{"id":58064,"date":"2026-03-10T16:43:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=58064"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:43:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:43:30","slug":"the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-lt-col-karen-kwiatkowski-operation-epic-failure-trumps-war-in-iran-is-not-going-as-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/10\/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-lt-col-karen-kwiatkowski-operation-epic-failure-trumps-war-in-iran-is-not-going-as-planned\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kyle Anzalone Show [GUEST] Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski: Operation Epic Failure: Trump\u2019s War in Iran Is NOT Going As Planned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A war launched with shifting reasons and sliding timelines is a warning sign, not a strategy. We sit down with former Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski to examine how the U.S.\u2013Iran confrontation veered from consent to chaos in days: bungled evacuations, brittle base defenses, and a communications vacuum that can\u2019t cover for poor planning. Karen draws a sharp line from the Iraq playbook\u2014months of theater and \u201cevidence\u201d\u2014to today\u2019s improvisation, arguing that when leaders skip the work of persuasion, they often skip the work of preparation too.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : Operation Epic Failure: Trump\u2019s War in Iran Is NOT Going As Planned\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xj6-ZqXySZY\" width=\"1015\" height=\"571\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We unpack the divergence between U.S. national interests and the aims of regional allies who gain from fragmentation rather than stability. From alleged false flags to decapitation strikes that harden, not break, an adversary\u2019s will\u2014especially during sacred seasons\u2014Karen explains why social cohesion, religion, and memory matter in war as much as missiles and jets. We probe the culture inside the Pentagon, where candor fades as rank rises, and how that dynamic leaves troops exposed in trailers instead of layered defenses while press briefings promise \u201cevery precaution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The conversation gets unflinching about costs: industrial limits that can\u2019t sustain a long fight, political timelines that breed wishful thinking, and a post-failure push for massive \u201crebuild\u201d budgets that reward the very errors that caused the losses. Yet there\u2019s a path forward. We chart a reset built on real national security\u2014clear objectives, lawful authority, matched means, and diplomacy that lowers the premium on force. If America wants fewer funerals and fewer blank checks, it needs consent, competence, and clarity at the core of policy.<\/p>\n<p>If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who cares about foreign policy, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway so we can keep these conversations sharp and useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A war launched with shifting reasons and sliding timelines is a warning sign, not a strategy. We sit down with former Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski to examine how the U.S.\u2013Iran confrontation veered from consent to chaos in days: bungled evacuations, brittle base defenses, and a communications vacuum that can\u2019t cover for poor planning. Karen draws [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":436,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[746],"class_list":["post-58064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/436"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58067,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58064\/revisions\/58067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58064"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=58064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}