Oct 8, 2026 · 3 hr 20 min · 24 segments
Lt. Col. James Lechner (Ret.) is a 27-year U.S. Army veteran and former Army Ranger whose deployments span Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. As a young Ranger officer, he fought with…
Shawn RyanHostYeah, that's a great question because, uh, being a history guy, I'd studied the British involvement and the British partition of different Arabic tribes and, and things, and I probably went into it like a lot of Americans thinking, uh, you know, we should apply standard, uh, you know, standard approaches and frameworks to try to build democratic countries.
But as time went on and I, I dealt more with the Iraqis and, and figured out ways to s- to be successful over there, uh, their tribal, their tribal network, dealing with the tribes, dealing with their culture, their Bedouin, uh, culture, they're some of the greatest hosts in the world.
Um, you know, leveraging that and trying to, to fit into that framework of their culture over there, I, I think I evolved in my thinking from the time I went in there to about 10 years later, and I'm really, you know, I'm a fan of, of Arabs and, uh, and their culture.
And so that's, that's really how my thinking evolved over there, is not just try to put a square peg in a round hole, but, but adapt the, the good things of democracy and our culture, the, the good parts, uh, to their culture and, and then let them run with it.
Could you elaborate a little bit on that? I mean, do you, do you feel like we maybe, we force democracy down people's throats?
Uh, I absolutely think that, you know, the US government is, uh, and I'm not necessarily saying the US military, the US government is horrible at trying to do, uh, foreign interventions and foreign policy, and part of that is because the State Department and other agencies come in and, like I said, try to s- pound a square peg into a round hole.
And I, I think we're gonna talk more about this, but, you know, it's just the unrealistic things that the State Department wants to achieve in a region.
They'd always give us l- a list of like 10 things that you gotta do, all these different social issues and, and things to achieve.
And I'd always be like, "Why don't we just achieve two of those and win? Or we'll try to do all 10 and we'll lose-
... because it's ridiculous what you're trying to achieve here." And I, I think that's what the US government is terrible about, is trying to approach a country or a democracy, uh, and, and establish it using our standards and our cultural norms.
Yeah, that's a great question because, uh, being a history guy, I'd studied the British involvement and the British partition of different Arabic tribes and, and things, and I probably went into it like a lot of Americans thinking, uh, you know, we should apply standard, uh, you know, standard approaches and frameworks to try to build democratic countries.
But as time went on and I, I dealt more with the Iraqis and, and figured out ways to s- to be successful over there, uh, their tribal, their tribal network, dealing with the tribes, dealing with their culture, their Bedouin, uh, culture, they're some of the greatest hosts in the world.
Um, you know, leveraging that and trying to, to fit into that framework of their culture over there, I, I think I evolved in my thinking from the time I went in there to about 10 years later, and I'm really, you know, I'm a fan of, of Arabs and, uh, and their culture.
And so that's, that's really how my thinking evolved over there, is not just try to put a square peg in a round hole, but, but adapt the, the good things of democracy and our culture, the, the good parts, uh, to their culture and, and then let them run with it.
Could you elaborate a little bit on that? I mean, do you, do you feel like we maybe, we force democracy down people's throats?
Uh, I absolutely think that, you know, the US government is, uh, and I'm not necessarily saying the US military, the US government is horrible at trying to do, uh, foreign interventions and foreign policy, and part of that is because the State Department and other agencies come in and, like I said, try to s- pound a square peg into a round hole.
And I, I think we're gonna talk more about this, but, you know, it's just the unrealistic things that the State Department wants to achieve in a region.
They'd always give us l- a list of like 10 things that you gotta do, all these different social issues and, and things to achieve.
And I'd always be like, "Why don't we just achieve two of those and win? Or we'll try to do all 10 and we'll lose-
... because it's ridiculous what you're trying to achieve here." And I, I think that's what the US government is terrible about, is trying to approach a country or a democracy, uh, and, and establish it using our standards and our cultural norms.
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