Attack
Venezuela? Trump Can't be Serious!
By Ron
Paul
August
15, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- There is something unsettling about how
President Trump has surrounded himself with
generals. From his defense secretary to his
national security advisor to his White House
chief of staff, Trump looks to senior military
officers to fill key positions that have been
customarily filled by civilians. He’s surrounded
by generals and threatens war at the drop of a
hat.
President Trump began last week by threatening
“fire and fury” on North Korea. He continued
through the week claiming, falsely, that Iran is
violating the terms of the nuclear deal. He
finally ended the week by threatening a US
military attack on Venezuela.
He told reporters on Friday that, “We have many
options for Venezuela including a possible
military option if necessary. …We have troops
all over the world in places that are very, very
far away. Venezuela is not very far away and the
people are suffering, and they are dying.”
Venezuela’s defense minister called Trump’s
threat “an act of craziness.”
Even more worrisome, when Venezuelan president
Nicolas Maduro tried to call President Trump for
clarification he was refused. The White House
stated that discussions with the Venezuelan
president could only take place once democracy
was restored in the country. Does that mean
President Trump is moving toward declaring
Maduro no longer the legitimate president of
Venezuela? Is Trump taking a page from Obama’s
failed regime change policy for Syria and
declaring that “Maduro must go”?
The current unrest in Venezuela is related to
the economic shortcomings of that country’s
centrally-planned economy. The 20th century has
shown us very clearly that state control over an
economy leads to mismanagement, mal-investment,
massive shortages, and finally economic
collapse. That is why those of us who advocate
free market economics constantly warn that US
government intervention in our own economy is
leading us toward a similar financial crisis.
But there is another factor in the unrest in
Venezuela. For many years the United States
government, through the CIA, the National
Endowment for Democracy, and US government
funded NGOs, have been trying to overthrow the
Venezuelan government. They almost succeeded in
2002, when then-president Hugo Chavez was
briefly driven from office. Washington has spent
millions trying to manipulate Venezuela’s
elections and overturn the results. US policy is
to create unrest and then use that unrest as a
pretext for US intervention.
No
Advertising
- No
Government
Grants
-
This
Is
Independent
Media
|
Military officers play an important role in
defending the United States. Their job is to
fight and win wars. But the White House is
becoming the war house and the president seems
to see war as a first solution rather than a
last resort. His threats of military action
against a Venezuela that neither threatens nor
could threaten the United States suggests a
shocking lack of judgment.
Congress should take President Trump’s threats
seriously. In the 1980s, when President Reagan
was determined to overthrow the Nicaraguan
government using a proxy army, Congress passed a
series of amendments, named after their author,
Rep. Edward Boland (D-MA), to prohibit the
president from using funds it appropriated to do
so. Congress should make it clear in a similar
manner that absent a Venezuelan attack on the
United States, President Trump would be
committing a serious crime in ignoring the
Constitution were he to follow through with his
threats. Maybe they should call it the “We’re
Not The World’s Policeman” act.
This article was first published by
RonPaul Institute
-
Copyright © 2017 by RonPaul Institute.
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.