War in the Western Hemisphere?

Are war drums pounding again? 

In the last few years, we have seen the debacle pullout from Afghanistan, the Ukraine War, conflict in Syria, the October massacres in Israe,l followed by wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, U.S. bombing Houthi rebels in Yemen, Iranians launching major missile strikes against Israel, Israel bombing Iran, and the U.S. crushing the Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz and Isfahan. It is not a quiet world. 

There have been wars and rumors of wars since the beginning of time. However, an interesting dynamic is that we have rarely seen an armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere in recent history. 

Certainly, we have had limited engagements: The British invaded their own colony, the Falkland Islands, off the coast of Argentina in 1982 to defeat an attempted nationalization by the Argentine government. The Falklands War lasted 74 days. 

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan launched Operation Urgent Fury to invade the Caribbean Island of Grenada, where Cuban and Soviet troops were establishing influence just past our southern horizon. Elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, Ranger Regiment, U.S. Marines, and special operations took the island nation by storm, liberating Americans held hostage at St. George’s University in the capital. The invasion lasted eight days. Troops were gone in weeks. 

But watch the southern waters again, my friends. Something new is happening. War drums are pounding, and you can hear it from here. 

President Trump recently ordered a naval strike group to deploy near the coastline of Venezuela. Multiple guided missile destroyers, one cruiser, a nuclear fast attack submarine, and a Marine Expeditionary Unit, followed quickly by the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico. Just days ago, U.S. forces destroyed a drug-running boat, killing 11 cartel members and vaporizing their illegal cargo. 

The word from D.C. is that this show of force is an “enhanced counter narcotics operation” following the Trump administration’s designation of several drug cartels as terrorist organizations. 

Let’s be clear: Venezuelan President Maduro is a socialist dictator. He has been accused of flooding the U.S. with Tren de Aragua gang members and voiding an election in 2024 to retain power. Venezuela had previously seized and nationalized U.S. oil production companies, and Maduro has been collaborating with our near-peer Russian and Chinese adversaries to give them access and influence in the Western Hemisphere. Most notably, Maduro has been indicted in the U.S. using the power of his government point man in the dangerous Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, that provides aid and assistance to Tren de Aragua, and the Sinaloa Cartel to traffic drugs into the U.S. The U.S. has recently posted a $50 million reward to anyone who provides the necessary information leading to his arrest and conviction on the charges of narco-trafficking … all just a stone’s throw from U.S. waters. 

This is a U.S. military deployment in our own backyard. But yet, there is historical precedent that parallels where we are right now: Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panama, and the capture of a narco-trafficking strongman named Manuel Noriega.

Panamanian President Noriega was indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and accused of suppressing democracy in Panama. Most shocking were reports that Noriega was collaborating with Cuba’s intelligence agency. The Panamanian dictator annulled a presidential election. U.S. troops stationed in Panama were under duress. The use of the Panama Canal was threatened. So, U.S. President George H. W. Bush ordered additional U.S. troops to Panama.

But on Dec. 16, 1989, an off-duty U.S. Marine was shot to death at a Panamanian Defense Force (PDF) roadblock. Enough was enough, and four days later, the 82nd Airborne and elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment parachuted in as the spearhead in an over-20,000-strong U.S. force. By Dec. 24, the PDF was crushed. Noriega was arrested within weeks and extradited to the U.S. for trial, where he was found guilty on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, marking the first time in history that a U.S. jury convicted a foreign leader of criminal charges.

Consider the parallels: Operation Just Cause … a dictator, a drug trafficker, a threat to national interests by a dictator who voided elections and conspired with our enemies. Compare that to today ... U.S. forces staging off the coast of Venezuela, a dictator, a drug trafficker, a threat to national interests by a dictator who voided elections and conspires with our enemies. Trump has downplayed regime change, but the odds are that Maduro will not stay in the game much longer.

Then there are the second and third-order effects:

1) A strong deterrent to drug cartels when they see their benefactors being deposed.

2) A strong signal to Mexico, Colombia, and other central and South American nations that we as a nation are through letting instability and reckless trafficking endanger the U.S. in our own backyard.

3) A strong signal to Russia and China that we are no longer the passive version of Biden’s America that sits idly by and lets forces malign to U.S. interests set up shop in our own neighborhood.

There is an old axiom dating to fourth-century Rome: Si vis pacem, para bellum – “If you want peace, prepare for war.” 

That is not a warmongering, overly hawkish view seeking a call to arms. It is a view of history and the understanding that one cannot sit quietly in a playground filled with bullies and survive unless the bullies know that you carry the bigger stick. 

History is replete with obvious parallels to where we are now, and we are doomed to repeat past losses if we forget that to ensure our best defense, we must first display the capability of force projection in overwhelming capacity. 

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum