In May 2003, two months after the US-led invasion of Iraq, George W Bush mounted a podium on the USS Lincoln off the coast of California. In a televised address, the US president said American forces had ended combat operations and that, although there was difficult work ahead, “in the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed”. Behind Mr Bush was a banner that read “Mission Accomplished”. US forces were to stay in Iraq for another eight years in direct combat operations and years after that in various military undertakings.
Venezuela may be far away from the Middle East but the painful lesson of Iraq, as well as Libya in 2011, should be instructive.
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