Testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, Southern
Command chief Admiral Craig Faller sought to blame a series of
international rivals for the US failure to impose regime change in
Venezuela.
Admiral Faller singled out Russia, China, and Iran as the “primary international obstacles to Washington’s interests.” He added all three were blocking the US attempts to isolate Venezuela globally.
Faller accused Russia of “protecting their loyal friend,” accused China
of saddling the Venezelan people with more than $60 billion in debt.
Iran seemingly was included just for the sake of making the issue sort
of about Iran, and he complained Iran allows “direct flight from Tehran
to Caracas.”
He said that retaining ties with the Venezuelan government was
“profoundly unhealthy to democracy and regional stability, and counter
to US interests.” He further advocated a bigger US military presence in
the area to counter Venezuela’s continued existence.
Socom Chief Primary Obstacle to Ending Insufferable U.S. Arrogance Re Venezuela Regime Change.
You are wrong. He is not the Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces. If he did not represent the views of President Trump he should have already been fired. If he does represent the views of President Trump then our President is a war-hawk who pretends to be a lamb . I am not fooled. Trump is by nature a bully. A bully as Commander-in-Chief can only be a war hawk. Because Trump is also a businessman-entrepreneur whose businesses needed peace he comes across to me as a terrible zig-zagger which is possibly worse than an outright war hawk who is far more predictable.
Fortunately, spanky doesn’t have the attention span to actually start a new war….
You are right, of course. There should not be any independent satrapies under the president. Or views. However, even if that is the case, that does not mean that subordinates can’t add their own arrogance to the stew. Lots of people are signing on to this absurd provoking of Iran and pointing the finger of blame at various governments around the world. The overall 21st-c. posture of the US is distilled arrogance. Assad must go and Moamar as well. Really? Top military leaders who are going along with this are not living up to their oath of office. This kind of recklessness is not in the interest of the US.
Too, Trump appears not to understand that he is the president and that he has certain constitutional powers. And he speaks in terms of “someone” ought to do something about this or that problem. Hardly evidence of someone who’s in control and dictating to subordinates. So there is fact reason to believe that subordinates are defying him or being forced to do their best to anticipate what the president’s policies are.
Yeah, Iran allows direct flight from “our capital city” Tehran to “our oil reserve” Venezuela. See what a rogue, evil country Iran is?
If that is what the intelligence services have told Admiral Faller then Heaven help our nation. What happened is even known to my teenage grandchildren: the armed forces of Venezuela did not support the rebels and that was it.
Since President Trump is also our Commander-in-Chief he is co-responsible for the airing of his arrant nonsense. The buck stops on his desk.
I think that’s why he ran, he thought bucks would pile up on his desk, didn’t realize it was a euphemism for “responsibility”
The Admiral stated 3 of the foreign interests blocking our efforts to pull off a coup in Venezuela, namely Russia, China, and Iran. He forgot the most important foreign interest – the Venezuelan people.
Boo hoo! Poor USA is not supported to the hilt by its “enemies”!!!