Ivan Eland

At the request of President-elect Barack Obama, President George W. Bush convened an awkward meeting of all living former presidents at the White House to meet, and presumably give advice and encouragement to, the new guy. The body language of the participants in the summit photo, taken in the Oval Office, said it all. The … Continue reading “Who Should Obama Look to for Advice?: Jimmy Carter”

Somebody is going to have to whisper in President-elect Obama’s ear that the unipolar moment has passed and the United States can no longer afford its informal worldwide empire. Even though the looming economic meltdown will likely be serious – and maybe even cataclysmic – the foreign policy chattering classes of both parties are on … Continue reading “We Can No Longer Afford the Empire”

The "Israeli model" has long been held up by hawks in the United States as the gold standard for dealing with adversarial nation-states, guerrillas, and terrorists. The storyline goes that Israel is a small country surrounded by aggressive enemies that use unfair measures (including terrorism) to try to wipe it off the face of the … Continue reading “Is Israeli Policy Crazy?”

Although media coverage has focused on US occupations and counterinsurgency/counterterrorist campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq – which had the perverse result of further inflaming Islamist radicalism – the Bush administration has been busy stirring that same hornet’s nest in other parts of the world, especially in Africa. Not only has the administration not been honest … Continue reading “Lame Duck Bush Administration Continues to Inflame Islamist Terrorism”

Although we thought that the signature moment of George W. Bush’s presidency would have been his standing in a flight suit before the "Mission Accomplished" banner on an aircraft carrier after the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, this episode may well have been booted to the side by the scene of the president being … Continue reading “Shoehorning the Bush Legacy”

General David Petraeus, the former military commander of US forces in Iraq and author of the military’s most recent counterinsurgency manual, learned the lessons of the successful British counterinsurgency experience in Malaya in the 1950s. He was able to reduce the violence in Iraq by instituting a policy of US military restraint in that country. … Continue reading “Lessons on the Battlefield Need to Be Learned at a Higher Level”

As rage coursed through India after the Mumbai terrorist bombings, Condoleezza Rice, the Bush administration’s Secretary of State, flew to India and cautioned the Indian government on avoiding a knee jerk and counterproductive response. She warned the Indians that "[a]ny response needs to be judged by its effectiveness in prevention and also by not creating … Continue reading “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”

Upon Barack Obama’s election, the Russians made threats to US allies over their acceptance of a US missile defense system. Also, Russia recently sent its first large military force to Latin America since the end of the Cold War to participate in naval exercises off the Venezuelan coast. Is this a flagrant test of a … Continue reading “Heed Russia’s Warnings About Further NATO Expansion”

President-elect Barack Obama – showing the obligatory toughness toward foreign "evildoers" needed (especially by Democrats) in American political campaigns – pledged to use the American military to go after al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Of all people, his hawkish rival, Senator John McCain, who supported the unprovoked US invasion and occupation of Iraq, criticized Obama’s approach toward … Continue reading “Military Action May Sometimes Be Moral and Constitutional, But Not Smart”

Few incoming presidents have been left by their predecessors with as many challenges as Barack Obama. In fact, with the daunting terrain facing the incoming president, one wonders why Obama and John McCain even wanted the office. Other presidents facing an uphill task when taking office were: – George Washington, who had to hold the … Continue reading “Obama’s Challenges Are Unprecedented in US History”