<\/p>\n
Early Saturday morning,<\/span> after cloud cover lifted, elite Army Delta Force commandos moved in. With support from CIA covert operators and other military, intelligence, and law enforcement personnel, they carried out the Trump administration\u2019s audacious regime-change project in Venezuela, upending global order and shattering what remains of geopolitical norms.<\/p>\n As the day wore on, the full scope of the operation became clear: The U.S. had attacked a sovereign nation with which it was not at war and did so without congressional authorization; kidnapped its leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and rendered them to the United States; announced plans to \u201crun\u201d that country <\/a>as a de facto colony; and threatened further attacks and military occupation unless the acting president does America\u2019s bidding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in charge,\u201d Trump said<\/a> of Venezuela on Sunday night, speaking to reporters on Air Force One. \u201cWe\u2019re going to run everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on the operation, dubbed Absolute Resolve, a senior defense official called America a \u201crogue state\u201d and pronounced dead the liberal rules-based geopolitical order which U.S. administrations, of both parties, have championed since World War II.<\/p>\n \u201cHis powers are rooted in the fearmongering post-9\/11 decisions creating emergency powers that were never reined back in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how we are following the old, failed scripts: Topple government. Make no plans for the aftermath,\u201d the senior defense official said. \u201cWe must face the reality Trump has no limits. His powers are rooted in the fearmongering post-9\/11 decisions creating emergency powers that were never reined back in.\u201d<\/p>\n The administration has justified Absolute Resolve <\/a>by citing the president\u2019s authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack. <\/p>\n Sarah Harrison, who previously advised Pentagon policymakers on issues related to human rights and the law of war, said that the attack was a clear violation of international law and the administration\u2019s justifications are baseless.<\/p>\n \u201cCountries cannot go around the world using force against other states merely due to criminal activity. On this point the administration has put forward one of the most groundless legal arguments,\u201d Harrison told The Intercept. \u201cWhat happened on January 3 was clearly an offensive, not a defensive, mission, and an act of aggression in violation of the U.N. charter and customary international law.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCountries cannot go around the world using force against other states.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a pervasive corrosive fear in the Pentagon among those of us opposed to Trump and his policies,\u201d the senior defense official told The Intercept. \u201cWe have supported the country and the institutions for decades and now watch as they are being dismantled.\u201d<\/p>\n Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson <\/a>did not reply to repeated requests for comment concerning the statements by the senior defense official.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the weekend, Trump repeatedly threatened continued war in Venezuela, as the U.S. maintains a massive military presence in the Caribbean, including the largest naval flotilla in the region since the Cold War. \u201cWe\u2019re prepared,\u201d Trump said<\/a> of possible follow-up strikes on Venezuela. \u201cYou know, we have a second wave that\u2019s much bigger than the first wave.\u201d<\/p>\n He also threatened that the \u201cAmerican armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied.\u201d <\/p>\n Trump also left the door open to a full-scale military occupation. \u201cWe\u2019re not afraid of boots on the ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trump said that the U.S. intends to employ Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, Maduro\u2019s vice president, as a puppet under threat of further U.S. attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Maduro\u2019s vice president \u2014 if the vice president does what we want, we won\u2019t have to do that,\u201d he said<\/a> of a military occupation. Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday that if Rodr\u00edguez \u201cdoesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez, who had initially struck a defiant tone, expressed a willingness to \u201ccollaborate<\/a>\u201d with the U.S. following Trump\u2019s menacing comments.<\/p>\n Experts raised the <\/a>issue of blowback<\/a>, which has haunted foreign U.S. interventions since before the CIA coined the term for the unintended, negative effects of covert U.S. operations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States learned this the hard way during previous regime change operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, where early tactical achievements failed to produce strategic success and instead paved the way for expensive occupations and unintended consequences,\u201d said Daniel DePetris of Defense Priorities, a research institute that favors restraint in foreign policy. \u201cA split in the Venezuelan military, an expansion of criminal groups in the country, civil war, and the emergence of an even worse autocrat are all possible scenarios. None of these would bode well for regional stability or U.S. interests in its sphere of influence.\u201d<\/p>\n Military contracting documents revealed by The Intercept<\/a> also show that the War Department has plans to feed a massive military presence in the Caribbean until almost to the end of President Donald Trump\u2019s term in office. A 2023 study <\/a>by the RAND Corporation warned that \u201covert military intervention in Venezuela is likely to become messy very quickly and is likely to become protracted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike President Trump, the Bush administration also promised that Iraqi oil would pay for the occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cThe idea of the United States running or administering Venezuela, even temporarily, should set off every alarm bell in Washington,\u201d said Lora Lumpe, the CEO of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. \u201cIt bears an unsettling resemblance to the occupation of Iraq, where promises of liberation quickly gave way to years of insurgency, civilian suffering, and regional destabilization. Like President Trump, the Bush administration also promised that Iraqi oil would pay for the occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n Lumpe added, \u201cWhile the U.S. invasion of Iraq looked like an initial success, it is now understood, including by President Trump, to be a colossal failure.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has long advocated seizing foreign oil fields, including those in Iraq and Syria<\/a>. \u201cI still can\u2019t believe we left Iraq without the oil,\u201d he tweeted<\/a> in 2013. \u201cIt used to be, \u2018To the victor belong the spoils,\u2019\u201d he said<\/a> at a 2016 \u201cCommander-in-Chief Forum.\u201d In 2023, during a speech at the North Carolina Republican Convention, Trump said<\/a> that, if reelected in 2021, he would have seized Venezuela\u2019s oil. \u201cWhen I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over, we would have gotten all that oil,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Trump made clear that the U.S. would be cashing in on Venezuela\u2019s petroleum patrimony. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.\u201d He said that both Venezuela and the U.S. would share in those riches, stating that America was entitled to \u201creimbursement for the damages caused us by that country.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has pursued an abrasive, interventionist, and ruthless foreign policy during his second term and made war<\/a> in Iran<\/a>, Iraq<\/a>, Nigeria<\/a>, Somalia<\/a>, Syria<\/a>, Venezuela<\/a>, Yemen<\/a>, and the Caribbean<\/a> Sea and Pacific Ocean in 2025, despite claiming<\/a> to be a \u201cpeacemaker<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Late on Friday night and into early Saturday morning, Trump and his advisers huddled as scores of U.S. aircraft took off, including attack jets that struck targets in and around Caracas, including air defense systems, a government official told The Intercept.<\/p>\n Helicopters, with troops and \u201claw enforcement officers\u201d on board, skimmed just 100 feet above the water en route to Venezuela, according to chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine. (The government official clarified that the law enforcement personnel were FBI agents.)<\/p>\n U.S. forces cleared a path with electronic warfare methods from Space Command, Cyber Command, and others while combat aircraft provided armed overwatch.<\/p>\n Caine said the operation involved more than 150 aircraft launched from 20 bases around the Western Hemisphere, including F-18, F-35, and F-22 fighters; B-1 bombers; and remotely piloted drones.<\/p>\n Around 1 a.m. ET, the soldiers of Delta Force, officially known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment\u2013Delta \u2014 who specialize in high-risk missions involving the capture or killing of high-value targets<\/a> \u2014 arrived at Maduro\u2019s compound in downtown Caracas. \u201cOn arrival into the target area, the helicopters came under fire and they replied to that fire with overwhelming force,\u201d said Caine. \u201cOne of our aircraft was hit but remained flyable.\u201d<\/p>\n Caine said that once Maduro and Flores were abducted by U.S. troops, helicopters were called in to retrieve the group.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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Forever Wars<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Close to Catastrophe<\/strong><\/h2>\n