Here we go again. We have another President who is lying to the American people to go to war. Again, it is over oil. President George W. Bush lied to the American people when he invaded Iraq, and it looks like Trump is lying to the American people about Venezuela. After 9/11, the Bush administration claimed that Saddam Hussein's regime had ties to al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The claim was widely disputed and lacked credible evidence. Another justification of the Iraq War was the claim by the Bush Administration that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed a threat to global security. No such weapons were found, and there were no links between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Everything was built on a lie, a lie told to the American people by our government. The cost of that war was very high. By human cost, 4,400 U.S. troops were killed, and over 100,000 Iraqi deaths occurred. The removal of Saddam Hussein led to a power vacuum, which helped destabilize the entire Middle East and eventually led to the rise of ISIS, which is still a problem today. What was the real reason for the war? Some point to Iraq's oil reserves and strategic dominance in the Middle East as the real reasons.

When it comes to Venezuela, Trump is now preparing to go to war with a country that has not attacked us and is no threat to the United States. I do not wake up in the morning without worrying about a Venezuelan invasion. Trump has justified the escalation of military action by citing terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and theft of U.S. assets. Trump has labeled the entire Venezuelan government a terrorist organization, claiming links to terrorism and organized crime. Bush at least went to the United Nations and laid out his case there, but not Trump. He lays his case out on Truth Social, and because he writes it, he thinks we should take his word for it, even though he has not presented any solid evidence. Trump has been destroying Venezuelan boats, claiming that it is his war on drugs when Venezuela is not a major drug-producing country. Again, he has offered no proof that any of the boats destroyed were carrying drugs and were part of the Venezuelan government. Trump has accused Venezuela of “stealing U.S. assets” as justification for seizing Venezuelan oil tankers. It was claimed that the Venezuelan government has allowed millions of Venezuelans into the United States, framing the crisis as a national security threat. All this without any solid proof or presenting any proof to the United Nations.

Why now, and what does Trump truly like to accomplish? Friday is the deadline for the release of the Epstein files, which we know have Trump's name all over them. Could this war be a distraction? Are people going to die so Trump can distract from his involvement with Epstein? Would he sacrifice our troops for such a cause? I am afraid that he will, and I, for one, will not be happy when the body bags begin to return home. Is it about the oil? Are our young men going to sacrifice their lives so billionaires get richer? Those are the questions that I ask myself. Do we have a right to that oil? Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976 during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, not the Ford Administration. Oil Companies were privatized in 1976, and foreign oil companies lost their direct control over the Venezuelan oil field. The companies were compensated at the time. The goal back then was economic control, to ensure that oil revenues directly benefited Venezuela rather than foreign shareholders. Venezuela has also been a member of OPEC since 1960. What, if anything, will OPEC do if one of its members is attacked? I know that Trump has wanted regime change in Venezuela, and I think that Biden did before him. The Trump Administration was hoping that the bombing of the boats would accomplish that, but that didn’t happen. Is a regime change in Venezuela worth a single American life? I think not.

I think the escalation of tension between Trump and Venezuela is tied to the release of the Epstein files.

 That would fit the pattern that Trump has established since taking office. He keeps the chaos moving in all sorts of directions. With something new just about every day, the press and the people can’t keep up. Trump was best friends with a known pedophile, and his name is mentioned in the Epstein files over 1500 times, we are being told.  Could this be a “Wag the Dog” political scenario? Is he going to try to use military action to divert attention from a potential political crisis? During Trump's first term, he was very reluctant to use any military force and emphasized withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan. This was a man who negotiated the withdrawal of American troops in Afghanistan, essentially turning the country over to the Taliban, that terrorist organization that we went in there to defeat in the first place because of their ties to al-Qaeda and 9/11. Now he wants to have a war with a country that is not a threat to the United States, whereas the Taliban was and probably still is.

It is sad to see our young men and women put in harms against a nation that is no threat to us. I have explored a couple of reasons, and neither has anything to do with the safety and security of our country.