It is some what official now…..our intervention in Venezuela now has an official name…..Operation Southern Spear.
The naming took place with Hogsbreath and his evil smile….
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced a new US military campaign, dubbed “Operation Southern Spear,” which he said was ordered by President Trump.
Hegseth’s announcement came as US officials revealed that the US bombed another alleged drug-running boat in the region on Monday, marking the 20th strike and the 21st boat the US military has blown up since the campaign began in early September. The officials said that the latest strike killed four “narco-terrorists,” a term the Trump administration uses to justify the extrajudicial executions at sea.
According to numbers released by the Trump administration, the latest boat strike brings the total number of people killed in the campaign to 79. The Pentagon has offered no evidence to back up its claims that the boats it has been bombing were carrying drugs, and it has also admitted to Congress that it doesn’t know the identities of the people who have been killed.
The US has been facing growing criticism of the bombing campaign, which is clearly illegal under domestic and international law, but Hegseth’s statement signals the strikes will increase.
“Today, I’m announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR,” Hegseth wrote on X. “Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and [US Southern Command], this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it.”
Hegseth’s statement and the new military operation could also signal a move toward war with Venezuela, as CBS News reported earlier in the day that he was involved in a briefing with President Trump on potential military operations in the South American country, including strikes on land.
(antiwar.com)
With an official name comes with official plans…..
Senior military officials on Wednesday presented President Trump with options for potential military operations in Venezuela, including strikes on land, CBS News reported on Thursday.
The report, which cited White House officials familiar with the meeting, said that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine were involved in the briefing that presented potential options for the “coming days,” though no final decision was made.
The report comes after signs that the president was cooling on the idea of launching a war with Venezuela, though a US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and three US Navy destroyers, just arrived in the region, significantly bolstering US forces in the Caribbean.
The leaks to CBS about the briefing could be part of the psychological operation against Maduro aimed at pressuring him to voluntarily step down from power, though that’s unlikely to happen. The Wall Street Journal reported on November 5 that the president expressed reservations about attacking Venezuela and that he was content with slowly building up US forces in the region and continuing the illegal bombing campaign against alleged drug-running boats in the region.
The push toward a regime change war in Venezuela is being driven by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security advisor. Reports have said that Stephen Miller, the president’s senior domestic policy advisor, also favors war, but there are concerns within the administration that taking out Maduro could plunge Venezuela into chaos and lead to another migrant crisis, akin to what happened in Libya after Muammar Gaddafi was brutally killed during a US and NATO bombing campaign.
(antiwar.com)
Last week, ahead of a Senate vote on a bill to block Trump from starting a war with Venezuela without congressional authorization, Trump officials told lawmakers that they didn’t currently have plans to bomb the country and that they lacked the legal authorization to do so. But the administration also conveyed that they planned on getting a legal opinion from the Department of Justice to justify strikes in Venezuela, which would still be illegal without approval from Congress, per the Constitution.
Is all this a blind bluff?
What makes a small boat with people a narco-terrorist boat?
If these boats are transporting drugs then why not follow it to where it is dropping off the drugs and take out a lot more?
Why waste expensive missiles on a small boat?
Does anyone else see the folly in all this?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”