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.

Continued Foibles in Iraq and Afghanistan

After Richard Nixon started the U.S. troop drawdown in Vietnam, the American public thought “problem solved” and demonstrations on college campuses dissipated. Then it was disclosed that Nixon, while reducing U.S. forces in Vietnam, was escalating a parallel war in Cambodia by bombing and invasion. Antiwar protests resumed with a new frenzy. Similarly, for some … Continue reading “Continued Foibles in Iraq and Afghanistan”

Woodward’s Exposé Documents What We All Suspected

The talk in Washington of late has been Bob Woodward’s book Obama’s Wars. The books are piled in the front of every bookstore in town, and people are whispering in the usual “inside baseball” way, about who in the Washington security bureaucracies dissed whom to Woodward. If it weren’t for the latest salacious bureau-gossip, the … Continue reading “Woodward’s Exposé Documents What We All Suspected”

Will Militarization of the First Amendment Undermine the Republic?

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case where the father of a fallen serviceman is suing members of a church over its picketing of military funerals with signs that say, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “God Killed Your Sons,” and “Thank God for 9/11.” These protesters are hardly from a left wing antiwar group. … Continue reading “Will Militarization of the First Amendment Undermine the Republic?”

The Taliban: Forced Into Negotiation While Winning?

Although David Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan, recently peddled the notion that senior Taliban chieftains had made contact with senior Afghan government officials about the possibility of starting reconciliation talks, such talk of peace in our time is likely to be hype. By publicizing such contacts, Petraeus is cleverly implying, but not saying, … Continue reading “The Taliban: Forced Into Negotiation While Winning?”

Democracy Is Overrated

American policymakers love to see purple thumbs in the developing world, especially in countries in which the United States has undertaken “nation-building” projects (read: invasions and occupations). The recent Afghan parliamentary elections are a case in point. Yet elections in the developing world are not usually what they are cracked up to be and can … Continue reading “Democracy Is Overrated”

The Koran Burning-Islamic Center Brouhaha

Even in an age of media sensationalism, the intense coverage of the proposed Islamic center at Ground Zero, and a shamelessly bigoted Christian minister’s threat to burn the Koran in response to it, are both jolting and saddening. Neither of these events merited media coverage at all, but in today’s world controversy brings larger audiences … Continue reading “The Koran Burning-Islamic Center Brouhaha”

No Tears Needed Over the Demise of the US Empire

In a recent column, Thomas Friedman, probably the most influential “internationalist” – read: proponent of U.S. interventionism in faraway places – has finally discovered that the United States must soon turn inward and put domestic economic growth first because of its massive public debt, huge federal budget deficit, and looming fiscal crisis caused by a … Continue reading “No Tears Needed Over the Demise of the US Empire”

Assessing the Iraq War

As President Obama gave a self-congratulatory speech about keeping his campaign promise to remove U.S. combat forces from Iraq by the end of August, he accomplished this feat by merely redefining the mission of the 50,000 combat-trained U.S. forces remaining there to “advising and assisting” Iraqi forces. Of course, this really means that we are … Continue reading “Assessing the Iraq War”

The Possible Prosecution of WikiLeaks

The U.S. Justice Department is apparently considering prosecuting Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, which is a Web site that publishes classified documents from governments, under the rarely used Espionage Act of 1917. Such a prosecution would have adverse effects on the American people’s right to know what their government is doing in a republic … Continue reading “The Possible Prosecution of WikiLeaks”

Histrionics Over the Mosque: Symbolism Crowds Out Reality

The American media, and to a lesser extent the world media, focus on symbolism at the expense of underlying reality. And sometimes they can’t even make sense of the symbolism. The artificially generated controversy over a proposed mosque within about two blocks of the site of the 9/11 attacks is illustrative of this ignorance. The … Continue reading “Histrionics Over the Mosque: Symbolism Crowds Out Reality”