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2005-02-28 Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela eyes U.S. military on Curacao
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Posted by Steve 2005-02-28 1:59:27 PM|| || Front Page|| [11 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 If the US were to take Venezuela down there would be no signs and portents in the days ahead. Chavez would learn about it when he heard the gunfire and shelling.
Posted by rjschwarz  2005-02-28 2:17:54 PM|| [http://rjschwarz]  2005-02-28 2:17:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Hopefully Chavez would not wake up at all. He would disappear in a fireball the moment anything started.
Posted by Laurence of the Rats  2005-02-28 2:26:47 PM|| [http://www.punictreachery.com/]  2005-02-28 2:26:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 ...the Venezuelan navy was "taking precautions" as it observes the presence of U.S. Marines

Yeah. Probably passing out the life jackets...
Posted by tu3031 2005-02-28 2:26:57 PM||   2005-02-28 2:26:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Love it. Rattling the guys with all the epaulets and medals, huh? Be sure to watch for subs and covert insertions... get those clips and ammo for the 100,000 AK's? No?

Time to start jerking Hugo's chain in a big way and he'll overreact
Posted by Frank G  2005-02-28 2:29:54 PM||   2005-02-28 2:29:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 this is just propagamda from Chavez to get locals to rally round the flag. The US aint doing anything about him anytime soon.
Posted by liberalhawk 2005-02-28 2:30:15 PM||   2005-02-28 2:30:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 they are there to back up Coast guard drug ops, cruise ship antiterror efforts and oil refinery protection.
Posted by juriseqs 2005-02-28 2:38:20 PM||   2005-02-28 2:38:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Liberalhawk, precisely. Its Chavez sabre-rattling, maybe trying to get a rise out of the US.
Posted by buwaya  2005-02-28 2:56:04 PM||   2005-02-28 2:56:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 tell em they are under attack and you can stay in office
Posted by juriseqs 2005-02-28 2:58:27 PM||   2005-02-28 2:58:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Hey, Kimmie sabre-rattled and got offers of free stuff from Clinton. His buddies in Iran sabre-rattled and got offers of free stuff from the Euroweenies. Why not give it a try?
Posted by Tom 2005-02-28 3:00:16 PM||   2005-02-28 3:00:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 He is running out of lies to tell stuff to say on his multi hour Sunday tv show.

Is there any sane democracy anywhere that has a multi hour TV show of the head of state ranting?
Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-02-28 3:13:29 PM|| [http://www.slhess.com]  2005-02-28 3:13:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 I wonder how many of venezualiens (sp?) are, after seeing what is going on with the Iraqi elections, are quietly praying for an invasion......

"Oh please... Oh please... Oh please..."
Posted by CrazyFool 2005-02-28 3:27:17 PM||   2005-02-28 3:27:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Crazyfool, I think the Venezuelans are going to have to stew a bit longer.
Posted by buwaya  2005-02-28 3:41:38 PM||   2005-02-28 3:41:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Not to worry Hugo, your not in real trouble until John F. Kerry leads a congressional delegation to save you goverment. It's about the time that these LLL Yahoos leave that you start hearing the sound of JDAMS landing on your office.
Posted by Cyber Sarge  2005-02-28 4:02:18 PM||   2005-02-28 4:02:18 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 I'll wager the locals take care of this inside 8 years.
Posted by Shipman 2005-02-28 4:47:41 PM||   2005-02-28 4:47:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 ...the Venezuelan navy was "taking precautions" as it observes the presence of U.S. Marines, along with military planes and amphibious vehicles on the Caribbean island.

And?


Greeting from our guys on Curacao for Hugo "The Magnificent"
Posted by BigEd 2005-02-28 6:30:04 PM||   2005-02-28 6:30:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 I think it would be wonderful if the US found a way to quarantine a few Venezuelan oil tankers enroute to Cuba. Hold them a day and let them go. Send a powerful message that if we wanted to screw with them it would be very easy. Their entire economy depends upon US patrolled oceans.
Posted by RJ Schwarz 2005-02-28 7:15:19 PM|| [http://rjschwarz.com]  2005-02-28 7:15:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 #13. They might not have to wait long for the American lefties. Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center are on the way back to Caracas "to help consolidate peace and democracy." Jimmah figured he didn't demoralize the Venezuelan's enough the last time he 'helped' democracy's cause there.
Posted by GK 2005-02-28 7:18:55 PM||   2005-02-28 7:18:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Sorry my fellow hawks, but I do not think it wise to respond to Chavez's provocations in any way except isolation. As Liberalhawk pointed out, Chavez's posturing is for domestic consumption and while it might be good to puncture his puffery, I think he is more clever and dastardly than you might believe. His goal is to suppress internal opposition and consolidate power in the classic totalitarian style. He is distributing weapons to his supporters on the pretext of mobilizing defenses against American invasion. Our Armed Forces should be as far away as possible so that it is clear to all of S. America and the world how empty and false such pretexts are.

The biggest problem is that, for now, Chavez retains the support of a slight majority of Venezualans - he's the first Commie to win an election. We cannot move against him and be true to our principles while he retains this support. We will have to be patient and wait for his support to erode, even if it takes years and lots of suffering.

There is a large base of opposition - basically all of Venezuela's middle and upper classes - including some of my friends. No doubt many of them would welcome American armed intervention - they loathe Chavez. But they have made many mistakes until now, including when they were in power and in misplaying their cards since Chavez came to power. The failed coup was a colassal blunder. Now they have to pay the price but the first step to eroding Chavez's base is to start being smart - not desperate and foolhardy.
Posted by John in Tokyo 2005-02-28 8:30:46 PM||   2005-02-28 8:30:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 "Chavez retains the support of a slight majority of Venezuelans"

If Chavez really had the support of "slight majority", why did he need to obstruct and cheat on the referenda?
Venezuela - Chavez Obstruction of the Presidential Recall Referendum
Dr. Constantine Menges Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/4/6/102346.shtml

The latest referendum has been dissected by reknown mathematicians and the likes showing evidence of fraud.
Here is a great summary of all the studies: http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/categories/rrModels/
And has anyone here seen the latest photos of the fake crowds of the fake revolution? Littlegreenfootballs linked to it a few days ago: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=14854

Posted by TMH 2005-02-28 9:22:53 PM||   2005-02-28 9:22:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 ...First, it's now Officially Obvious(TM) that Chavez now suffers from Noreiega's Disease, a little know affliction that renders the sufferer incapable of knowing exactly what he's screwing with.
Second, a prediction: Jimmah will fly to Venezuela, denounce the coming invasion, and stand as a human shield with Hugo, figuring we won't DARE mess with him.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-02-28 11:34:43 PM||   2005-02-28 11:34:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 jimmuh as a human shield? Two-fer! Launch the killer rabbits©!
Posted by Frank G  2005-02-28 11:36:28 PM||   2005-02-28 11:36:28 PM|| Front Page Top

23:55 Alaska Paul
23:41 Dan
23:36 Frank G
23:34 Mike Kozlowski
23:29 Alaska Paul
23:25 Kalle (kafir forever)
23:23 Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo)
23:12 Alaska Paul
23:11 Snump Huperesing6112
22:35 Frank G
22:17 Sock Puppet of Doom
22:07 Thraing Hupoluper1864
21:56 Frank G
21:48 Pappy
21:41 Pappy
21:40 trailing wife
21:38 trailing wife
21:34 trailing wife
21:31 JP
21:30 Frank G
21:22 TMH
21:15 Rafael
21:14 Sock Puppet of Doom
21:09 Rafael









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