Drifting Toward Another Long and Pointless War

A Path to War

Pres. Trump is taking us down a path to a long, costly and pointless war. We have seen our navy blowing up ships in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific. The administration claims that the boats were running drugs, but it has presented no evidence to support that claim. The administration also claims that blowing up the ships is legal because the drug runners are ”narco-terrorists” and “enemy combatants” who present a security risk to the United States. The president says that he is not going to ask for a declaration of war. Instead, we are just going to kill the people who are bringing drugs into the United States. 

We Have Been Here Before

We have undertaken costly and pointless wars before on the basis of questionable intelligence.  Do you remember the Tongkin Gulf Incident that triggered the Vietnam War? How about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction that were the excuse for the Iraq War? Do we really want to do this again?

The actions of our navy may be another of Trump’s theatrical efforts to portray himself as a tough leader and to divert attention from his efforts to promote oligarchy and serve the interests of the ultra-wealthy. Trump may also be trying to divert attention from his domestic problems on the eve of a midterm election. He would not be the first leader in the world to do that. Unfortunately, playing this kind of game on the international stage can have tragic consequences. People get killed.

Trump may talk himself into a position where he has to overthrow the government of Venezuela just as Pres. Bush talked himself into a position where he had made such a good case (based on lies as it turned out) for invading Iraq that he had to do it. In Iraq, our military was able to defeat the Iraqi military easily, and our military will also be able to defeat the Venezuelan military within a few weeks at most.

How Many Americans Will Die?

But what will happen after we overthrow Venezuela's government? Do we think that the drug trade will disappear, and our country will become free of drugs miraculously? Or will the cartels find new ways to transport the drugs? In Iraq, we found that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein meant only that all of Iraq’s problems became our problems, and the defeat of the Iraqi army was just the beginning of a ten-year war. Many Americans died, and we gained nothing.

Do we think that Venezuela will be different? If we overthrow Venezuela's government, will we be able to declare victory and go home, or will we become involved in a long guerrilla war? In neighboring Colombia recently, there was a guerilla war that went on for decades. Do we think that the drug cartels will just disappear, or will they fight to defend their extremely profitable business? 

How many Americans will die?