“Maduro taken out!”
That was the text message I woke up to today from my good friend the Kazakh.
I bleerily rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, for I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
And sure enough, a quick check of the news confirmed…he was right!
“Another Commie down!” the Kazakh cried triumphantly, and I couldn’t help but smile.
As that big old grin lit up my countenance, I thought back to a conversation I had been carrying on the day before…
A conversation that summarized my life’s work.
THE CROWD CRIES OUT
In the last two decades, Regime Change has gotten a pretty bad rap.
“It doesn’t work!” people cry.
“It’s a failure!” others scream.
“Look at Iraq and Afghanistan!” still more yell.
And that’s always the crux of it: Iraq and Afghanistan.
People point to the disasters that took place in those countries on our watch, and they see failure as an inevitable consequence of Regime Change.
The only trouble is, they don’t know the whole story…
THE STORY YOU HAVEN’T HEARD
The truth is, there was nothing inevitable about the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those failures are not tied to Regime Change…they’re tied to doing Regime Change incompetently!
In fact, history shows that Regime Change works all the time when you know what you’re doing…
In fact, it has brought Peace and Prosperity to vast swathes of the Globe for Centuries!
Just ask the British…they did it successfully for over 250 years!
THE SOVEREIGNTY TRAIN WRECK
Iraq and Afghanistan were disasters because after we kicked out the evil Taliban and Saddam, we ran the place like a train wreck.
We gave billions and billions of dollars to the friendly governments we installed in those countries…and we didn’t control how those dollars were spent.
We said that how those dollars were spent was the Iraqis and the Afghans business, and it would be wrong for us to “violate their sovereignty” by telling them how to spend them.
So what happened?
GUESTS LOOK ON IN HORROR
The money that was intended to build the Security Forces of Iraq and Afghanistan to protect their nations was totally wasted!
Iraqi and Afghan Commanders embezzled the troops’ paychecks, sold the weapons and military equipment we donated on the black market, and didn’t pay, train, equip, or lead their troops!
A good friend of mine is a Marine who advised the 7th Iraqi Infantry Division in Al-Anbar Province in 2007, during the height of the Surge.
He told me that many of the Iraqi soldiers would moonlight for Al Qaeda because they had no other choice…they had wives and kids to feed, and Al Qaeda was the only one that was paying them!
And American Military Advisors like my friend couldn’t do a damn thing about it…that’s because they were merely “guests” who couldn’t give orders in the “host countries”, only offer advice.
And look on in horror.
FROM THE GROUND UP, SHOULDER TO SHOULDER
That’s the failure of Regime Change that most people know.
But it doesn’t have to be that way…
Regime Change worked for over 250 years when the British Empire did it all across India, Africa, and the Middle East.
It worked because the British didn’t run Regime Change like the Iraq and Afghanistan train wreck we conducted for 20 years.
Instead, when they took over a country, they immediately fired all of the Host Nation’s existing Officers and NCOs. Then they put British Officers and NCOs in actual command positions in the Host Nation Armies.
That meant that the British got to run everything completely…giving orders, controlling logistics and pay, directing the training, and leading the indigenous troops side-by-side into combat.
This cut the corruption out completely, and within less than a generation, allowed for British Officers and NCOs to identify indigenous enlisted troops with integrity for leadership opportunities.
They then built the Host Nation’s Officer and NCO Corps from the ground up, shoulder to shoulder.
But they didn’t stop there.
THE MIRROR-IMAGE FAIL SAFE
As a fail safe to make sure corruption didn’t return, the British would always keep a mirror-image British Officer and NCO on the ground for every Indigenous Officer and NCO.
And these mirror- image British Officers and NCOs always reserved the right to overrule his Host Nation counterpart in case things went sideways.
This cut down on waste, fraud, and abuse completely, and created combat capable Host Nation Security Forces at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the sacrifice.
It’s how the world’s tiniest island ruled the world’s largest Empire.
And brought Peace and Prosperity to ¼ of the world’s landmass and ⅕ of the world population for over 250 years.
THE HISTORY LESSON WE ALL NEED
Regime Change works…when you do it the right way.
It doesn’t have to be a disaster, and instead, can be an engine for expanding Freedom and Security all over the world.
Lucky for us, history has shown us how!
And we need the history lesson now more than ever…
Because at the end of the day, we gotta be able to change a regime, and put a friendly, functioning one in its place.
If we can’t do that, then we are not a great country, and we can’t act independently on the world stage.
We can be held hostage by any petty tin pot Third World Dictator, who can use our fear of Regime Change disaster to paralyze us into inaction…
All while they plague our country with drugs, terrorism, and a whole host of other ills.
That’s not something I want for America.
MAKE REGIME CHANGE GREAT AGAIN!
Want to overcome Regime Change fear?
Then crack open a history book…All Men Follow the Strongman: The Forgotten History of the Iraq War by yours truly is a great place to start!
There, you can learn about how the Heroes of Old ran things the right way…
And you’ll come away with a deeper understanding about how we can protect our nation at home, and help our friends abroad.
And if we all do this, then together we can make a big impact on the world stage, for ourselves and our friends alike.
In fact, you might just say that we can…
Make Regime Change Great Again!
Sincerely,
Richard Barrett
01-03-2026
Written at 10:04 PM, somewhere in the USA…
PULP FICTION RENAISSANCE 