With the “snatch-and-grab” operation in Venezuela early Jan.3, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is in his own element, strutting around puffed up with the arrogance of raw power and ignorance—not a happy mixture. Last night he explained to CBS Evening News that the snatching of Venezuelan President Maduro is the “exact opposite” of the U.S. invasion of Iraq: “We spent decades and decades and purchased in blood, and got nothing economically in return, and President Trump flips the script.” As such, the U.S. can ensure it has access to “additional wealth and resources, enabling a country to unleash that without having to spend American blood.… I mean, this was a bold and audacious move, but it was thought through. It was well orchestrated. Our military had time to set it up, to provide the resources, and then he took that bold stroke. And through it, we flipped that very dynamic, and Americans will benefit.”
While he may well actually believe that the successful grabbing of material assets, such as oil, is what turns an imperial, “regime change” military operation into a moral and legal re-establishment of lawfulness amongst our neighbors, his explanation also provided some insight as to how the operation was pitched to President Trump. Hegseth went on to explain that the United States can help both the people of Venezuela and America in the Western Hemisphere by reestablishing the Monroe Doctrine—which established the tenets of U.S. foreign policy—with “peace through strength with our allies.… And I think the hemisphere, I know the hemisphere will benefit from President Trump’s bold action.”
