John Tirman

Cognoscenti contributor

John Tirman is executive director and principal research scientist at the MIT Center for International Studies. He is the author of "The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America’s Wars."

Recently published

The Origins Of America's Gun Obsession

The frontier and the gun are deeply encoded in the nation’s DNA, writes John Tirman.

Cognoscenti

Jul 27, 2018

The Muslim Ban And A Constitution In Peril

The crisis over President Trump's immigration ban, writes John Tirman, has emerged from its unconstitutionality as well as from the way the government has flouted court orders blocking parts of...

Cognoscenti

Jan 31, 2017

In this June 13, 2013 picture, U.S. Border Patrol agent Jerry Conlin looks to the north near where the border wall ends as is separates Tijuana, Mexico, left, and San Diego, right. (Gregory Bull/AP)

The Wall And The Ban: Can Trump Really Accomplish Either?

The two trademark ideas of Trump’s candidacy remain dicey propositions, writes John Tirman.

Cognoscenti

Nov 16, 2016

John Tirman: "France was the epicenter of the Enlightenment that fairly defines Western civilization. And the jihadis, in their reckless, apocalyptic pathology, detest above all such values." Pictured: A message that reads: 'In the name of what?' and a rose is placed through a bullet hole in a window at the restaurant on Rue de Charonne, Paris, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015, where attacks took place on Friday. (Frank Augstein/AP)

Why Paris?

France was the epicenter of the Enlightenment that fairly defines Western civilization. And the jihadis, in their reckless, apocalyptic pathology, detest above all such values.

Cognoscenti

Nov 15, 2015

John Tirman: "These American wars contain an element of Greek tragedy, beginning with hubris and ending with an unconscious, Oedipal urge to blind ourselves to the horror of what we’ve done." Pictured:
A Syrian refugee boy carries his younger brother back to their tent at an informal tented settlement near the Syrian border on the outskirts of Mafraq, Jordan, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015. (Muhammed Muheisen/AP)

Can We Measure The Human Cost Of War?

These American wars contain an element of Greek tragedy, beginning with hubris and ending with an unconscious, Oedipal urge to blind ourselves to the horror of what we’ve done.

Cognoscenti

Oct 16, 2015

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, right, is led into the courtroom on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, for his arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco for the killing of a 32-year old San Francisco woman. Lopez-Sanchez was released from jail in April, even though immigration officials had lodged a detainer to try to deport him from the country for a sixth time. (Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle/AP)

Undocumented Immigrants And The Paradox Of 'Sanctuary Cities'

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez had been deported five times and had a rap sheet many felonies long. Why was he a free man?

Cognoscenti

Jul 15, 2015

Unpacking Republican Opposition To Immigration Reform

In an increasingly diverse America, opposing immigration reform is a losing proposition for political candidates. So why are Republicans so reluctant to budge on the issue?

Cognoscenti

May 11, 2015

John Tirman: "We should begin to understand who our immigrant population is -- where they came from and why, their aspirations, their contributions to American society -- in order to help this new (and great) migration succeed for all."
Pictured: July 18, 2014, protestors in Philadelphia demonstrate near the Consulate of Mexico in support of immigrants entering the United States via Mexico. (Matt Rourke/AP)

The Second Great Migration

We should begin to understand who our immigrant population is -- where they came from and why, their aspirations, their contributions to American society -- in order to help this...

Cognoscenti

Apr 21, 2015

Past Lessons, Current Threats: Assessing Obama’s Case For War Against ISIS

Rarely has a major military initiative by a president been greeted with such ambivalence. It’s not hard to understand why.

Cognoscenti

Sep 12, 2014

Do we care about some conflicts more than others? Pictured: Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community settle at a new camp outside the old camp of Bajid Kandala at Feeshkhabour town near the Syria-Iraq border, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. (Khalid Mohammed/AP)

Gaza, Iraq, Syria And The Construction Of Empathy

Why do we care about some conflicts more than others?

Cognoscenti

Aug 21, 2014