"Whoever, within the United States, knowingly begins or sets on foot or provides or prepares a means for or furnishes the money for, or takes part in, any military or naval expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence against the territory or dominion of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both."The pithiest description of the Trump Administration is "malevolence mitigated by incompetence" and that as much as anything surely describes this opera bouffe' "coup".
My question would be...does that "authorization" extend to what might be called "guilty knowledge"? Can silence imply consent or even "authorization - without explicit authorization? Assuming that the administration knew this "coup" was in train - and since the knucklehead mercenary CEO publicly announced it (cunning move, there, Clausewitz...) it is difficult to believe they did not - and deliberately did nothing to forestall it...does that provide the mercs with implicit "authorization"? Certainly it would provide the US intelligence agencies plausible deniability. Sure, we knew. So what? Not our business. Oh, wait, it worked? Sweet! Welcome, our new Venezuelan buddies!
Once again, the difficulty is separating the incompetence from the malevolence from the pure goofy "WTF?" with these people.
One of the captured gringos, Denman, said on TV that Trump was in overall command of the op planned by Canadian born US Green Beret J Goudreau. Although Denman most assuredly said that under coercion.
ReplyDeleteThe Orange Lardass denies it. Although Goudreau did security work for a Trump rally in NC in 2018. Plus he reportedly tweeted to Trump's twitter account about the operation as it was underway just before it fell apart. Trump's SecState, the Land Whale, also denies it. I'm wondering about even if Lardass was not directly involved, did he and PomPom have advance knowledge.
The Cubanos apparently were the ones who tipped Maduro and his security folks of the impending op.
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/11/21249203/venezuela-coup-jordan-goudreau-maduro-guaido-explain
https://nypost.com/2020/05/09/ex-green-beret-behind-failed-coup-was-desperate-for-money/
Given the ridiculously pathetic OPSEC these fatheaded mercs were running it is, literally, impossible that Trump's intel people didn't brief him that this was going on. His only possible "excuse" (not that he cares or will bother with one) is that he's practically immune to new knowledge and is likely to have forgotten he was informed before the PDB was over. But Pompeo, syncophantic and incompetent as he is as SecState, would clearly have known and must have been hedging his bets hoping against hope this would work (being the kind of short-bus-rider who might believe that it MIGHT work...)
DeleteThough it's kind of a sad comment on our national decline that these sorts of idiot shenanigans used to be the hallmark of the old Bill Donovan OSS/CIA back in the early days. Castro and the exploding cigars...we used to be goofballs, but we at least had entertainment value.
Now? We're as dour as the Soviets only without the cool iconography.
Mike, what do you think the Coerceros used on Senor Denman: File & Dossieritos, Or We Know All.....Todo?
DeleteEddie -
DeleteWell they did "know all". Cuba's Dirección de Inteligencia knew every name and planning detail before Denman & Co launched their fiasco. And the Russian ELINT site in Lourdes Cuba probably tracked their calls and emails.
But I'm sure Maduro's security boys used some duress, subtle or not so subtle, to make him speak up on TV.
Speaking of goofballs, what were they going to do with the paintball rifle? Mark a target building? Or a signal for an insider? Or maybe use it for pepper balls or tear gas balls instead of paintballs?
ReplyDeleteThe Trump administration leaks like sieve. If this was officially supported, I think we would have heard something by now. I also find it hard to believe the professionals that actually run and support covert operations would have allowed this operation to be so completely incompetent.
ReplyDelete"officially supported"? Probably no direct support, like you say it would have leaked. And it would have come off not quite so incompetent as in your last sentence. The planning was sub-par, the OPSEC apparently non-existent, the arms&equipment inadequate, the number of personnel (60?) a joke.
DeleteHowever the Secretary of State did put a multi-million dollar bounty on President Maduro in late March after the DOJ charged him with narco-terrorism. So it was encouraged or instigated even if not directly supported. And Trump has long pledged to Guaido that he would take action against Maduro.
That was my point about "guilty knowledge", Andy; I think the Trumpkins KNEW (and supported in principle)...but were fine just letting it go forward. If it worked, fine! If it failed, oopsie, too bad, better luck next time.
DeleteAnd I have to say that the intel agencies' record on downlow military operations isn't quite all that; mike brought up Bay of Pigs, but the Middle Eastern record is sketchy at best, especially since the Army SF in Iraq and Afghanistan morphed into highly paid door kickers. So I'm pretty sure but not ENTIRELY sure that some elements of the Trump regime may not have had a finger in this pie...
Maybe they can hire Mike Flynn's lawyers.
ReplyDeleteThen perhaps the DOD can give rural Michigan an economic boost by opening Fort Walker, to serve as Bragg's satellite Unconventional Warfare School, complete with state of the art facilities like the Bay of Pigs Lecture Hall, the Oliver North Navigation Course, the Bo Gritz Dining Hall, the Robert K. Brown Library, and a hair salon . . .
Also, I thought Trump didn't take intel briefs. I imagine that this got flagged somewhere by someone, but it seems more likely the warning got lost in bureaucratic purgatory than this was unofficially officially sanctioned with deniability as some kind of conspiracy.