The Trump administration's seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela reflects a more direct approach to confronting the Maduro regime and disrupting narcotics trafficking networks tied to the region, U.S. Army veteran and author Barry Todd said Sunday on Newsmax.
"I served many years down in Central America, and I'm so excited about what Trump's doing here," Todd told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "He's finally bringing out these conflicts that we've been having down there in Central America and South America into the forefront."
Todd said U.S. forces have operated in the region for years, but with restrictions that limited actions to monitoring and reporting.
"We've been doing it under the guise of just training operations or whatever else you want to call it," he said. "We worked for many years with the DEA down in Central America. We were never allowed to engage. We were only allowed to observe and report."
He characterized the administration's posture as shifting from defensive interdiction to applying pressure closer to the source.
"Now we're taking the war to their front door," Todd said. "Instead of them shipping all their narcotics over here. This stuff needs to come to an end."
The segment also turned to the Middle East, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Donald Trump next week at the White House or Mar-a-Lago as Israel weighs possible new strikes on Iran amid concerns Tehran is restoring and expanding military capabilities, including nuclear infrastructure damaged in earlier attacks.
Todd urged a tougher approach toward Iran, calling it a persistent threat.
"They've been a thorn in our side for, you know, decades now," Todd said. "Stop messing around with these people. We lost so much blood over 20 years in there, and we could have gone in and won those wars at any time."
Todd criticized prolonged conflicts and what he described as a reluctance to pursue decisive outcomes.
"But instead, people want to do the same thing we did in Vietnam," he said. "And it drives you absolutely crazy. These wars of attrition are trying to make it look like war is not an ugly thing. War is an ugly thing, and people are going to die."
Asked about Europe's continued purchases of Russian oil while leaders voice support for ending the war in Ukraine, Todd said the policy contradictions have persisted for years and called the situation "absurd."
"I was stationed over in Europe for many years, and what they've been doing the past four years, since this war started ... is it's absurd," Todd said.
"They should have cut off the oil years ago," he added. "It makes no sense that they're turning around and funding the war that's crushing their neighbor."
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