In the same year that I was born, the United States began its illegal invasion of Iraq under the pretense that Saddam Hussain was harboring weapons of mass destruction. This claim, which the international community already knew wasn’t true, was proven false after one million Iraqis had already died due to the conflict.
One million people is more than the amount of people that live in the city I grew up in and almost as many people as the amount that live where I went to college. As a number on a screen, it’s hard to fathom the terrible loss of life and suffering that accompanies it.
And yet, maybe because Iraq is far and most people can’t point it out on a map, maybe because Iraqis have darker skin and hair, maybe because they worship a different god or because they speak a different language, we brush off these numbers as if each one doesn’t represent a human life cut short by a bomb or a sanction.
Today, as I watch fishing boats bombed in the Caribbean ocean and hear talk accusing foreign leaders of doing more and more horrible things, I am reminded of a book called “Iraq, Afghanistan & The Imperialism of Our Time,” by Aijaz Ahmad. I am reminded of that book and I am scared.
The book is a series of articles written by the author as he bore witness to the events proceeding and during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the end, he draws an analysis of this experience about U.S. imperialism and how it functions in the world post-Cold War. A world where the U.S. stands alone with no major rival and attempts to exert unipolar domination onto the world – a world that in some places, refuses to submit.
Much like in the years leading up to 2003, we are watching a progression of events, statements, and actions that lead us down the path to war, not on Iraq, but much closer to home.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. The people of Venezuela have attempted, since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1999, to use that wealth to fund social welfare programs and raise the standard of living of its people. Yet, despite constructing homes and supporting popular education, sanctions and hybrid warfare have stripped the country the benefits that would have been associated with that wealth.
Like Iraq, Venezuela’s leadership refuses to be subservient to Washington’s demands, regardless of any beliefs espoused by the leaders of these nations (which are markedly different). And while the U.S. has not been successful in forcing Venezuela to capitulate, that hasn’t stopped them from trying.
And as we watch this unfold, it leaves us with the chilling options that the U.S. is, at the very least, working on yet another regime change operation in Venezuela, and at the worst, preparing for war.
We have so far seen the U.S. military blow 27 people out of the water since September 2nd. The first 11 of those, murdered in one strike, were later identified as fisherman.
The bombers, no doubt looking at blurry images on radars and instruments from a plane far above and detached from the human beings on a small boat in the water, sent bombs raining down on people who never saw trial, were never charged with a crime, have no evidence against them, and were presumed guilty by the administration, which used this presumption as grounds to take their lives.
In another move toward the brink, Washington has decided to cease diplomatic talks with Venezuela, sending a clear signal that bombs will be prioritized over dialogue. And most recently, they bombed another boat, killing six more while providing no evidence to support their claim that the passengers were “narcoterrorists.”
President Trump, since his first term in office, has made attempt after attempt to overthrow the government of President Nicolas Maduro. And unlike his predecessors (who also attempted coups against the Bolivarian government), he has been outward and honest about his intentions.
“When I left, Venezuela was about to collapse. We would have taken over it, we would have kept all that oil.” -Donald J. Trump
And while he is known to shoot off at the mouth, he isn’t the only one with something to say about attempting coups in Venezuela. Former national security advisor John Bolton also commented on the matter during an interview, when listing out places he’d personally helped orchestrate coups, saying “Well, I wrote about Venezuela in the book and it turned out not to be successful.”
Now, as the administration cracks down violently on immigrants, who in many cases are driven here due to U.S. sanctions on their home countries, they also climb higher on the escalation ladder against the government and people of Venezuela.
The violence has spilled over to hitting boats from neighboring Colombia, as announced by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who spoke out at the UN General Assembly against the bombing of boats in the Caribbean. Petro rightly described this aggression as a “war scenario” and one against all of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Make no mistake. The U.S. government does not have an interest in combatting the drug trade in the Caribbean. They have an interest in overthrowing the government of Venezuela and any other government in the world that does not submit to U.S. hegemony. Their own documents even say that the Venezuelan government is most likely not cooperating or directing the “Tren de Aragua” organization the administration claims to be targeting. Their eyes are on the oil.
Their illegal and unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, Cuba, and 1/3 of all countries on Earth, have not worked to bend the will of the people of these countries. And it is up to us to stand with them and their right to self-determination. It is up to us to stand up to U.S. intervention and imperialism wherever it crops up in the world.
As we watch the U.S. support genocide in Gaza, sanction the world, brutalize its citizens, and now instigate conflict with Venezuela to justify intervention, we have to speak out.
No matter what your ideological beliefs are, if you agree with this or that policy, or if you support this or that administration, nations have the right to self-determination and those of us in the United States have a unique responsibility to stand up against foreign interventions and see through the build up of excuses and escalations meant to convince us to accept war on Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, or any other country.
We have seen the U.S. use this playbook before. We have seen the results of allowing the war drive to continue and the devastation that is caused around the world, and we have to stand up.
For some further reading, I highly recommend the following books that inspired and informed this piece:
Viviremos: Venezuela vs Hybrid War
Nico Flores 
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