Killing the tyrant doesn’t assure the tyranny will end.

Regime change efforts by the United States in this century confirm that when despots are toppled, it is likely one form of oppression will be replaced by another.

Instead of peace and democracy, externally driven nation-building most often ends in chaos. One set of bad guys goes, and another set marches in. Or the old ones come back.

Americans should look to that history in setting expectations for what happens next in Iran now that another batch of maniacal Middle East murderers have been sent hurtling through the gates of hell.

In 2001, the United States and its allies stormed into Afghanistan, aiming to destroy the Taliban and round up the instigators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Twenty years later, after spending $2.3 trillion and losing nearly 2,500 American troops, then-President Joe Biden ordered a hasty withdrawal. Now, the Taliban are back exporting terror, women are shrouded and girls have again been shut out of classrooms.

Remember the jubilation in Baghdad in 2003 as long-abused citizens tore down the statue of Saddam Hussein and the real-life strongman was driven into hiding and eventually killed? Iraqis breathed a few gulps of freedom before secular warfare between Sunni and Shia militias began tearing the country apart.

Americans sent to help reconstruct the country and build a functioning government were relentlessly attacked.

The Islamic State, or ISIS, the most vicious terror group ever, found Iraq to be the perfect launching pad for its marauders. Today, the country is considered a shaky democracy at best, and civil rights abuses abound.

Bringing “freedom” to Iraq cost America just under 4,500 troops and nearly $3 trillion.

A U.S.-led NATO coalition aided a 2011 military coup in Libya that left the sadistic dictator Muammar Gaddafi dead in a ditch. The North African nation today is in a power vacuum and roiled by conflicts between rival armed gangs, some with ties to international terrorism.

That history should inform American decisions and its expectations as it moves ahead with extracting the Islamic radicals from Iran.

While the Iranian people have demonstrated fervently for freedom, there seems to be an endless line of mullahs willing to step into the shoes from which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was just blown out.

President Donald Trump has rallied the Iranians to rise up and take over their country. But the people lack significant arms. Their economy is being shattered along with their infrastructure. They have to work. They have to eat. They have to focus on survival.

They have watched up to 30,000 of their countrymen be slaughtered for protesting the regime, including many who might have led Iran’s rebuilding.

There’s bound to be an extended period of chaos, power struggles and hardship even under the best scenario.

Removing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the radical clerics with bombs alone will be an arduous and uncertain process. A ground war seems inevitable, and Trump has not ruled one out.

But the principle of “you broke it, you own it,” will be hard to resist. The argument will be that some form of peace-keeping force will be necessary to restore order in the country and keep it from re-radicalizing. It will be another dangerous, expensive quagmire, despite assurances from the administration that things will be different this time.

Considering the poor return on investment of previous regime change mobilizations, will America be willing to sacrifice more of its children to a cause with such a dubious chance of success?

Nolan Finley writes for the Detroit News.

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Today is Friday, March 6, the 65th day of 2026. There are 300 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 6, 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time after nearly two decades as the anchor of “The CBS Evening News.”

Also on this date:

In 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise, which allowed Missouri to join the Union as a slave state and Maine to join as a free state, while banning slavery in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory.

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In 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell as Mexican forces led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna stormed the fortress after a 13-day siege; the battle claimed the lives of all the Texian defenders, including William Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett.

In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, ruled 7-2 that Scott, an enslaved person, was not a U.S. citizen and therefore could not sue for his freedom in federal court; it also ruled that slavery could not be banned from any federal territory. The decision deepened the national divide over slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War.

In 1869, chemist Dmitri Mendeleev introduced his concept of a periodic table of elements at a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society in St. Petersburg.

In 1912, Oreo cookies were first introduced by the National Biscuit Company (later known as Nabisco).

In 1951, the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on federal espionage charges began in New York. (Both were subsequently found guilty, sentenced to death and then executed in 1953).

In 1964, heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay took a new name given to him by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammed: Muhammad Ali.

In 1970, a bomb being built inside a townhouse in New York’s Greenwich Village by members of the Weather Underground militant leftist group accidentally exploded, destroying the house and killing three group members.

In 1990, Ed Yeilding and Joseph T. Vida flew a Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” spy plane east across the U.S. from coast to coast in a record 67 minutes, 54 seconds. (The since-retired U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane played an outsized role in American military and intelligence gathering since 1968.)

In 2009, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope was rocketed into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to hunt for Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. The spacecraft discovered 2,681 exoplanets outside the solar system before it ran low on fuel and was retired in 2018 after 9 1/2 years of scouring space for alien worlds.

In 2021, Pope Francis met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, one of Shiite Islam’s most senior clerics, in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf to deliver a message of peaceful coexistence, urging Muslims to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority. The historic encounter followed months of negotiations between the ayatollah’s office and the Vatican.

Today’s birthdays:

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 100.
Former Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is 89.
Opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa is 82.
Rock musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is 80.
Actor-comedian Tom Arnold is 67.
Actor-comedian D.L. Hughley is 63.
Actor Connie Britton is 59.
Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is 54.
Rapper-producer Tyler, the Creator is 35.
Actor Millicent Simmonds is 23.

MIDDLETON, Wis. – There are rallies, and then there are Jane Volgren-led rallies.

Volgren scored four consecutive goals over the final 5:31 of the second period to help the St. Croix Valley Fusion overcome a three-goal deficit for a 7-4 victory over Superior/Northwestern on Thursday in the semifinals of the Wisconsin girls state hockey tournament.

The second-seeded Fusion (24-4) bring a 17-game winning streak into Saturday’s title game against the top-seeded Bay Area Ice Dogs (25-2), a De Pere co-op of Green Bay-area schools. Bay Area defeated fourth-seeded Sun Prairie West co-op 5-1 in the opening semifinal.

“We fell behind and kind of, not gave up, but we were just slow and methodical, and they took advantage of it,” Fusion coach Matt Cranston said. “I was talking about getting the momentum … all we’ve got to do is get one. Get the momentum because momentum is such a powerful thing.

“And we got it and we just kept on rolling.”

Volgren’s outburst erased a 4-1 deficit after the Spartans scored the first three goals of the period.

Superior/Northwestern blitzed the Fusion with a pair of goals nine seconds apart in the opening minute of the second period. Adalyn Benson capped a two-pass rush with a goal from the slot to make it 2-1 just 44 seconds into the period.

On the ensuing possession, Aaliyah Haroldson punched in a rebound from outside the left post for a two-goal lead.

The Spartans continued their surge on a rush by Gianna Geissler, whose shot from the left side hit Katelyn Gustafson’s stick and trickled up over her shoulder and into the back of the net to make it 4-1.

Volgren got the Fusion back in it with a pair of goals three minutes apart, scoring on a putback and then a shot from the left circle with 2:29 left in the period. She tied it with another shot from the left circle, then capped the comeback with her fourth consecutive goal with 11 seconds remaining in the stanza.

“Obviously, I was kind of upset that we were losing 4-1. I really was looking for only one at a time,” said Volgren, playing with a stick borrowed from a teammate after leaving her sticks at home.

Jenna Volgren, Jane’s freshman sister, made it 6-4 midway through the third period, weaving in from the left side and tucking a backhander under the crossbar.

Morgan Kivel added an empty net goal with 2:45 left.

“I think we started to unravel a little bit,” Spartans coach Doug Trentor said. “Our kids have been really good at resolve this year, but at that point in time, we had a hard time kind of stopping the flow and one thing led to another.”

Freshman Lila Sislo put Superior/Northwestern up 1-0 with an opportunistic goal with seven minutes remaining in the first period, pouncing on a loose puck in front of the crease.

Sophia Munson brought the Fusion even three minutes later with a bullet from the high slot.

Gustafson finished with 22 saves as Superior/Northwestern outshot the Fusion 26-25. Peyton Benoit had 18 saves for the Spartans.

The Fusion lost to Bay Area 5-1 in the third game of the season.

“We’re much, much improved, I think,” Cranston said. “We’re better, I think, but obviously they’re fantastic,”

The current version of the Fusion is a co-op with River Falls/Baldwin-Woodville/St. Croix Central. A previous configuration of the River Falls co-op that also included other area schools with the current three won three consecutive state titles from 2009-11.

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Bode McConnell couldn’t have gotten Edina off to a better start Thursday night.

The junior forward scored three times for a first-period hat trick as the third-seeded Hornets built a lead they would not relinquish in beating surprising No. 6 seed Andover 3-1 in the final Class 2A state quarterfinal of the day at Grand Casino Arena.

The victory sets up a semifinal clash with defending state champion Moorhead in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday. The Spuds – the tournament’s No. 2 seed – defeated No. 7 seed Lakeville South 4-1 Thursday.

Edina and Moorhead also met to decide the Class 6A state football championship this past fall – a game the Hornets won 42-35.

Edina senior goalie Chase Bjorgaard – who had 25 saves Thursday – rushed for 320 yards and four touchdowns while adding two touchdown catches in that victory.

The two teams also met in the Class 2A hockey semifinals last season, a game Moorhead won 4-3.

Sophomore forward Jack Rykkeli scored for the Huskies (11-15-3) – the No. 5 seed in the Section 5-2A playoff field – to cut the gap to two in the second period.

But Edina (22-6-1) let them get no closer than that. The Hornets piled up 48 shots-on-goal while holding Andover to just 26.

Huskies sophomore goalie Wyatt Riemer finished with 45 saves.

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