Letter: Is Venezuela U.S.’s next target?

Monday, Aug. 23, 2004 | 8:59 a.m.

After Gulf War I, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said he wanted for the leader of Iraq "a Saddam but not Saddam," meaning a strong man who could control the area but not someone who was nationalistic and anti-colonial. The argument that Saddam was a bad guy is just another in the list of phony reasons to invade Iraq, privatize their resources and occupy the country for the next 10 to 20 years. That is about the time needed to achieve their goal of doubling the use of fossil fuels in the world. The biggest beneficiaries are the American corporations, and the biggest customer is communist China.

Unlike China's dictatorship, Hugo Chavez was elected to office in Venezuela and has just survived a recall election, pushed by the rich minority. Chavez runs a socialist state and his money source is oil. The poor majority love him because he uses the free market concept to ask for a 30 percent premium on his oil instead of 16 percent. That leaves only a 70 percent profit for the big guys. The Venezuelan poor will get all kinds of benefits that even Americans might not get because Chavez cares about the poor majority more than the rich minority.

You probably will not hear that Venezuela is part of the "Axis of Evil," but it is certain that Wolfowitz, Vice President Dick Cheney and the boys are thinking, "Chavez but not Chavez."

JERRY BITTS