Let’s stipulate that there’s a long way to go in Venezuela. As my colleague Tom Rogan wrote earlier today, Delta Force’s daring operation will go down as one of the most remarkable in our nation’s history — and yet that was the easy part. Restoring the rule of law to a nation overrun by violent drug cartels and criminal gangs will be the greater challenge.
Yet this operation’s extraordinary success is worth dwelling on — not just for its own brilliance, but for what it reveals about the U.S. military‘s performance throughout President Donald Trump‘s second term.
Imagine for a moment that Trump had promised to take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities and capture the illegitimate dictator Nicolas Maduro within a six-month span — and all without sacrificing a single American soldier or aircraft.
It’s the kind of pledge we would have rolled our eyes at, like when he said Mexico would pay for the wall. But that’s exactly what has happened. Trump pulled off two history-altering military strikes without costing America a single life or aircraft. It’s better than what we could have reasonably hoped for.
The sheer complexity of both strikes only heightens their brilliance. The high-intensity raid deep inside enemy territory on Saturday could have gone wrong in a million ways. Unlike raids in remote regions, descending into Caracas carried the risk of prolonged urban warfare and high civilian casualties — not to mention the potential for an embarrassing defeat. Maduro’s compound was fortress-like, with loyal guards and quick-reaction forces nearby. One wrong move could have triggered hostage situations or even a broader regional conflict.
But our military executed the mission flawlessly. Our cyber units plunged parts of Caracas into darkness, our aircraft — more than 150 launched from 20 bases — suppressed air defenses, and our helicopters, which faced intense ground fire upon approach, broke through, enabling our forces to move so fast through opposition that they tracked down Maduro like a cornered animal.
Some Americans were wounded, but none killed. The cowardly dictator and his wife were flown to New York City, where they await the full might of American justice.
For far too long, Americans watched their military — the greatest fighting force in history — hamstrung by mismanagement that produced stalemates and outright defeats. From the Vietnam War, to the long slog in Iraq, and to the shameful Afghanistan withdrawal under Biden, the nation saw its beloved troops held back by indecisive and, at times, cowardly leadership.
But those days feel like ancient history now. Alongside the decisive campaign against the Houthis in Yemen and the decimation of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Maduro capture instills sorely needed confidence and pride in our nation’s fighting force.
CAPTURING MADURO WAS THE EXTRAORDINARILY CHALLENGING BUT EASIER PART
And with a looming clash with China seeming more inevitable by the day — during his New Year’s Eve address on Dec. 31, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that “the reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable” — few things could matter more.
May God bless our heroic warfighters.
