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Chris Hedges, Stephen Walt and Ryan Grim on America’s Failing War Machine
Joshua Scheer
As the United States sinks deeper into another catastrophic Middle East confrontation, veteran journalist Chris Hedges joins political scientist Stephen Walt and journalist Ryan Grim for a blistering discussion on the unraveling of American power, the dangerous illusions driving Washington’s war machine, and the growing global consequences of the conflict with Iran.
Drawing direct parallels to the invasion of Iraq, the conversation tears apart the fantasy that endless militarism creates “stability.” Instead, Hedges argues that the United States has spent decades destabilizing the region through wars, regime-change fantasies, and policies driven less by diplomacy than by what he calls a “non-reality-based belief system” funded by the military-industrial complex.
The panel warns that the fallout extends far beyond the battlefield. From exploding energy prices and collapsing supply chains to fertilizer shortages and fears of a global recession, the war is exposing the fragility of the American empire itself. Walt argues that Washington’s credibility is eroding worldwide as allies begin questioning the judgment and competence of U.S. leadership, while Hedges bluntly warns that Iran possesses far more leverage than Washington anticipated.
Perhaps most striking is their observation that the American public is no longer rallying behind war in the way it once did. Unlike Iraq, where propaganda manufactured consent, this conflict has struggled to generate public enthusiasm, revealing what Hedges describes as a deep decay within the American political system itself
For more than two decades, Washington’s foreign policy establishment has insisted that American military domination brings “stability” to the Middle East. From Iraq to Libya, Syria to Gaza, every escalation has been sold to the public as necessary, strategic, and ultimately unavoidable. But as veteran journalist Chris Hedges, international relations scholar Stephen Walt, and journalist Ryan Grim argue in this explosive discussion, the expanding war with Iran may finally expose the collapse of that illusion once and for all.
What emerges from the conversation is not simply criticism of another disastrous war, but a broader indictment of an American empire trapped inside its own mythology — unable to learn from failure, incapable of diplomacy, and increasingly disconnected from both reality and the suffering its policies create across the globe.
Walt dismantles the long-standing claim that the United States has acted as a stabilizing force in the region, pointing directly to the invasion of Iraq, support for destructive regional wars, and decades of interventionist policies that helped fuel groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. Rather than bringing peace, Washington’s obsession with remaking the Middle East “in its own image” has left entire societies shattered while strengthening the very extremism it claimed to fight.
Hedges pushes the argument even further, describing an American political system consumed by what he calls a “non-reality-based belief system” — one driven less by facts than by ideology, militarism, and the financial interests of the war industry. He points to the same architects of past catastrophes repeatedly returning to positions of influence despite being wrong about nearly everything. Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Iran all follow the same script: fantasies of quick victories, regime collapse, and grateful populations welcoming American intervention.
Instead, the panel argues, the war has revealed something deeply unsettling for Washington: Iran was prepared.
For decades, Iran built underground missile infrastructure, asymmetrical military capabilities, and regional leverage precisely for this kind of confrontation. Meanwhile, the United States — despite spending trillions on war and maintaining a military budget approaching unimaginable levels — has burned through enormous stockpiles of weapons in mere weeks while confronting relatively cheap drone and missile systems capable of neutralizing vastly more expensive military hardware.
The consequences are already rippling far beyond the battlefield.
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the most critical economic chokepoints on Earth, and disruptions there threaten not only oil markets but fertilizer shipments, food systems, shipping routes, and global supply chains. Hedges warns that the longer the conflict continues, the greater the likelihood of severe worldwide economic fallout — including shortages, inflation, recession, and the breakdown of already fragile international systems.
But perhaps the most politically significant development is happening inside the United States itself.
Unlike the lead-up to the Iraq War, this conflict has failed to generate overwhelming public enthusiasm. The usual machinery of patriotic consensus appears weakened. Hedges notes that, historically, governments spend months manufacturing support for war through propaganda campaigns, fear narratives, and media coordination. This time, the Trump administration barely attempted it.
That failure may reflect something larger: a growing exhaustion with endless war and a deepening distrust of the institutions that sell it.
Trump himself ran repeatedly as a candidate promising to end “forever wars,” portraying himself as an outsider willing to challenge the bipartisan foreign policy establishment. Yet, as Walt notes, many Americans now see a betrayal of those promises as the administration drifts into another catastrophic confrontation whose consequences may spiral far beyond Washington’s control.
The conversation ultimately raises a far more dangerous question than whether the United States can “win” this conflict.
It asks whether the American empire is still capable of understanding the limits of its own power.
For decades, military supremacy allowed Washington to believe that every crisis could be solved through force. But from Iraq to Afghanistan and now Iran, reality continues to expose the same uncomfortable truth: overwhelming military power cannot compensate for failed political thinking, imperial arrogance, or a ruling class incapable of learning from disaster.
And as global instability deepens, the costs of those delusions are no longer being paid only abroad.
Highlights
“The United States Has Not Been a Stabilizing Force”
Stephen Walt directly rejects the core justification for decades of U.S. interventionism, arguing that American wars and regime-change operations destabilized the Middle East and helped create extremist movements like ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Chris Hedges: “Alice in Wonderland Garbage”
Hedges describes Washington’s belief that Iran would quickly collapse under military pressure as another fantasy disconnected from reality — comparing it to the same delusions that drove the invasion of Iraq.
The Military-Industrial Complex Never Learns
Hedges argues that the same pro-war figures and think tanks continue shaping U.S. policy because they are financially and ideologically tied to endless war, regardless of past failures.
Iran Prepared for This War for Decades
The discussion highlights Iran’s underground missile systems, drone warfare capabilities, and asymmetrical military strategy — exposing how cheaper technologies are increasingly neutralizing massively expensive American hardware.
The Global Economy Is Already Feeling the Shockwaves
From rising energy prices to fertilizer shortages and collapsing supply chains, the panel warns that the conflict threatens to trigger worldwide economic instability and possibly a global depression if escalation continues.
Americans Are No Longer Rallying Behind War
Unlike Iraq or Afghanistan, this war has failed to generate overwhelming public support. The speakers argue that growing distrust in government narratives and exhaustion with endless war are reshaping public attitudes inside the United States.
“The Empire Miscalculated”
The central theme running through the discussion is that Washington fundamentally misunderstood both Iran’s capabilities and the limits of American power — a mistake that could accelerate the decline of U.S. global dominance.
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