Why We Fought

The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, edited by Stéphane Courtois, translated by Mark Kramer and Jonathan Murphy (Harvard, 858 pp., $37.50)

LAST February, I met with former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet at the house outside London where he is being held by British authorities. As we discussed the efforts of a Spanish judge to extradite him to stand trial in Spain, Pinochet suddenly got up and disappeared into his study. He returned a few moments later carrying a hefty book. Handing it to me, he said: “This is what I was fighting against. This is what we prevented from happening to our country.”

About the Author

Marc Thiessen

Mr. Thiessen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a columnist for the Washington Post, and the author of Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack.

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The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, edited by Stéphane Courtois, translated by Mark Kramer and Jonathan Murphy (Harvard, 858 pp., $37.50)

LAST February, I met with former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet at the house outside London where he is being held by British authorities. As we discussed the efforts of a Spanish judge to extradite him to stand trial in Spain, Pinochet suddenly got up and disappeared into his study. He returned a few moments later carrying a hefty book. Handing it to me, he said: “This is what I was fighting against. This is what we prevented from happening to our country.”

About the Author

Marc Thiessen

Mr. Thiessen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a columnist for the Washington Post, and the author of Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack.