We Are The Bad Guys: The Global cost of American power, U.S. Imperialism, Foreign Policy, and Covert Wars.

What if America’s greatest blind spot is the way we see ourselves?
For generations, we’ve been told a familiar story about U.S. power. But after serving across Asia and the Middle East, Marine combat pilot and Naval Academy graduate Michael T. Lester began to notice a troubling pattern: the missions didn’t match the rhetoric, and the people we claimed to help didn’t feel liberated at all.

That contradiction launched a twenty-year investigation into the parts of American history most of us were never taught.

We Are The Bad Guys pulls together what is usually kept apart—the coups, covert operations, economic pressure campaigns, and the media narratives that justify them—and reveals how they form a decades-long strategy of dominance. Drawing on declassified documents, leaked cables, and respected scholarship, this book asks a question few Americans have ever been encouraged to consider:

What if the world sees U.S. power more clearly than we do?

Meet the Author

Michael T. Lester

Marine Combat Pilot • Historian • Cybersecurity Executive

A Naval Academy graduate who served across Asia and the Middle East, I spent 20 years investigating the patterns I observed during my service—patterns that contradicted everything I was taught about America’s role in the world.

We Are The Bad Guys is the result of that investigation. It’s not theory. It’s lived experience backed by rigorous documentation.

🎖️ U.S. Naval Academy Graduate

✈️ Marine Corps Combat Pilot

🎓 Adjunct Professor, Cybersecurity

🧠 MENSA Member