well as professors. The author uses case studies of the intelligence and security services of two totalitarian systems of the 20th century - the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany - for comparative analysis. Unlike many other books on the Guards, Empire of Terror will have a long shelf life. The book distinguishes itself from other treatments of Iran by its use of profiles that paint the human drama, and highlight the sufferings of women and gays in Iran. Empire of Terror focuses on the Guards and the role they play in keeping Iran's revolution safe, robust, and dynamic. Empire of Terror offers biographies, as well as explanations of the ideology that propel some of its leaders. It also underscores some of the human, as well as inhumane, elements in this distinctly Iranian drama, which has global implications. There are the perpetrators, victims, heroes, villains, and dupes. This book draws historical parallels to the Soviet Union and the Third Reich to compare the intelligence and security services of states with totalitarian aspirations and to illustrate ideological points of intersection - a collectivist mindset, intolerance for political deviation, strongly defined sex roles and hyper-masculinity, and a ruthless determination to ferret-out and destroy their enemies. In many ways, Iran - its people, politics and culture - are unique. AUTHOR: Mark D. Silinsky is a 37-year veteran analyst of the Department of Defense, an adjunct professor at the United States Army War College, and an affiliated professor at the Haifa University. 2 maps, 2 charts, 18 tables