Courtesy: The Guardian
The Trump administration is ramping up military aggression against Venezuela. U.S. attacks on several boats in the Caribbean have killed at least 27 people as of Friday, October 17, The Independent reports. Now, President Donald Trump has signed a presidential finding, which approves CIA covert action in Venezuela.
The military and national security veterans at the Eisenhower Media Network disagree strongly with the use of the U.S. military in the Caribbean and the bullying of Latin America more broadly.
The military and national security veterans at the Eisenhower Media Network disagree strongly with the use of the U.S. military in the Caribbean and the bullying of Latin America more broadly.
Senior fellow Michael Baker assesses the situation succinctly: The airstrikes in the Caribbean are “murder in international waters of unknown people and without due process.”
“Members of the Trump administration are like vigilante cops,” says senior fellow Bill Astore. “They think they can enforce the law by breaking the law. In attempting to display toughness, they’re showing moral weakness by murdering people who could well be innocent.”
The White House and the Pentagon have not even released the identities of the people on board or the precise nature of the cargo.
Senior fellow Matthew Hoh recalls the Tom Clancy war novel A Clear and Present Danger, which featured a well-funded covert program against a drug cartel in a Latin American country. “That storyline is now being implemented with one important addition: regime change,” Hoh explains.
“Tom Clancy was a hawk’s hawk, but even he knew the limits of military power, as well as the great dangers that come from a President’s constitutional crimes. Clancy’s story is a tragedy and a cautionary tale, not a triumph.” Citing the United States’ catastrophic military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, Hoh stresses that Washington’s efforts at regime change never end well.
“Members of the Trump administration are like vigilante cops,” says senior fellow Bill Astore. “They think they can enforce the law by breaking the law. In attempting to display toughness, they’re showing moral weakness by murdering people who could well be innocent.”
The White House and the Pentagon have not even released the identities of the people on board or the precise nature of the cargo.
Senior fellow Matthew Hoh recalls the Tom Clancy war novel A Clear and Present Danger, which featured a well-funded covert program against a drug cartel in a Latin American country. “That storyline is now being implemented with one important addition: regime change,” Hoh explains.
“Tom Clancy was a hawk’s hawk, but even he knew the limits of military power, as well as the great dangers that come from a President’s constitutional crimes. Clancy’s story is a tragedy and a cautionary tale, not a triumph.” Citing the United States’ catastrophic military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, Hoh stresses that Washington’s efforts at regime change never end well.
Legality
The legal foundations for murder in the Caribbean are shaky, as Congress has authorized neither missile strikes nor war.
The administration designated the Cartel of the Suns (“Cartel de los Soles”) a terrorist organization and continues to argue that the cartel is a criminal group headed by Venezuelan President Nicholás Maduro. Such a designation triggers an asset freeze and certain travel restrictions. It also demonizes the group and convinces some members of the American public to support attacks on that group.
The administration further argues that it’s self-defense to strike boats that allegedly bring drugs to the U.S.
“Self-defense” is a tried and true pretext for U.S. military activity. It was used to justify bombing Libya in 1986, invading Panama in 1989, bombing Iraq in 1993, invading and occupying Iraq in 2003, and bombing West Asia and Africa (e.g., Syria, Yemen, Somalia).
“In a world where government lies may be easily refuted in seconds, Trump’s initiation of war for Venezuelan oil and resources presented as a war on drugs and made up narco-terror is as illegal as it is embarrassing,” concludes senior fellow Karen Kwiatkowski.
The legal foundations for murder in the Caribbean are shaky, as Congress has authorized neither missile strikes nor war.
The administration designated the Cartel of the Suns (“Cartel de los Soles”) a terrorist organization and continues to argue that the cartel is a criminal group headed by Venezuelan President Nicholás Maduro. Such a designation triggers an asset freeze and certain travel restrictions. It also demonizes the group and convinces some members of the American public to support attacks on that group.
The administration further argues that it’s self-defense to strike boats that allegedly bring drugs to the U.S.
“Self-defense” is a tried and true pretext for U.S. military activity. It was used to justify bombing Libya in 1986, invading Panama in 1989, bombing Iraq in 1993, invading and occupying Iraq in 2003, and bombing West Asia and Africa (e.g., Syria, Yemen, Somalia).
“In a world where government lies may be easily refuted in seconds, Trump’s initiation of war for Venezuelan oil and resources presented as a war on drugs and made up narco-terror is as illegal as it is embarrassing,” concludes senior fellow Karen Kwiatkowski.
A Bipartisan Affair
The U.S. government’s history of aggression against Latin America is extensive. Washington, D.C., makes sure that no country, especially one in the United States’ “backyard,” opposes the U.S.-led capitalist order or dares to use natural resources to benefit people instead of multinational corporations.
Hugo Chavez attempted to do just that in 1999. A coup soon followed – one which CIA, at the very least, knew about in advance.
It was the Obama administration that originally declared Venezuela to be a national security threat, unlocking many legal authorities, including the imposition of economic sanctions.
The first Trump administration expanded economic sanctions and imposed an embargo barring financial transactions with Venezuelan government officials and freezing all of the government’s assets in the U.S.
The Biden administration then levied more economic sanctions against Venezuelan officials and the oil industry and increased bounties on Venezuelan government officials.
The U.S. government’s history of aggression against Latin America is extensive. Washington, D.C., makes sure that no country, especially one in the United States’ “backyard,” opposes the U.S.-led capitalist order or dares to use natural resources to benefit people instead of multinational corporations.
Hugo Chavez attempted to do just that in 1999. A coup soon followed – one which CIA, at the very least, knew about in advance.
It was the Obama administration that originally declared Venezuela to be a national security threat, unlocking many legal authorities, including the imposition of economic sanctions.
The first Trump administration expanded economic sanctions and imposed an embargo barring financial transactions with Venezuelan government officials and freezing all of the government’s assets in the U.S.
The Biden administration then levied more economic sanctions against Venezuelan officials and the oil industry and increased bounties on Venezuelan government officials.
U.S. Congress
Long in favor of fully funding nonstop war and worldwide military deployments, including those throughout U.S. Southern Command, the Democratic Party has yet to try to rein in the Trump administration’s Caribbean warfare.
Long in favor of fully funding nonstop war and worldwide military deployments, including those throughout U.S. Southern Command, the Democratic Party has yet to try to rein in the Trump administration’s Caribbean warfare.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) shows the opposition party’s lack of backbone: “We have uniformed military asking their chain of command for letters that ensure that they don’t have personal liability for any illegal action in these operations. I have no problem going after drug traffickers.”
The Nation explains, “In other words, Slotkin’s goal is not to stop Trump’s bombing campaign and possible rush to war with Venezuela but to simply make sure it follows proper legal protocol.”
“The CIA -- and the spineless members of Congress who never met a war they didn’t like -- remain both consistent and ascendant,” says Kwiatkowski. “The only war Americans need today is the one we must fight against the military-industrial-congressional complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of almost 65 years ago.”
The military and national security veterans at the Eisenhower Media Network favor diplomatic engagement with Venezuela, not armed conflict or economic warfare.
The Nation explains, “In other words, Slotkin’s goal is not to stop Trump’s bombing campaign and possible rush to war with Venezuela but to simply make sure it follows proper legal protocol.”
“The CIA -- and the spineless members of Congress who never met a war they didn’t like -- remain both consistent and ascendant,” says Kwiatkowski. “The only war Americans need today is the one we must fight against the military-industrial-congressional complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of almost 65 years ago.”
The military and national security veterans at the Eisenhower Media Network favor diplomatic engagement with Venezuela, not armed conflict or economic warfare.