Posted on 03/02/2008 10:35:00 AM PST by MeanGreen2008
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is sending 10 battalions of troops to country's border with Colombia.
He's also ordered the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota closed and say all embassy personnel will be withdrawn from Colombia.
The announcements by Venezuela's leftist leader pushed relations with its neighbor to their tensest point of his 9-year presidency.
Chavez is also warning that Colombia could spark a war in South America, calling its U.S.-allied government "a terrorist state" and labeling President Alvaro Uribe (oo-REE'-bay) "a criminal."
President Bush would welcome them?
:::::::: That scumbag should be taken out like Noriega was taken out. And like Castro should have been taken out decades ago.
What was the point, then? Noriega was 'taken out' by a full-scale invasion/occupation of Panama. Castro apparently managed to not be assassinated (I assume we tried), and Kennedy decided not to go the military route. We came too close to nuclear war in the missile crisis, also not a good possible outcome. Of course Chavez should have been taken out a decade ago, but it is clear the US no longer acts so overtly in Latin America anymore, the Panama case being a somewhat unique exception. Additionally, the VZ opposition has shown itself to be a joke, given how quickly the 2002 removal of Chavez collapsed - who would trust them to do anything now?
Bush should detail Barack Obama to go down there and negotiate a peace arrangement - they are both communists.
The worst thing that could happen is Chavez could endorse him for President. [/grin]
I bet his own military whacks him.
Wars have a nasty tendency to get out of control, and there has to be some general officers in that country who know that damn well.
Hugo needs to cut back on the coca leaf while he still has a head to chew with.
And if that wasn't bad enough, our main "effort" to obtain independence is through the corn-for-ethanol route, which has given us food staple inflation 2-5 times that of gasoline. We are utter retards.
Reality check for Hugo Chavez: The regular Colombian army is considerably larger than the Venezuelan army, although the Venezuelan army seems better armed and the Venezuelan air force, on paper, has more advanced aircraft. A close look at the terrain and supply lines, however, makes it unlikely that Venezuela can conquer much Colombian territory, much less march their troops all the way to Bogota, Colombia’s capital, which is some 200 miles, at a minimum, from the Venezuelan border. Caracas, on the other hand, is _400_ miles from the Colombian border. And those are both air miles.
Now, there is a major city that Chavez could attack and attempt to occupy that is right on the border. Cucuta, with a million people. The closest major Colombian forces are at Bucaramanga, HQ for the second division, although the 30th brigade of this division is based in Cucuta. The 30th brigade has 2 infantry and one cavalry battalion and a couple of counter-insurgency/force protection battalions. The fifth brigade at Bucaramanga could reinforce Cucuta with another 3 infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, and an engineer battalion. Bucaramanga is about 70 miles from Cucuta. In addition, the second division has a couple of special forces battalions it could use and about 8 counter-insurgency battalions in the 5th and 15th mobile brigades.
Url for 2nd division order of battle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Segunda_division_ejercito_de_Colombia.png
Nearest mechanized Colombian forces are in Baranquilla, 257 miles northwest of Cucuta, and home to the 2nd mechanized brigade of the first division. 2nd mech brigade has 2 mechanized battalions and 1 mountain infantry battalion available to reinforce Cucuta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Primera_division_ejercito_de_Colombia.png
So first major battle between Colombia and Venezuela is likely to be the city of Cucuta with major participation by the 2nd division of Colombia’s armed forces.
we have taxes but people can avoid them in many ways. They can leave. In a communist country, you and your money can’t leave the country and everyone works at high productivity despite high taxes.
Mexico is, “The Mouse that Roared” starring Peter Sellers.
Chavez is such a drama queen. Moving whatever he has near the border is probably just a lengthy “parade” he planned to spice up his fantasies.
I was not disputing your premise just making a comparison. We don’t all agree with the cause but then we have options that a person living in a Communist country does not have.
I stand corrected, but 1.2 million bbl per day is nothing to sneeze at.
Please keep us informed at all times that you can!
” By quick count that makes 668 targets.”
One or two days worth of sorties
Just read and listen to what Obama states. I’ll give anyone a good bet he will not involve US forces in a combat action on their border. If anything since he is a Leftist and our national interests are in oil he could easily side with Chavez.
Or sit back and do nothing.
Please go to his site and listen to his statements on his military and foreign policies. This guy is scary. Most people only know what Obama is up to via the supportive mass media.
“Yes. If that were not true, the gas station would just jack the price up to 10 billion dollars per gallon. Why doesn’t that work? Because consumers won’t pay it.”
There’s a difference between can’t and won’t. And then why do they only seem to jack the price considerably around major world events? The ablility for the general public to pay $3 or more per gallon was greater 5 years ago than today. Why didn’t they jack it up then? Or even before that? They still would’ve paid it. That kind of leaves a few holes in your theory.
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