Brute Force vs Strategy — Iraq War Veteran Phil Klay on America’s War Thinking

About this episode

Philip Klay discusses his insights on American war thinking and his recent article on Iran.

Philip Klay is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He is an author, a journalist and winner of the National Book Award. He currently teaches fiction at Fairfield University and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Yorker and other esteemed publications. We discuss his recent piece in The New York Times, “Trump Has Made a Fundamental Miscalculation about Iran.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/opinion/trump-iran-war-memes.html

People in this episode

Guest: Philip Klay

Topics covered

• Iraq War
• veteran experiences
• American foreign policy
• journalism
• political commentary

Keywords

• Iraq War
• Philip Klay
• Iran
• Trump
• foreign policy
• veteran
• journalism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U.S. Marine Corps, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Yorker

Books & works: Trump Has Made a Fundamental Miscalculation about Iran

Places: Iran

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