It’s sounding like deja vu all over again every time the White House mentions Venezuela. The spin sounds so much like the “sexing up” of the propaganda on Iraq before we invaded, it’s eerie. AP:
President Bush said Thursday that Venezuela “failed demonstrably” to make a concerted effort to block shipments of illicit narcotics to the United States and Europe last year.”
If all our bluster were really about drugs and not about oil, we’d be doing something constructive to wipe out drug useVenezuela could have been subjected to a cutoff of U.S. assistance, but Bush decided to waive the provision because of national security interests.
Yeah, interests like the $1 million Venezuela donated to the Red Cross for Katrina relief. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot — the one million barrels of free oil they express-delivered.
A White House “statement of explanation” about Venezuela said 165 tons of cocaine moved through the country last year along with increasing quantities of heroin.
In early August, Chavez accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of using its agents in Venezuela for espionage, and said Venezuela was suspending cooperation with the agency. The Bush administration denied the espionage charge.
Chavez has said the U.S. government has been sticking its oil-sniffing nose in his country’s affairs for a long time, and I believe him. Where do we get off saying Venezuela isn’t democratic enough to suit us? Is Venezuela holding any “agents of interest” in offshore prisons without charges, indefinitely? Is Venezuela toppling foreign governments? Is Venezuela passing laws giving itself permission to break into its own citizens’ homes without their knowledge? No, that’s the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Thursday that Venezuela “doesn’t recognize” Washington’s authority regarding drug classification, but remains willing to cooperate with the United States in fighting drug trafficking.
He said DEA agents would be welcome back in Venezuela under certain conditions.
O.K., does this or does it not sound like we’re building a case to take over another oil-rich country? First we say its leader isn’t legit. Next, we’ll be calling the Chavez government a “regime.” Then we send in inspectors, who get kicked out, only this time it’s for drugs, not WMDs. And while all this is going on, Bush administration toadies like Pat Robertson start spreading the idea that we should simply go in and ice the legitimately elected president, Victor Chavez.
To his credit Chavez seems to stay on message better than our side.
Chavez claims that Venezuelan authorities have been very successful in detecting shipments of illegal drugs. He has said the United States, as the world’s top consumer of drugs, does little to decrease consumption.
He’s got us there. If all our bluster were really about drugs and not about oil, we’d be doing something constructive to wipe out drug use, not hassling other countries about the fact that drugs exist. But Venezuela is the leading oil exporter to the United States in this hemisphere, and the fourth largest in the world. We,re simply trotting out the same tactics we used to take what we wanted in Iraq. Hey, we got away with it once. Why not?
That’s a great word, “Iraqitization”. Someone needs to put that in Wikipedia. Yeah, this “decertification” just seems like a slap in the face after the help Venezuela sent over. Granted, that was sent for public relations purposes, but if the aid is still going to Venezuela, and other drug-exporting countries aren’t also “decertified”, why bother to announce it to the whole world?