On this occasion no one can accuse Donald Trump of hyperbole. The American president praised the Delta Force team that seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as ‘incredible’. The operation to capture Maduro – codenamed ‘Absolute Resolve’ – was months in the planning, and Trump watched it unfold in real time. ‘They broke into places that were not really able to be broken into,’ he said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

According to the New York Times, the operation began last August when CIA officers infiltrated Venezuela and began gathering intelligence about the habits and movements of Maduro. They were assisted by stealth drones high in the sky overhead and the information collated was used to construct a full-scale model in Kentucky of the president’s compound. The Delta Force commandos rehearsed the operation as they waited for the order to deploy from the White House.

Maduro’s seizure is a triumph not just for Trump but also for Delta Force

Trump gave the go order on Friday evening. Even he must have been apprehensive. In 1980, a Delta Force operation to free American hostages in Iran........

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