Venezuela?

Lat night Hugo Chavez said that the US is planning to invade Venezuela. Now I can see where this looks more than a little nuts, but...

The first issue here is the attempted coup a few years ago. Was that us? Maybe, maybe not. Was it us that set the whole thing up? That's a different question. Did we get involved in trying to make it work? Yes. We're the ones who sent a plane down there to "give him an out" so there isn't any question that on some level we were involved.

Were we involved in the Haiti coup? I think most people would say yes we were. We're the ones who flew Aristide out of there, and the ones that he screamed set him up. Did we overthrow the Taliban? Yes, that was us. Did we overthrow Saddam Hussein? Yes, that was us too. There's a history of these sorts of things from the current administration, so maybe the assertion isn't so nuts after all.

Let's try this in a different light. Do we have plans to invade Venezuela? Probably. We've got plans for all kinds of weird crap (remember Ollie North and the REX plans for creating American concentration camps?) so is it possible that we have plans out there to invade Venezuela? I would say not just possible but likely.

Is it likely we are getting ready to implement those plans and invade? No. First, the military is already stretched beyond our ability to maintain. The current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are about the limit of what we can do right now. We might be able to pull of something else, but it is not likely. Second, there is no UN anything under which we could get away with it. Were we to invade Venezuela, the rest of the world would see they are not safe from US predation and cut us off at the knees. Japan, Europe, and China would all dump sanctions on us, and right now, there is not one thing you can do that doesn't involve international trade.

Is Chavez right to be paranoid? Absolutely. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.