Please don't be Iraq all over again!

"Here is the bottom line. Venezuela is still a narco-state. Getting rid of Maduro only fixed part of the problem. The bad guys running around the country are legion in number. Plus - foreign influencers from China, Iran, Russia, Cuba and the list goes on and on. For the past almost 30 years, Venezuela was be run by Hugo Chavez and Maduro - both thugs. Now to have a normal government, democratically elected is going to take courage and skill."

Who can forget our invasion of Iraq to relieve the good people of that country from a corrupt and murderous thug like Saddam Hussien? Our invasion to topple his regime went pretty well (NOT as good as last night in Venezuela!), but the aftermath was terrible! Nation building was not as easy as we once thought. Many young brave men and women gave up their lives trying to but this broken vase back together. Once it was over, many in our country said, NEVER AGAIN!

As flawless and textbook last night was, to extract the unelected dictator Maduro (and wife) from his fortified residence, was a masterpiece. However, Trump's presser on the specifics of the raid ended with a gasp from many who watched. Me included. First thing that came to mind was the famous George Santayana quote - "Those who forget the past (history), are condemned (doomed) to repeat it." The second thing which came to mind was the Colin Powell quote about our adventures in Iraq - "You break it, you own it." 

Here is the question in my mind which won't go away. Will Donald Trump be able to make this effort in Venezuela work without pain or death, or will this be a deja vu of Iraq? Our main lesson we learned from Iraq was as good as our military was in getting rid of bad guys, it was not that good at nation building. When the president states we have a team putting together a transition team to run the country, I was really craving to have more meat on the bones. Like what, who, why, and when? 

Here is the bottom line. Venezuela is still a narco-state. Getting rid of Maduro only fixed part of the problem. The bad guys running around the country are legion in number. Plus - foreign influencers from China, Iran, Russia, Cuba could still be there. The list goes on and on. For the past almost 30 years, Venezuela was be run by Hugo Chavez and Maduro - both thugs. Now to have a normal government, democratically elected, (and safe) - is going to take courage and skill. And how to do this without having thousands of American boots on the ground, will be the question de jour.

One of our relatives was over yesterday and asked a very good yet humorous question about what happens next. "Why can't the UN step in and take over?" By definition and charter, they should. But in reality, this bunch of globalists are more concerned about getting rid of Israel and what kind of cars we are driving. My response to this relative was this - it is only us who could have pulled this off. And now we are stuck with making it work. By hook or by crook, we need to make this work.