Is America’s Caribbean Sea surge of forces intended to defeat Hezbollah’s Western Hemisphere empire? Maduro’s regime is the obvious “real” objective justifying this level of force. But is that just another distraction?
Huh:
A vessel that has been described as a special operations mothership is currently deployed to the Caribbean, Task & Purpose has confirmed.
A Military Sealift Command spokesperson confirmed to Task & Purpose that the MV Ocean Trader is currently operating in the Caribbean. The official deferred questions about its mission to U.S. Special Operations Command, which declined to comment.
This is on top of the deployment of numerous American warships, F-35 combat aircraft, and Marines to the Caribbean Sea with the stated purpose of stopping drug cartels:
Most recently, the destroyer USS Stockdale arrived in the region to join seven other warships: the destroyers USS Jason Dunham and USS Gravely; the cruiser USS Lake Erie; the Littoral Combat Ship USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul; and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which consists of the assault ship USS Iwo Jima and the amphibious transport docks USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale. About 2,200 Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are embarked on the amphibious ready group’s three ships.
The Iwo Jima can carry AV-8B Harriers and other aircraft. Additionally, the U.S. military has deployed Marine Corps F-35 Lightning II aircraft to Puerto Rico.
And in August, Air Force special operations troops were practicing airfield seizures in the Caribbean as part of an annual exercise.
Three destroyed drug boats already highlight this role.
Yet the heavy hand seems like over-kill for even drug cartel smuggling vessels. Maybe the real reason for the deployment is to protect oil-rich Guyana from Venezuela’s longstanding threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity. This would further insulate America and the Western Hemisphere from reliance on Old World energy.
That makes more sense than a drug mission for the relatively heavy American military presence with lots of long-range firepower, no?
Yet I observed this back in July:
Hezbollah ordered hundreds of leaders to escape Lebanon and they headed for South America. Not Qatar? America said stop that. Or Iran? That’s no sanctuary now. But why South America, you may ask.
Further, Hezbollah is not destroyed. It can rebuild if not completely wiped out globally and as long as a foreign sponsor will arm it. And that global presence—answering the why question for Iranian interest—includes the Western Hemisphere:
The terrorist organization Hezbollah has a presence in more than 40 countries worldwide. Its presence in Latin America is of growing concern, especially in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru. For decades, one of the most active regions for this terrorist group has been the Triple Frontier between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, where security forces have found explosives and evidence of the group’s financing through narcotrafficking, German broadcaster DW reported.
Hezbollah earns money in this empire. Preventing Hezbollah from rearming would be a major blow to Iran and perhaps enable Israel to finish its war against Hamas and declare victory. Trump wants the Middle East to settle down to a dull roar and stop demanding American attention. Yet Hezbollah’s new leader refuses to disarm:
“We will never abandon our weapons, nor will we relinquish them,” he said, adding that Hezbollah would continue to “confront any project that serves Israel”.
So ponder this noted development:
Iran is increasing its military presence in Venezuela, with officials and personnel, with some members of the country’s elite acquiring properties in the Latin American country and being offered political asylum should they eventually need it.
Finally, we have this information:
The Pentagon’s top national security focus will mirror that of President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, with multiple U.S. officials telling Military Times that the department will prioritize protecting the homeland and the Western Hemisphere.
Hezbollah—a major proxy for Iran—is a threat to America with its Western Hemisphere empire.
Could America’s military deployment in SOUTHCOM have Hezbollah in its sights? Combined with a law enforcement effort inside America to break up Hezbollah’s drug smuggling enterprise that finances Hezbollah, doing what Obama refused to do as a favor to Iran?
Perhaps it really is a drug war military mission after all.
NOTE: Image zoomed in from Washington Institute for Near East Studies used in the Western Hemisphere link. The full image at the link has the map key.