The U.S. Navy nuclear carrier USS Gerald Ford and its battle group, which includes some 80 strike and other aircraft and Tomahawk equipped surface combatants, is about to join a dozen other warships including a force of about 2,000 Marines, in the Caribbean.

Part of this force includes the U.S. Military Sealift Command’s Ocean Trader, a 22,000-ton mystery ship over two football fields in length with a crew of about 40 and up to 200 special forces and their equipment embarked. All are off the Venezuelan coast as B-52’s and B-2’s pass overhead like wolves circling prey.

The question is “What next?”

A word of advice: Do not invade Venezuela.

This is not Operation Just Cause of December 1989, in which George H.W. Bush ordered 27,000 U.S. troops to capture Panamanian President Manuel Noriega. The U.S. had a base in Panama facilitating that operation. No such base exists in or near near Venezuela. And Venezuela is 12 times larger than Panama with about six times the population.

As far as regime change, the White House needs to be reminded of a bit of history. We tried that in Vietnam, Afghanistan and........

© The Hill