No Script

Please Wait...

Ramadan Kareem...

Bolton, Pompeo, Shanahan Discuss Military Action in Venezuela

Bolton, Pompeo, Shanahan Discuss Military Action in Venezuela
folder_openUnited States access_time4 years ago
starAdd to favorites

By Staff, Agencies

In the wake of the failure of a coup attempt in Venezuela, US National Security Adviser John Bolton has met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan to discuss a military action among other available choices.

The meeting at the Pentagon on Friday saw the three officials explore a range of discrete options for the US military, officials said.

“This was really a true review and then making sure that we’re all in alignment,” Shanahan said after the meeting.

The meeting came amid reports that President Donald Trump had expressed frustration at Washington's inability to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Asked whether the options that were discussed included military action in the oil-rich South American country, Shanahan said, “I’ll leave that to your imagination. We have all options ... on the table.”

Shanahan cancelled a trip to Europe this week to follow the developments in Venezuela, after opposition leader and self-proclaimed "interim president" Juan Guaido failed to gain support from senior leaders of the Venezuelan military during a coup attempt.

During the attempt, a group of Venezuela army defectors clashed with soldiers at an anti-government rally in the capital Caracas. Gunfire ensued and more than 100 people were wounded.

The Trump administration, which has recognized Guaido as the “president” of Venezuela, quickly backed the attempted putsch.

Later in the day, Maduro declared that the coup attempt by a small group of the military had been defeated.

This reportedly prompted skepticism by Trump, who questioned the reliability of US intelligence estimations that senior members of Maduro's inner circle were preparing to defect.

The Friday meeting also included a briefing by head of US Southern Command Craig Faller, who has in the past day sent mixed messages on a possible military intervention.

Faller, who oversees US operations south of Mexico's southern border, had over the past weeks claimed that his forces were on "the balls of their feet" for action against Maduro.

On Wednesday, he first told the House Armed Services Committee that a "democratic transition" was the only solution.

It only took the admiral a few hours to walk back his remarks, as his spokesman later told the US News that Faller’s position ultimately aligned with that of Pompeo.

Both Pompeo and Bolton had called on the Venezuela army to join the coup, pledging that Washington would consider all options including a military intervention to oust Maduro.

Shanahan dismissed reports that Trump was frustrated at his intelligence officials, saying, “I don't feel like we have an intelligence gap.”

“We have multiple sources that we constantly sample, and then we have all sorts of other ways of doing collection ... I feel very confident in the quality and the accuracy of the information that we are getting," he added.

Some observers are drawing analogies between Washington's current behavior with what it did before attacking Iraq, warning that a military action is becoming more and more probable.

Prior to US invasion of Iraq back in 2003, then President George W. Bush and his top aides made the case for intervention by citing intelligence that the country’s former dictator, Saddam Hussein, was secretly developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

Both claims were proven false, however. Bush and his aides had exaggerated the available intelligence.

Trump once called the invasion of the Muslim country the “worst decision ever made” by Washington.

The US president, who has long threatened Venezuela with military action, appeared more cautious this week.

Citing officials familiar with the issue, CNN reported on Friday that Trump has become frustrated as Bolton and others openly teased military options.

The president has even told friends that if Bolton had his way he'd already be at war in multiple places, the report said.

Comments