Honest question: has U.S.-imposed regime change – even removing brutal dictators – ever worked out well long term for the population? Germany and Japan are the only real examples, and they required total war, unconditional surrender, decades of occupation, and massive reconstruction. Nothing like modern interventions. Iran, Guatemala, Chile, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan – different eras, same result: instability, violence, lost sovereignty, and decades of blowback. Removing a bad leader doesn’t build legitimacy. It usually destroys what little exists. History suggests a hard truth: even when the dictator deserves to go, externally imposed regime change almost never leaves ordinary people better off. That’s not ideology – it’s the record