Trump's Escalation With Venezuela Has Crossed 'Red Lines' -- And Is Heading Toward Full War
The Trump administration is inching closer to entering the U.S. into war with Venezuela without providing evidence justifying it, pursuing any formal debate or authorization or outlining a plan to deal with the chaos experts say will almost certainly ensue.
U.S. officials have now chosen targets for airstrikes in the South American country and believe they may be approved imminently, The Wall Street Journal and Miami Herald reported on Friday.
The move would escalate President Donald Trump’s two-month campaign of strikes in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, which have killed at least 57 people. The administration, which has claimed the strikes around South America target people bringing drugs to the U.S., has not demonstrated that any of its victims were a threat, nor did it attempt to prosecute them. Military officials told Congress on Thursday that they do not know exactly who they have killed so far, Democratic lawmakers said after a briefing.
Simultaneously, an attack would represent America’s second assault on a nation that has not attacked the U.S. in less than a year — the first being against Iran in June — risking a domino effect of strife and bloodshed, and underscoring the hollowness of Trump’s claims he is enhancing world peace.
The identified targets include Venezuelan government installations, the WSJ reports, meaning the proposed plan would further undercut the administration’s argument that it is simply targeting drug traffickers, including through covert CIA actions. Bombing another country’s territory and infrastructure is indisputably war. Also, Trump aides have intertwined their purported anti-trafficking with regime change, often expressing a desire to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro. Officials have called him a drug kingpin (which he denies) and offered a $50 million reward for his arrest — double what the U.S. offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden, the planner of the 9/11 attacks.
The spiral into conflict is occurring with minimal checks or clarity around the Trump administration’s policy-making.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-venezuela-escalation-war_n_69052bc3e4b0060501ac52e2?origin=home-whats-happening-unit
He thinks he can do this during the shutdown.....
= new reply since forum marked as read
Can't Congress or the Supreme Court put the brakes on this stupidity...
