On Venezuela, Trump Is Forgetting the Lessons of the Middle East |
President Donald Trump’s threats to topple Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro prove the U.S. has learned nothing from nearly 25 years of misadventures in the Middle East, where our win-loss record makes it painfully clear that regime change unleashes more problems than it solves.
Forcefully breaking the Maduro regime could break Venezuela itself—and spur chaos in our own hemisphere.
The Trump Administration has been ramping up the pressure on Maduro. The U.S. began a massive build-up of military forces in the Caribbean in August and announced a strike on an alleged drug boat off Venezuela’s coast the following month. The strikes have continued since despite the U.S. producing little evidence the boats carry drug runners, and in October Trump confirmed that the CIA is conducting covert operations inside Venezuela.
Then, on Nov. 21, Trump reportedly spoke with Maduro and issued an ultimatum to leave Venezuela within days. The next week Trump declared the........