Ivan Eland

Ivan Eland is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty.

U.S. Reticence on Thuggish Repression in Kurdistan

In a recent speech, President Barack Obama provided an overview of the Middle East in which he attempted to put the United States on the side of democracy and peace. After prior American policy in the region, people in the region can be excused for shaking their heads at the usual U.S. government hypocrisy. After … Continue reading “U.S. Reticence on Thuggish Repression in Kurdistan”

Across-the-Board Spending Cut Proposals Go Mainstream

With yawning federal deficits and the need to once again raise the U.S. government’s staggering debt north of the current $14.3 trillion ceiling, both feuding parties, as usual, lack the political courage to cut welfare to their own supporters. For example, Republicans protect the defense budget, the vast majority of which has nothing to do … Continue reading “Across-the-Board Spending Cut Proposals Go Mainstream”

‘Unprovoked’ Attacks, From 1812 to 9/11

The killing of Osama bin Laden reminds us that there are only two disciplines in which uncaused events occur—quantum physics and the history of U.S. foreign policy. According to the version of history expounded by the American media and politicians, the passenger aircraft hitting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11 were a … Continue reading “‘Unprovoked’ Attacks, From 1812 to 9/11”

Let’s Call It ‘VO Day’ and Get Out

Although the Obama administration has said that the killing of Osama bin Laden is not a VE or VJ day—which brought a return to normal times after World War II ended—perhaps it should be. President Obama should declare that the Bush-era “war on terror” has finally been won. The main trunk of al Qaeda has … Continue reading “Let’s Call It ‘VO Day’ and Get Out”

Don’t Expand the Military’s Antiterrorism Role

The WikiLeaks documents released on Guantanamo prisoners indicate appalling military incompetence in haphazardly patching together sketchy and contradictory information that has allowed many high-risk terror suspects to go free, while low-risk or innocent detainees continue to be incarcerated. Yet some members of Congress would like to strengthen the military’s role in holding and trying such … Continue reading “Don’t Expand the Military’s Antiterrorism Role”

Across-the-Board Cuts Are the Only Road to Budget Reduction

Defense analysts and military personnel are trained to analyze the U.S. defense posture in a certain way. But even analysts who are trying to be restrained in their assessment of threats and force and equipment requirements are politically naïve about the way the real world of defense budgeting works. A different approach is needed to … Continue reading “Across-the-Board Cuts Are the Only Road to Budget Reduction”

US Out of Iraq. Really.

When the United States begins to draw down overseas military forces from trouble spots, the American media, and therefore the public, assumes the show is over and loses interest. This waning of attention and interest has happened in Iraq and is dangerous. This phenomenon occurred even during the Vietnam War. President Richard Nixon told the … Continue reading “US Out of Iraq. Really.”

Libyan Intervention Fraught With Risks

There are many practical reasons why the U.S. military attack on Libya is a bad idea—including that Libya has nothing to do with American vital interests, that helping an unknown opposition is fraught with risks of getting something worse than Moammar Gadhafi, and that the United States was overstretched militarily (already conducting two other wars) … Continue reading “Libyan Intervention Fraught With Risks”

High Costs May Not Be the Worst Aspects of the Attack on Libya

As if getting enmeshed in a third simultaneous war—with costs soaring in a time of economic peril, yawning budget deficits, and national debt—when no vital national interest was at stake wasn’t bad enough, that is not the worst of it. As in George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, analysis of the stated reasons for President … Continue reading “High Costs May Not Be the Worst Aspects of the Attack on Libya”

Buy Two Wars, Get Another for Half Price

Things are bad when a president who says he wants out of Iraq and claims American soldiers will soon start to withdraw from Afghanistan succumbs to international and domestic pressure to do the heavy lifting in yet another civil war—this time in Libya. It’s as if there is a “buy two wars and get the … Continue reading “Buy Two Wars, Get Another for Half Price”