History has an uncomfortable habit of repeating itself—not because it is unclear, but because it is deliberately ignored. Over the past few decades, powerful nations, led by the United States and supported by its military allies, have repeatedly intervened in sovereign countries under the banner of “liberation,” “democracy,” and “human rights.” The results, however, tell a different and far grimmer story.

Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan were all promised freedom. What they received instead were shattered institutions, endless violence, economic collapse, and social fragmentation. Their people were persuaded—sometimes through media propaganda, sometimes through covert inducements—that foreign intervention would rescue covert inducements—that foreign intervention would rescue them from tyranny. Many believed it. Some cooperated openly, others silently. The outcome is now visible to the world: these countries are in disarray, while foreign powers and corporations extracted strategic advantages, oil, minerals, and geopolitical leverage.

Libya, once among Africa’s most stable and prosperous nations,........

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