War Is America’s Other Addiction CrisisVenezuela shows US never learned lessons of Vietnam and Iraq
Americans are suffering through tough times. Prices for utilities and housing are soaring. The unprivileged are poisoned by the processed foods they eat and the toxic chemicals they drink and breathe. They’re about to get even sicker when their healthcare premiums go through the roof because of the callousness of their elected officials. What better moment for a quick, splashy military win to kick off the new year? Donald Trump’s Trump’s support has been tanking even among his own obsequious MAGA bootlickers. He is flailing over his handling of the economy, his dodgy dealings over the files connected to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and the perception that he is subservient to Israel. To rally and re-energize his base ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections, he and his handlers appear to have settled on a strategy of punching down at the weak. Step one was to find a defenseless domestic enemy to attack. That was the Somali operation, in which Trump and his allied foreign and domesitc signal boosters began a campaign of racist anti-Muslim diatribes against America’s tiny Somali-American minority and played up a dishonest and discredited report on Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota. Step two was to find a defenseless international enemy to attack. That was the Nicolas Maduro operation, in which Trump and his Cabinet of halfwits and zealots played up the tinpot Latin American autocrat’s non-existent role in America’s continuing opioid epidemic. For months the US bombed had been bombing fishing boats allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela. Days ago the White House dispatched teams of American assassins on the military payroll to abduct Maduro. The operation left some 40 people dead, including civilains, and led to the arrest of Maduro and his wife. They’re now in New York City to face five-year-old drug charges that exclude any mention of opioids.¹ Step two was to find a defenseless international enemy to attack. That was the Nicolas Maduro operation, in which Trump and his Cabinet of halfwits and zealots played up the tinpot Latin American autocrat’s non-existent role in America’s continuing opioid epidemic. The January 2 capture of Maduro has been hailed on Trump-friendly social media and pro-regime propaganda outlets as a resounding success. According to pro-Trump activists elevated by outlets owned by pro-Trump billionaires, removing Maduro from power was a big boost for the US military and a brilliant strategic move meant to keep Venezuela out of the clutches of China, Russia, and Iran. Even more disgusting than the jingoistic MAGA operatives pushing old clips of sports fans celebrating soccer matches as Venezuelans cheering the US invasion, are the muted responses of people who should know better. They include European foreign policy representative Kaja Kallas. She rightly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but now tepidly says the “EU is closely monitoring the situation” when it comes to the US invasion of Venezuela. Maduro is a buffoonish brute. He likely stole an election to remain in power. He is also a serial human rights abuser. But he’s no worse a tyrant than leaders the US gleefully supports, including human rights violators such as El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, both of whom have been welcomed by Trump at the White House. Maduro is far less of a mass murderer and internationally wanted war criminal than Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead of arresting Bibi, Trump welcomed him for New Year’s Eve at his Mar-a-Lago cesspool. Maduro is also no enemy of the US. He even offered to realign himself with Washington, as long as it lifted sanctions on the country. This was yet another senseless American war of choice. As of now, it remains murky who’s in charge of Venezuela. Trump has stated that the Nobel Laureate Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s Ahmed Chalabi, is too much of a wimp to be president. One of Maduro’s ideologically-aligned deputies, Delcy Rodriguez, says she’s in charge, which would contradict claims by MAGA that “socialism” has been defeated in Venezuela. But Trump also said that the US will “run” Venezuela. That’s a rather whimsical prospect. The US couldn’t “run” Iraq despite deploying 140,000 troops on the ground. At the time of the US invasion, Iraq had a population of 26 million, including 4.5 million pro-American Kurds. In comparison, Venezuela is a country of jungles and mountains twice the size of Iraq and with a population of 28 million. You think Al Qaeda in Iraq was bad? Let me introduce you to the well-armed and well-financed drug trafficking gangs and guerilla militias of Latin America Oh, and you think Al Qaeda in Iraq was bad? Let me introduce you to the well-armed and well-financed drug trafficking gangs and guerilla militias running amok in Latin America. And despite the gaslighting of Americans into believing Maduro’s capture drew widespread Venezuela support, there are already signs of a public backlash against the US attack. Maybe Trump will get lucky. Maybe he’ll take the quick win, walk away from Venezuela, and let Maduro’s hand-picked socialist successor take charge. Both Venezuelans and Americans would be better off. But that has not been the US track record. Over the last seven or eight decades, the list of US military interventions abroad has included Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Lebanon, Guatemala, Panama, and many more. They have almost all ended in tragedy, misery, instability, blowback, recrimination, and ultimate infamy for their architects and boosters. None benefited the people of those countries, nor ordinary American people. They did enrich oligarchs and corporations selling everything from bananas to oil to construction services. Nothing suggests that this misadventure, initiated by a guy who makes George W. Bush look like a master statesman, will be any more successful than the others. For now, Americans desperate for good news loudly cheer for the dubious triumph of the strongest military in human history overpowering a sanctions-weakened third-rate power posing no threat to the US. They’ll go quiet once it all goes horribly wrong. Leave a comment (Please excuse any typos or grammatical errors.) 1 For what it’s worth, Venezuela, along with Brazil and Mexico, is a major transshipment conduit for Colombian and Bolivian cocaine headed to Europe, not fentanyl heading to the US. © 2026 Borzou Daragahi |