It’d make more sense to compare this to the US overthrowing Hussein.
Though it still took them a few weeks to get Hussein.
It took them 9 months to get Hussein (Iraq was invaded in March of 2003, Hussein captured in December 2003) and under very different circumstances. When he was captured, that was long after much of the country had been brought to ruin by the US’s war and subsequent occupation, but with the full backing and active participation of a multinational “coalition.” Maduro’s capture happened after no real direct (let alone large scale) invasion of Venezuela, aside from the bombings of ships and murder of fishermen, of course. This was much more “out of the blue.” With Saddam, they pulled him from a small hole that had been dug underground where he was totally disheveled as he had been in complete hiding for months, having effectively not been the leader of Iraq for months either. Maduro was absolutely still the undeniable leader of the country, just straight up kidnapped and whisked away. These circumstances are not even remotely comparable imo.
This really wasn’t out of the blue though. The US has been attacking Venezuelan boats for months and has been trying to do regime change since 2002, it’s hard to stomach the idea that this was surprising somehow. Maduro’s capture was very telegraphed.
So, what would you even compare this too? Sending US troops in to directly kidnap a president is actually pretty novel, isn’t it?
This really wasn’t out of the blue though. The US has been attacking Venezuelan boats for months and has been trying to do regime change since 2002, it’s hard to stomach the idea that this was surprising somehow. Maduro’s capture was very telegraphed.
Compared to Saddam, I’d say yes it was. The world knew there was a manhunt for Saddam, the search for him being probably second only to Osama Bin Laden. Most importantly, he had not been the presiding leader of that country for months. He was an underground fugitive, several of his sons having already been murdered long before his capture. Maduro was unambiguously the leader of Venezuala only yesterday, with the rest of the world (aside from those planning the operation) assuming that would continue to be the case for the forseeable future. While the fact that the US has wanted to get him out of there for years and has been ramping up aggression, yes it was still mostly out of the blue to kidnap an acting head of state as compared to a months long manhunt for a fugitive.
So, what would you even compare this too? Sending US troops in to simply kidnap a single guy is actually pretty novel, isn’t it?
I would say it is pretty novel, yes, at least for a head of state. The ousting and murder of Gaddafi is a little bit closer, but even then it was after a major military campaign by all of NATO. There might be comparisons made to the murder of Soleimani as well. I’d say both make better comparisons than to Hussein, but still fall short of this kidnapping which is unprecedented in many important, consequential ways.
I should point out that there has been a $50 million bounty for the arrest of Maduro since August, which itself was doubled from the $25 million bounty Trump put on him in January, which spells a clear picture that the US wanted him kidnapped for “trial”.
But, yeah, it’s probably too novel to compare to anything directly.
The $25 million bounty was announced by the Biden administration. Between Operation Gideon (Bay of Piglets) and Obama’s “extraordinary threat” executive order in 2015, they’ve spent many years showing their intention to take someone from Venezuela to trial. I never thought they’d actually abduct Maduro though. Assassination? Absolutely. But kidnapping a world leader?
Oh wow, he snuck that one in right as he was leaving office, probably knowing people (like me) would see that the first bounty was issued the second week of January and just assume Trump was already president.
But, yeah, they’ve been angling for regime change in Venezuela since 2002. I thought they’d just assassinate him, though.
Yea I can’t tell if abducting Maduro is somehow worse than what they did to Soleimani. One things for sure they better not let Maduro talk in court cuz unc is a yapper. His livestreams were great.
directly kidnap a president is actually pretty novel, isn’t it?
no not really. They did the same thing to Noriega in Panama right down to charging him with drug offenses. They also kidnapped Aristide from Haiti in 2004.
It took them 9 months to get Hussein (Iraq was invaded in March of 2003, Hussein captured in December 2003) and under very different circumstances. When he was captured, that was long after much of the country had been brought to ruin by the US’s war and subsequent occupation, but with the full backing and active participation of a multinational “coalition.” Maduro’s capture happened after no real direct (let alone large scale) invasion of Venezuela, aside from the bombings of ships and murder of fishermen, of course. This was much more “out of the blue.” With Saddam, they pulled him from a small hole that had been dug underground
where he was totally disheveled as he had been in complete hiding for months, having effectively not been the leader of Iraq for months either. Maduro was absolutely still the undeniable leader of the country, just straight up kidnapped and whisked away. These circumstances are not even remotely comparable imo.
This really wasn’t out of the blue though. The US has been attacking Venezuelan boats for months and has been trying to do regime change since 2002, it’s hard to stomach the idea that this was surprising somehow. Maduro’s capture was very telegraphed.
So, what would you even compare this too? Sending US troops in to directly kidnap a president is actually pretty novel, isn’t it?
Compared to Saddam, I’d say yes it was. The world knew there was a manhunt for Saddam, the search for him being probably second only to Osama Bin Laden. Most importantly, he had not been the presiding leader of that country for months. He was an underground fugitive, several of his sons having already been murdered long before his capture. Maduro was unambiguously the leader of Venezuala only yesterday, with the rest of the world (aside from those planning the operation) assuming that would continue to be the case for the forseeable future. While the fact that the US has wanted to get him out of there for years and has been ramping up aggression, yes it was still mostly out of the blue to kidnap an acting head of state as compared to a months long manhunt for a fugitive.
I would say it is pretty novel, yes, at least for a head of state. The ousting and murder of Gaddafi is a little bit closer, but even then it was after a major military campaign by all of NATO. There might be comparisons made to the murder of Soleimani as well. I’d say both make better comparisons than to Hussein, but still fall short of this kidnapping which is unprecedented in many important, consequential ways.
I should point out that there has been a $50 million bounty for the arrest of Maduro since August, which itself was doubled from the $25 million bounty Trump put on him in January, which spells a clear picture that the US wanted him kidnapped for “trial”.
But, yeah, it’s probably too novel to compare to anything directly.
The $25 million bounty was announced by the Biden administration. Between Operation Gideon (Bay of Piglets) and Obama’s “extraordinary threat” executive order in 2015, they’ve spent many years showing their intention to take someone from Venezuela to trial. I never thought they’d actually abduct Maduro though. Assassination? Absolutely. But kidnapping a world leader?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/world/americas/biden-bounty-nicolas-maduro.html
Oh wow, he snuck that one in right as he was leaving office, probably knowing people (like me) would see that the first bounty was issued the second week of January and just assume Trump was already president.
But, yeah, they’ve been angling for regime change in Venezuela since 2002. I thought they’d just assassinate him, though.
Yea I can’t tell if abducting Maduro is somehow worse than what they did to Soleimani. One things for sure they better not let Maduro talk in court cuz unc is a yapper. His livestreams were great.
no not really. They did the same thing to Noriega in Panama right down to charging him with drug offenses. They also kidnapped Aristide from Haiti in 2004.