The Trump regime’s military operation and removal of Maduro was tactically brilliant and well-executed but was also a highly illegal act of war.
What follows will be even more important or it will be a huge strategic blunder. Trump says we will “run” the country in the aftermath. But what does that even mean? (That is now being debated as if they are making it up as they go.) People are already citing Panama as a precedent, but that required “boots on the ground.” This is something Trump hasn’t ruled out but it would put us into another act of “nation-building” and we all know how well that went in Iraq and Afghanistan. Something he also said he would never do; so much for that promise.
The military operation was well thought out and obviously planned for months under the guise of combating “narco-terrorism,” but in reality all Trump really wanted was the oil.
This brazen act of kidnapping/removing the head of another sovereign country gives Russia, China or any other country ruled by a dictator the excuse to do the same. And it gives the U.S. no right to condemn other similar actions (Russia/Ukraine, China/Taiwan, etc., etc.).
Yet again, Trump acted without congressional approval, not even a heads-up before it occurred. And, yet again, the GOP-controlled Congress is just fine with that. Shame on all of them.
Scott Florence, Ivins
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