'Is this a joke?': Centcom podcast mocked as Iran war drags on

The Pentagon has entered its podcast bro era, and viewers have widely derided its debut.

As the cost of the US-Israeli war on Iran spirals for American taxpayers, US Central Command (Centcom) launched its official podcast on Thursday.

The first episode of Inside Centcom pairs Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the US command overseeing the war, with Fleet Master Chief Lateef Compton.

In the 12-minute episode on YouTube, Cooper jokes about stealing French fries from Compton’s lunch. The pair touch only briefly on the deeply unpopular war, now in its ninth month. Centcom turned off comments on YouTube.

The podcast looks like an attempt to reach young men who might one day fight Washington’s wars in the Middle East.

"It's called service for a reason. You're going to give more than you're going to get. But if you find satisfaction in giving, you'll have no greater satisfaction than serving in the United States military in particular," claimed Cooper. 

"It’s been a busy year," Compton joked at the start of the episode, a passing nod to a war that has killed thousands in Iran and left the US mired in another Middle East conflict.

Cooper said nothing about the US strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, southern Iran, on 28 February, the first day of the war.

Amnesty International said the strike killed 156 people, including 120 children, and concluded that the US violated international humanitarian law by failing to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians.

UN human rights experts said in September that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe the US committed war crimes in Iran.

“For sure, no one could have imagined the trajectory of events that we would be on, but through it, everyone has been doing a fantastic job,” Cooper said.

'Shitshow'

On X, viewers were less forgiving. The clip drew more than two million views, and one user called it a “shitshow”.

“Is this a joke? Its completely undignified. The host should ask him for his reflections on killing 168 schoolchildren and teachers in Minab,” journalist Murtaza Hussain wrote.

“Why the fuck are top US military officials podcasting?” another user posted.

“Thank you CENTCOM, we definitely needed this! I’m so excited for the second episode! Maybe they’ll get a good guest like Jake Paul or Nicki Minaj, ooo, or maybe even Netanyahu!” another wrote.

Trita Parsi, a US-based expert on Iran, wrote on X: “I am all in favor of Centcom abandoning the needless-wars-in-the-Middle-East business and going all in on podcasting…”

Christopher K Mellon, a former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for intelligence, was equally scathing.

“I’m sorry, the American public does not need to become personally familiar with the idiosyncrasies of our CENTCOM commander; the American people need our CENTCOM commander to execute his or her duties somberly, professionally, and excellently,” Mellon wrote.

Democratic congresswoman-elect Elaine Luria wrote on X that Cooper’s job “is to win wars, not record podcasts…read the room”.

The Pentagon’s latest estimate to Congress puts the cost of the war at $47.1bn. Brown University estimates that American consumers have paid more than $153bn in additional fuel costs.