The Trump administration is inching closer to entering the U.S. into war with Venezuela without providing evidence justifying it, pursuing any formal debate or authorization or outlining a plan to deal with the chaos experts say will almost certainly ensue.
U.S. officials have now chosen targets for airstrikes in the South American country and believe they may be approved imminently, The Wall Street Journal and Miami Herald reported on Friday.
The move would escalate President Donald Trump’s two-month campaign of strikes in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, which have killed at least 57 people. The administration, which has claimed the strikes around South America target people bringing drugs to the U.S., has not demonstrated that any of its victims were a threat, nor did it attempt to prosecute them. Military officials told Congress on Thursday that they do not know exactly who they have killed so far, Democratic lawmakers said after a briefing.
Simultaneously, an attack would represent America’s second assault on a nation that has not attacked the U.S. in less than a year — the first being against Iran in June — risking a domino effect of strife and bloodshed, and underscoring the hollowness of Trump’s claims he is enhancing world peace.