It’s Regime Change … Just Don’t Say It Out Loud
“Regime Change” is an unacceptable policy these days. So much so that we have to deny we are seeking it even when we are pursuing it. There is a widely held belief that regime change is something America is not good at.
In fact, America is very good at regime change when we ignore the whiners on the left and do it right. We made a very impressive series of regime changes after World War II. We did it in Germany, Italy, Japan and other Axis countries. We did it with minimal military involvement in Panama, Grenada and Venezuela. We did it through behind the scenes diplomacy in the Philippines. We used the regime change in Syria to our advantage through diplomacy.
We were only partially successful in Iraq and Libya – and that is because we did not do it right. Success depends on the follow-up. And the test is whether we wind up with a democratic nation allied to the United States — or even an undemocratic regime friendlier to America.
In Iraq, we carried out a very impressive and quick regime change. But …we failed to stay on the ground to oversee the creation of the new government. In the most successful regime changes, American presence was maintained until the new friendlier government was in place.
Iraq is the perfect example where we took out a disruptive and dangerous dictator. We did not, however, stay around to oversee what followed. Consequently, it turned into civil chaos and a less friendly government than we could have had. But even in that case – and despite the popular perception — the outcome of regime change in Iraq was positive. I think anyone who does the homework would agree that the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has been better for America and the world than when he was in power.
Now we have Iran. All the debate as to whether the United States should force a regime change in Iran is ridiculous. Whether it was America’s stated goal or not, it was obviously a goal. We know that because we participated in a regime change when the plan was to kill off the top leadership. What could be a more fundamental regime change than knocking off the dictator and dozens of other top officials? We are still doing it. The IRGC recently named a new commander. He was dead within 24 hours.
(I do believe – and have stated so before the attack on Iran – that regime change in Iran was an American/Israeli (unstated) plan from the get-go. Since most of the old regime has now been sent to the great perhaps, I guess I was right. But I digress.)
We have already accomplished regime change in Iran. The issue now is what takes place. The new regime could be largely formed by people associated with the policies of the old regime. That is a bad and unacceptable outcome. It also means that regime change is still on the table.
Trump has already said that the new regime supposedly headed by Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the former Supreme Leader, is unacceptable. Trump is not proposing to pick the new leaders, but only that he reserves a veto power if they are not acceptable to the United States, Israel — and the people of Iran.
We have seen a variation of that in Venezuela – with a critical difference. Even though many of the subordinate folks are still temporarily in power, they are not following the Maduro policies. They have yielded to Trump’s wishes. We can deal with them until the future of Venezuela is determined by free and fair elections.
What concerns me is all the talk about ending the war and leaving it up to the people to form the new government. While that sounds noble, it is how regime change flounders. History has shown us that successful regime change requires a post war presence to make sure the bad guys do not re-emerge.
We are in the process of regime change in Iran – whether we say so or not. Let us make sure we do it right. At the moment, however, America’s job is to make sure the remnants of the old regime and their antisemitic terrorist policies are eliminated.
So, there ‘tis.
Your dementia is really getting bad Larry. We didn’t stay on the ground in Iraq long enough? Until the new regime was in place? If memory serves me correctly (which of course it does), we were there till late-2011, that would make it nine years, and then we sent more troops back later in Obama’s presidency. Then of course there is Afghanistan, who the orange idiot gave away by negotiating with the enemy, and excluding the government that we favored (I know, Biden should have torn up that agreement and started over, but the orange idiot had removed most of our soldiers before he left office, so Biden was between a rock and a hard spot). The issue was not that we didn’t stay there long enough, it’s just that we really don’t understand all the issues with the middle-east, and the various Muslem sects. And the fool in the WH (and his buddy Netanyahoo) certainly don’t understand the issues now. But, I would like to ask you one question-since when did the US determine what was the right form of government for countries around the world? Is Cuba really causing us problems? Yes, they certainly are having it tough there, but the issue isn’t Venezuela, the issue is the orange turd and his proclamations against them. They were doing reasonably well prior to DT’s first administration, they were getting more tourists and their economy was improving. But then DT decided to cave to the South Florida Cubans and place restrictions on cruise ships going there, and then things started to get bad. If we stop playing policeman, and try to be a good neighbor instead, we will have far fewer problems around the world. We can’t even get our own government in shape right now, we essentially have a dictator in Donald Trump (whether you care to admit it or not) with a congress controlled by your party that essentially is doing nothing to control his illegal proclamations. Unless DT succeeds in disenfranchising many voters prior to next November, that will change, but so much damage is already done…. And fools like yourself applaud his actions…
Wow Mike, “If we stop playing policeman, and try to be a good neighbor instead, we will have far fewer problems around the world” is possibly the MOST naiveté thing I’ve ever read. It REALLY worked out well for Neville Chamberlain.
Dictators don’t care about “good neighbors” Mike, that’s just wishful nonsense on your part. I wonder what you said about Obama’s wars, and the 26,000 bombs on 7 different countries.
Big Al, Comparing what I said to Neville Chamberlin is a joke-are you really that ignorant? We are not attacking countries that we are at war with (or are currently at war with anyone else), we are the aggressors. Iran was not at war with us (or Israel for that matter) and by Trump”s own words, their nuclear program was ‘decimated’ last June. Our spy agencies have gone on record saying that Iran was not trying to rebuild their nuclear capability (perhaps you didn’t listen to Tulsi Gabbard when she testified to Congress on that subject-probably too busy listening to the liar in the Oval Office blather his nonsense.) Venezuela was not at war with us (or anyone else). Cuba is not a threat to us. And clearly Greenland, Panama, and Canada are not threats. We have a crazed dictator in the Oval Office that thinks because we are strong, we can do anything we like. We are risking our soldiers lives (and billions of dollars) for a crazy man’s pipe dreams. I am embarrassed by the actions of this regime, because the standing of the US has sunk so low with our former allies that I doubt that we can ever recover. We need to clean up our mess in Washington and stop trying to change the world to fit Trump’s view, he is totally out of control….
Mike f ….Have you been living under a rock for most of your life? Iran has been warring on the US and Israel for almost half a century. The have killed American citizens and military personal. “Death to America” has been their mantra. I do not understand how half-brained left-wingers like you can simply pretend none of that ever happened. I suppose you do not see Iran accountable for all the terrorists they fund. That is stupidity beyond comprehension. But at least you are consistent.
Larry, The only stupidity here is what you write on a daily basis. If, and only if, a country were to attack us (or an ally) we would be justified in attacking them. In other words, we would be justified in sending troops to help Ukraine, or a bombing mission inside Russia would be justified (but that isn’t going to happen is it?). The guy who told us he decimated the Iranian nuclear program in June is the one who has led us into this war (and as I pointed out above, which you were too ignorant to read) Tulsi Gabbard told congress that our intel had no indication that they were trying to restart their nuclear program since the June bombing. So, they can say death to America all they want, but if they don’t have the capability to do anything, perhaps we should just ignore them? That’s what a pragmatic government would do, but I realize that is not the idiots that worship Trump like you do. Instead, we have killed hundreds of Iranians (including those poor children on the first day), allowed for some of our fighting guys to be killed, and civilians of our allies and Israel, and are spending billions on this totally unnecessary war that Trump started (keep in mind here, we are the aggressors…) If you would stop parroting what the liar in the WH says, perhaps you would have credibility, but absent that, you just sound like the fool you are. (and BTW, how’s that new Mayor in your fair City working out? They say it’s been like 30 years since you had someone like him, guess some of your neighbors are getting really tired of your kind of politics….)
Mike f … To answer your question, “But, I would like to ask you one question-since when did the US determine what was the right form of government for countries around the world?” Since the American revolution. America’s historic mission was to spread democracy through the world as much as possible — and we have been doing a great job despite morons like you. Under Reagan, more nations turned from authoritarian to democracy than any administration in history — with the possible exception of post World War II Europe and Japan. And then there were many of the captive nations under Soviet rule that are now NATO democracies. . And it is a good thing. Democracies rarely war on each other. When Europe was headed by authoritarian monarchs, they were constantly warring on each other. Since they have transformed into democracies … not internal wars in Europe except Ukraine. “Making the world safe for democracy” has been part of the American DNA … American exceptionalism. Your ignorance is astounding. And I get a kick out of your childish insults about dementia — something I do not suffer and even if I did you could not know it. Just mindless insults. Perhaps you are projecting and anxious over your own decline in mental acuity. Your writings do now show a person at the top of his intellectual game.
Oh … and is Cuba a problem? Duh! They host Chinese and Russian espionage units. Cuban military was used to guard Maduro. The was a mysterious attack on the American mission in Havana. They conspire to use against the U.S. in conjunction with Iran, Russia and China. On virtually all international issues, they side with America’s adversaries. The world recognizes the regime in Havana to be anti=American. How stupid can you be? I think your battery is running down, old man.
Larry looked at this question: “But, I would like to ask you one question-since when did the US determine what was the right form of government for countries around the world?” and answers: “Since the American revolution. America’s historic mission was to spread democracy through the world as much as possible — and we have been doing a great job despite morons like you.” My, what a rude, pugnacious prick to call Mike that. And never has a man been more wrong on so, so, many levels. I will not throw the BUSTED since I am sure this was just a brain fart by an old guy who knows better but dropped a byte in his bloodlust for war.
First the easy one, and I will give Larry the mulligan on Democracy since I am sure if Larry thinks again, he will remember that 1) we are not a Democracy and 2) most of the Founders were against a pure Democracy; they distrusted the masses often prone to fancy and fad. Even though they were the elites of their time, and this was elitism, I like that. From the National Archives Foundation (NAF): “the Founding Fathers were an elite class—they feared mob rule and debated vigorously about how the new government should be structured. Most of them were utterly opposed to a direct democracy, in which the electorate determines policy themselves instead of having representatives (presumably wiser and better informed than they) do it for them. Our Founding Fathers, decidedly did not trust the masses to make the decisions that would steer the ship of state.” Matter of fact, in the beginning (of our nation), only the House was elected by the people. The Senate was chosen by State Legislatures until 1913 and the President by the Electoral College as it is today. Zap, bang. Poned.
Further, there is nothing in the Constitution about our “historic mission” to spread democracy, something the founders did not like, anywhere, from anyone, much less across the globe. As Larry knows, in the beginning we were more interested in not being bothered by other countries and surviving as noted in Franklin’s famous response to Ms. Powell’s post Constitutional Convention question of: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin’s response: “A republic, if you can keep it”
To that point, there is nothing about Democracy or spreading anything in the Founding documents. There is a guarantee, a promise in Article 4, Section 2: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.” Twas always a Republic promised, but the Founders had no dreams of spreading it globally.
According to NAF: “This article is called the “guarantee clause” because it promises that the government of this country will always be a republic, elected by popular sovereignty and maintained by majority control. The core of popular sovereignty is free and fair elections, and the peaceful transition of power; this was begun by George Washington when he stepped down from the presidency after two terms in 1796, establishing an unwritten precedent that has been honored to this day.” (or 1/6/2021 IMO).
I understand what Larry means but it has not been that way since the beginning, and it’s rare that we assassinate an entire government and then attempt to force democracy with death from above. In the 1800.’s we led by example and slapped those who followed in Europe on the back in support. In the early 1900’s, Wilson used the “make the world safe for democracy” doctrine employing force in the Caribbean; how did that work? Post WWII we really got rock n rolling with Japan, Italy, and Germany, but then the Marshall Plan, Voice of America, NATO, where we did our best efforts without force. Trump pretty much ended our involvement in VOA and NATO. We tried in Vietnam, blew that one which stands out since their leader copied our founding documents; we really fucked that one up (not our military, our politicians). In Korea, we got a split decision, I call that a win. But it was really Bush, post 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan that our major efforts and failures take place and we learned, many times over, forced regime change is hard to effect and rarely works.
Larry is a total hawk and wants to spread democratic principles at the barrel of the gun; I prefer what the founder’s really did —- lead by example, slap em on the back in support when they make the right moves. Personally, I keep saying the way out of Iran is through Ukraine. They want democracy, a democratic republic, yearn to be free, have our precious metal assets, drone production and drone defense skills and can get Trump the Nobel he will deserve. And whatever slime Putin releases on him, we can all agree it’s an AI fake and move on. Without Russia’s support, Iran will be weaker than ever. For icing on the cake, send in Rubio to NATO, get their support for airspace and in-regain airbases to better do in Iran. All good. Now that’s a war Americans can get behind Trump on.
Larry , Your dementia is on full display for all that read your drivel. And the way we promote US values is by example, not by attacking other countries. Examples of the greatness of our country are nonexistent at the present time, completely due to the fool who you put in the Oval Office and the sycophants who have been elected to Congress (that will definitely change in November unless trump cancels free elections). You are too much of an idiot to understand this, but I am sure some of the windbag post readers do….
Big A: Chamberlain? You got TACO going down on his knees in Ukraine. Hey, don’t short-sell Obama at 26k bombs in one year. I applaud your research, a first perhaps, but that’s his last year only. Try 92,030 over his eight years, at least seven countries. Of course you missed 43,938 in 2027 alone by Trump for a total of 67,206 in four years. Sure looks like he will beat Obama, hands-down for eight years. That Obama yearly average: 11,504, Trump: 16,801. Sorry Big A. Iran is the biggest war in decades with excursions in 16 to 18 different countries.
I am surprised Larry supports regime change. He is a real hawk. I think he often conflates regime change with improvement or even Democracy believing that cutting off the head automatically makes things better or even perfect.
“In fact, America is very good at regime change when we ignore the whiners on the left and do it right.” Yes, ignoring the left is always profitable for Larry. And you may “do things right,” but the right is not always correct. Like America is very good at regime change, pigs are very good at flying when we ignore gravity, give them wings, and they do it right.
“We made a very impressive series of regime changes after World War II.” Are you saying that all we need to do in Iran is what we did in WWII: a little Dresden action, Operation Meeting House, Manilla, or maybe go a little Hiroshima on their asses? And then send the kids in to obliterate any resistance by force of arms, and deaths? Are you seriously making a WWII apples-to-apples comparison with Iran? What was the cost to the US to get Japan, Germany, and Italy on their feet again? You want to spend that money, send our kids to police their streets for how long?
Did anyone else notice that the Korean and Vietnam Wars fell off Larry’s regime-change history assessment? Did you notice that our failure in Iraq was because we did not patrol the streets long enough? How many decades did we spend in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan? Next thing Larry will spew is the domino theory, Russian/Muslim style.
“We did it with minimal military involvement in Panama, Grenada and Venezuela?” I give you Panama and Granada, although Panama is not in great shape economically. But VZ — at best, the jury is still out. You claim the head of the snake is gone, but the head’s hand-selected leadership team is in place and, in many respects, the leader is even more entrenched in socialism and a US hatred that spans three generations of her family in their professions as politicians and activists. She has modified her tone, made a few concessions, but it’s way too early to claim “mission accomplished” to make VZ a Democratic Republic which it is clearly not. Or even a better place. Just because Trump says it does not make it so. For example, while she freed hundreds from jail, hundreds more remain in these hellholes, as does she remain as head of one of the most vicious secret police forces in the world. She was and is the hand guiding these masked men who disappear VZ citizens at will. No one has said human rights violations in VZ are a thing of the past. You say they are “they are not following the Maduro policies.” That is not true, they have changed a bit but could be grinfucking us as they did with the prisoner release leaving hundreds behind bars. The majority of Maduro-era policies are still in place.
Independent UN human rights investigators reported in March 2026 that the repressive state apparatus responsible for these violations remains “intact,” with at least 87 new political detentions reported between January 3 and March 12, 2026. But Larry looks away in service to his Felon King.
“We used the regime change in Syria to our advantage through diplomacy.” I’m sorry, but what diplomacy? Regime change or coup? What advantage — like VZ, too early to claim mission accomplished.
I agree with Larry that “History has shown us that successful regime change requires a post war presence to make sure the bad guys do not re-emerge” and this is the crux of the problem. Sure, we can make the world America if all we do is put a cop in everyone’s bedroom. How many, how long, and at what cost?
During the Vietnam “excursion,” I had an acquaintance born in North Vietnam. His parents had money and, for safety and freedom, moved South and just kept going. He was college age but told me of growing up outside Hanoi. As a young child, asleep, the bombs hit and he would be lifted out of bed and dumped on the floor. His reaction; he climbed back into bed and fell asleep. It dawned on me that if this is how they grew up, who they are, that our chances of making them subservient to our wills would be very, very, difficult.
In the end, it’s hearts and minds, hearts and minds, and no amount of force, of policing, will change that. You might mute it while you are there, but only they can change it. So, maybe we can win the hearts and minds in Iran, but all those tens of thousands screaming “death to America” seem to be of another hearts and minds so looks very, very hard to me. I mean if we couldn’t do Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq, sure looks hard to do Iran. Do we really want to sacrifice our kids for this?
I liked the fact Trump avoided war. Trump 1.0 that is. Like Larry, he’s gotten cranky.
Larry, Currently the US is not acting as a democracy, we have a wannabe dictator in office who the republicans have allowed to run wild and refused to enforce the system of checks and balances that democracy is supposed to have You are the one who is naive. Yes, in the past, it was thought that the US was the shining star of democracy but your President has extinguished that light. We are now thought of as little different than Russia. And your backward thoughts on Cuba truly show ignorance as well. Yes, in the past Cuba has done things that earlier administrations rejected, but with the corruption of the trump regime we hardly can be casting stones. The current problems in Cuba are not due to madero’s takedown but rather due to the actions of our corrupt president in both his first and second terms. I know you are too old (and lack the retirement income) to travel around the world, but if you left the hellhole you reside in you might gain perspective on what is right and wrong-something you seriously lack currently…