Michael Doran from the Hudson Institute writing in the conservative Tablet, looks on the bright side of the Iran War: “while Trump has repeatedly defied the Beltway consensus on Iran and its allies over the past year and a half, none of the dire consequences that influential commentators predicted have come to pass. World War III hasn’t erupted.” (my emphasis) (1)
Nothing to see here, folks, move right along. Mission Accomplished!
Also, “The global economy hasn’t collapsed.” Everything’s fine!
For those of us “old enough to remember” the Iraq War, this all sounds sadly familiar.
At the end of this post I’ve included a link to a podcast in which Doran explains why he thinks Trump’s threat to wipe out Iranian civilization was way cool. And he and his podcast partner express their general contempt for any pesky laws of war against deliberately targeting civilians.
Doran’s piece is worth reading, though, as a good example of how to be a cheerleader for a misguided (and criminal) war that by any meaningful measure, the US is losing. Also, during the Iraq War the neocon war fans were endlessly saying things like Doran says here: “In doing so, they advance the very arguments that serve America’s enemies, undermining the credibility of a successful deterrent action and weakening the case for strong, burden-sharing alliances in the 21st century.” The libs are siding with the mullahs!!
The rest of the article is in the same vein, neocon talking points from the Iraq War days recycled to insert “Iran” for “Iraq.” Doran says the critics of Trump’s wars are operating on “fixed principles, which provide the lens through which events are narrativized.” In other words, he’s using stock neocon rhetoric and accused the Mean Libruls and dissident MAGA types of being stuck with unchanging rhetoric and (bad, rally bad) principles.
He even lays out seven ways to “own the libs” (my words, not his):
Myth 1: This was a “war of choice.”
A war of aggression in blatant violation of international law would be a better description. Iran did not initiate the current war. The US and Israel did so jointly.
Myth 2: The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [the Obama Administration’s nuclear agreement with Iran] had moderated Iran and stabilized the Middle East before Trump broke it.
The JCPOA did what it was supposed to do. It limited Iran’s nuclear enrichment below the threshold that would allow them to reach the nuclear weapons capability, with unprecedently intrusive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). I don’t recall seeing any Mean Libruls arguing that the JCPOA had stabilized the whole Middle East or transformed Iran into a liberal democracy. But maybe I just missed it.
Myth 3: Biden extracted America from wars in the Middle East.
Funny, I seem to recall Biden being severely criticized by activists for his support of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and that polls showed that criticism of that support was a key factor in suppressing the Democratic turnout in 2024 and returning Trump to the White House.
Myth 4: Tehran was ready to compromise.
The JCPOA was quite a compromise. But Obama negotiated it, so it must have been evil by definition in the eyes of the Trump cult. In the real world, as Joe Cirincione explains. “The Iran Nuclear Deal was the most effective non-proliferation agreement ever negotiated. … The JCPOA was the most important security agreement of this century. It solved the problem” of nuclear proliferation from Iran. (2) But it didn’t meet the goal of the Netanyahu government which the US has now embraced of attempted to turn Iran into a failed state. Or, as Trump has threatened, to wipe out the entirety of Iranian civilization.
Myth 5: Israel dragged America into the war.
Israel doesn’t have the capability to “drag” the US into a war, though the Israel Lobby is very influential. Certainly, there is a lot of criticism from the “restrainers” on the left and the right of the Biden and Trump Administrations for going along with Israel advocacy for its wars, including the Gaza War and now the Iran War – as well as Israel’s current annexationist efforts in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.
Myth 6: Confronting Iran distracts from China.
Well, duh! The official national security policy of the United States since the Obama Administration has been to focus on counterbalancing China’s increasing geopolitical power. There has been and will continue to be legitimate criticisms of what assumptions the US makes and what actions it takes in that regard. But Trump’s second regime has definitely tilted away that priority. As well as running foreign policy like a Mob protection racket for the Trump crime family.
Myth 7: Trump and Netanyahu are warmongering megalomaniacs.
No, you DEI Libruls! Trump is the Peace President and Benjamin Netanyahu is the Mahatma Ghandi of the 21st century!!
Doran does manage, perhaps by accident, to sneak in some accurate statements here and there. For instance: “Iran’s drones and ballistic missiles can overwhelm the air and missile defenses of Israel, the United States, and their Gulf allies.” That’s true, although there is no evidence I’ve heard that Iran currently has the capability to strike the United States directly with their missiles.
The problem with hackery
Conservative propagandists are going to grind out own-the-libs diatribes for the foreseeable future. Probably until the whole world is running on wind and solar power.
But when governments start making policy based on it, that where I.F. Stone’s famous warning comes in: “All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out.”
If you want to hear “Mike” Doran directly, here is an hour-plus-long podcast of his from a week ago. (3) How much he indulges the same propaganda hashish he hands out, you can make your own guesses. In it, he calls the US-Israeli war against Iran as a war on behalf of the entire “West.” Except, you know, for parts of the “West” like Britain, Germany, France and several other countries usually considered part “the West.”
Notes:
(1) Doran, Michael (2026): Seven Myths About the Iran War. Tablet 04/13/2026. (3) <https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/seven-myths-iran-war-michael-doran> (Accessed: 2026-14-04).
(2) Cirincione, Joe (2026): Obama’s Deal Was Better Than Trump's War. Strategy & History 04/09/2026. <https://joecirincione.substack.com/p/obamas-deal-was-better-than-trumps> (Accessed: 2026-14-04).
(3) Israel Update - with Michael Doran and Gadi Taub. YouTube channel 04/09/2026. <https://youtu.be/kpyhwmm7qrY?si=H_5PKBg5aNNhWYvC> (Accessed: 2026-14-04).
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