This Is How Venezuela Becomes A Quagmire Like Iraq

U.S. 'decapitation' campaigns are rarely swift or clean

The U.S. Navy’s ‘Gerald R. Ford’ Carrier Strike Group in South American waters. U.S. Navy photo

by PAUL IDDON

As the months-long standoff between the United States and Venezuela intensifies, many speculate that U.S. Pres. Donald Trump may opt for a decapitation strike against Venezuelan Pres. Nicolas Maduro’s government. If Saddam Hussein’s Iraq serves as any precedent, a “clean” strike against the leadership in Caracas may not succeed—or avert wider war.

Trump and Maduro spoke by phone a week ago. According to sources cited by The Miami Herald, Trump offered Maduro and his family guaranteed safe passage if he agreed to resign immediately. The Venezuelan president’s public appearance a few days later, Nov. 30, following speculation that he had fled, confirms he hasn’t taken Trump up on this alleged offer. Venezuela, Maduro chanted, is “indestructible, untouchable, unbeatable.”

Over the last few months, the U.S. military has built up substantial naval and air power and deployed 15,000 troops in the Caribbean. They have destroyed several small boats allegedly smuggling drugs on dubious legal grounds. On Nov. 27, Trump said the U.S. military would counter this alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” and “very soon.” On Nov. 29, he declared Venezuelan airspace “closed in its entirety.” When asked on Nov. 30 if that meant imminent U.S. strikes on Venezuela, he vaguely answered, “Don’t read anything into it.”

Several prominent media outlets and think tanks have already highlighted Trump’s potential options for an escalated military campaign against Venezuela. These include decapitation strikes targeting Maduro’s government and military. Despite America’s overwhelming military superiority against the South American nation, such a move could prove complicated, as would mounting an effective coup. The 2003 invasion of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq may offer some important lessons.