"Attempts to usher in U.S.-friendly governments often start with clear intentions, whether hope for democracy in Iraq or backing an anti-Communist leader in Congo at the Cold War's height. But often those intentions stumble into a political quagmire where democratic dreams turn into civil war, once-compliant dictators become embarrassments and American soldiers return home in body bags."
"In 1953, the CIA helped engineer a coup that toppled Iran's democratically elected leader and gave near-absolute power to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. But as with the shah, who was overthrown in Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution after decades of increasingly unpopular rule, regime change rarely goes as planned."
"In the end, the so-called 'nation-builders' wrecked far more nations than they built. The interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand."
President Trump called for Iranian regime change following U.S. and Israeli missile strikes on Iran. However, historical precedent suggests such efforts rarely succeed as planned. The United States has attempted regime change in Vietnam, Panama, Nicaragua, Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Iran itself. The 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran installed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was later overthrown in 1979. Regime change operations typically begin with clear democratic intentions but devolve into political complications, civil wars, and unintended consequences. Trump himself previously criticized nation-building and regime change policies, calling them failed approaches that destabilized complex societies.
Read at Fortune
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