Ok, we know Time-Warner is a giant corporation and Time Magazine does more windsock jounalism than courageous truth-telling, but I still expect a little better than such blatant propaganda. The "History" essay in the current edition opens with lie and ends with a false analogy pushing war with Iran.
The worst part is the first sentence. "The US has been embroiled with Iran since 1979, first ..." Wha??? The reason Iranians hated the west in 1979 was because the US and Britain sponsored the overthrow of their elected government in 1953, and continued to support that new regime as it became an increasingly repressive police state infamous for its use of torture and assassination of dissidents. See this Wikipedia biography of the Shah.
Then the author uses most of the article to give a history of the war(s) against the Barbary Pirates. Of course the action was right and justified. But he ends by trying to draw an analogy to present-day Iran because both "professed militant jihad". Uh, sure, the Iranian PM's sabre-rattling rhetoric is extreme, but let's talk actions - there is no analogy, because Iran is not grabbing people and ransoming them for money!
Perhaps some letters to Time expressing disappointment in this propaganda would be in order. BTW, the author is an editor at the National Review.