The same people who gave America the Iraq War are back – and they want more.
Trump just handed them the biggest American military victory in a generation, and they're already telling him it's not enough.
One Republican senator went on Fox News with a message that could be the most important thing Trump hears this week.
Operation Epic Fury Destroyed Iran's Nuclear Program and Navy in 11 Days
Operation Epic Fury did in 11 days what two decades of sanctions, negotiations, and half-measures could not.
The Iranian Air Force is destroyed and the Iranian Navy sits at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Ballistic missile launchers that once threatened every U.S. base from Bahrain to Kuwait are gone. The nuclear program – already hit hard in June 2025 – is finished.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) joined Jesse Watters to make sure Donald Trump – and every America First voter watching – understood exactly what that means.
"Does anybody really think these people are ever gonna try to make a nuke again?" Hawley asked. "What would they make it with, like charcoal?"
That's not bravado. That's the battle damage assessment in plain English.
U.S. forces struck more than 5,000 targets inside Iran. CENTCOM destroyed 43 Iranian warships.
Senior IRGC generals are dead. Iran's military command structure collapsed so completely that units have been operating without orders since the opening strikes.
Trump said it himself Monday night – he could declare a 100% victory today if he wanted to.
Hawley agrees. "I think we ought to say to our heroes, thank you for a job well done."
Now the Neocons Want Boots on the Ground in Iran
This is where it gets dangerous.
On Fox News Sunday, Lindsey Graham held up a hat that said "Make Iran Great Again," then immediately swapped it for one that said "Free Cuba" and declared "Iran is going down and Cuba is next."
That tells voters everything about what the neocon crowd actually wants – not a clear American victory with a defined endpoint, but a permanent military presence chasing one country after another across the Middle East until some kid from Ohio is patrolling the streets of Tehran.
Even Tucker Carlson – who broke with Trump over the war entirely – warned that full regime change in Iran is impossible without ground troops, which is precisely what the hawks are quietly building the case for.
Trump hasn't ruled it out. The Pentagon hasn't ruled it out. The same think-tank crowd that sold the country the Iraq War in 2003 is now explaining why airstrikes alone can't produce regime change – which is true – and why that means American soldiers need to go in and finish the job.
They tried this before. It cost 4,400 American lives, $2 trillion, and 20 years. The Middle East was less stable at the end than it was at the beginning.
Trump Built His Career on Knowing When to Walk Away
Trump's entire political identity was built on one conviction: the Iraq War was a catastrophic mistake, and the people who cheered it on had no business running American foreign policy.
He was right. The voters who sent him back to the White House in 2024 were right.
Operation Epic Fury achieved its stated objectives – no nuclear program, no missile arsenal, no navy. Eight American soldiers have died. That is eight too many, but it is not 4,400.
The question Trump has to answer right now is whether he is the president who executed a precise, decisive strike and came home – or the president who let Washington's permanent war machine talk him into staying until there was nothing left to show for it.
Trump said “practically nothing left to target” in Iran.
Hawley made the case on Fox News that it's time to declare victory.
Take the win and bring the heroes home. The men who gave America Iraq and Afghanistan have no business touching this one.
Sources:
- Willa Pope Robbins, "Josh Hawley Says 'It's Time To Declare Victory' and End Iran War," Mediaite, March 10, 2026.
- "America's Warriors Are Obliterating Iranian Terror Regime with Unrelenting Force," WhiteHouse.gov, March 2026.
- "Operation Epic Fury: Unmatched Power, Unrelenting Force of America's Warriors," WhiteHouse.gov, March 2026.
- "Lindsey Graham: 'Donald Trump Is Resetting the World' — Iran Is Going Down and Cuba Is Next," RealClearPolitics, March 8, 2026.
- "Analyst Warns Trump May Be Getting Sucked Into Boots On The Ground Regime Change War," The Daily Caller, March 6, 2026.