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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenate Republicans vote down legislation to limit Trump's ability to attack Venezuela
WASHINGTON (AP) Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation Thursday that would have put a check on President Donald Trumps ability to launch an attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pressed Congress to take a stronger role in Trumps high-stakes campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Lawmakers, including top Republicans, have demanded that the Trump administration provide them with more information on the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. But Thursdays vote, on legislation that would essentially forestall an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization, suggested Republicans are willing to give Trump leeway to continue his buildup of naval forces in the region.
President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics, said Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Still, the vote allowed Democrats to press their GOP colleagues on Trumps threats against Venezuela. The legislation failed to advance 49-51, with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans voting in favor.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-strikes-congress-6c0061bf5a9c417e66f76fcc6ee57405
kacekwl
(8,773 posts)Instead of assisting him in war crimes they should be charging him with murder.
intheflow
(29,866 posts)sakabatou
(45,518 posts)AZJonnie
(2,250 posts)I mean, in even more obvious fashion than they are now
fujiyamasan
(948 posts)DFW
(59,342 posts)Yeah, OK, Maduro is an asshole dictator who has let a country blessed with some of the worlds best geography go down the path of ruin. Venezuela should have been, and indeed once was, probably the best country in South America to live in. It is now a crime-infested near social(ist) anarchy whose regimes bulwark of support was well-described in a newspaper article noting that Maduro has cleverly placed a network of powerful cronies around the country. Their positions are secure only as long as Maduros is. Their populace as a whole would not mourn their loss.
But as with Iraq, an invasion by Anglo Yanquis would be directed by an administration of corrupt ham-fisted Republican business execs who care nothing about the people they are attacking. The business interests who are no doubt licking their chops at the prospect of an invasion of Venezuela are after the natural resources, not the adoration of the people of Venezuela. Maybe this time, all the refineries for the Maracaibo oil will be built right there in Venezuela. Their oil is heavy in sulfur, and what Republican wants to be responsible for fouling up the air in Mikey Johnsons back yard, after all?
One personal ultimate irony for me is that our newest parody video on Trump shows him bragging that he ended wars, where Biden started wars because he was stupid. How fitting would THAT be if Trump were to start Iraq II within ten days of that video coming out?
But there are no WMD fictions this time around, and if the only justification the Republicans are offering this time is that they are ridding a country of an evil, egotistical power-hungry leader, dangerous to neighboring countries, incapable of providing his own country with benevolent, competent leadership, well, hell, the Republicans just delivered a perfect reason why Venezuela should invade the USA instead.