“Me Too, Mike.” The Senate Was Not Briefed. Geez.

Sure -- most US Senators might agree that Maduro was not a good guy.

But he is not Norriega -- and certainly is not Osama Bin Laden, nor Saddam Hussein. We possess no clear legal right to kidnap a foreign president simply because we disfavor his internal politics.

Yes, I am saying this is (as ever) primarily about who controls Venezuela's oil, from now on.

So, like Utah's GOP Senator Mike Lee -- I want clarity. Are we a no more than a nation of very wealthy thugs (see legacy graphic/story at right)? Crooks?

Bill Barr's 1989 legal memo invoked to oust Norriega from Panama is inapplicable here (and most scholars agree it was mistaken when written -- as to Norriega). In sum, Barr wasn't (and isn't) much of an international law of rendition maven.

In any event, here's the NYT, on it:

. . .Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said on social media early Saturday morning after reports of the operation that he looked forward “to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force. . . .”

These are fraught times, indeed. But. . . we are not the 17^th Century British Empire.

We don't just kidnap a president, to then “go run” their former nation, just because we want their oil.

But Trump... does. FUGLY.

नमस्ते