COPY, PASTE & INVADE
- Ameerah Thomas
- Mar 8
- 2 min read
From Iraq to Venezuela and the Business of “Freedom”
History Doesn’t Repeat, But Rhymes? More Like a Low-Effort Remix.
We’ve all heard the old saying that history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. Lately, I’ve been side-eyeing that phrase. Sometimes the “rhyme” is less poetic genius and more… a copy-paste job with a new font- from Arial to Times New Roman. Case in point: the eerie parallels between the Iraq invasion and the recent Venezuela situation. Let’s just say the strategic playbook looks suspiciously familiar, courtesy of the one and only Donald Trump.
A Quick Recap of the Greatest Hits (That Nobody Asked For):
Track 1 (2003): The Bush administration invades Iraq to “disarm” Saddam Hussein and spread democracy, citing pre-war tensions and UN directives. The hook? Restoring peace and freedom.
Track 2 (2026): The Trump administration “kidnaps” Venezuela’s president (reportedly decked out in Nike Tech when captured-priorities, people!) on U.S. drug charges and declares intent to “take over” the country. The chorus? You guessed it: restoring “peace.”
But here’s where the remix gets dodgy. The lie feels like it was crafted by a toddler, yet it hides a brutal truth.
The Iraq War resulted in approximately 500,000 Iraqi civilian deaths and entrenched long-term poverty, with nearly 24,8% of Iraqis still living in poverty today. In Venezuela, while some initially celebrated, reports now show public panic and severe price hikes following the U.S. action. I don’t know about you, but this sequel sounds a little… fake and gay, as a certain commentator might say.
![Image taken from Al Jazeera's article on price hikes [taken:January 5 by Maxwell Briceno/Reuters]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/47a0f4_a0d1547e54c441a1b653754351513d07~mv2.webp/v1/fill/w_770,h_513,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/47a0f4_a0d1547e54c441a1b653754351513d07~mv2.webp)
So, can you guess the real target?
Think of something Diddy is infamous for… baby oil, minus the baby.
Bingo! Crude oil!
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven reserves at 304 billion barrels. Iraq holds 145 billion. The U.S. wants the world to believe they’re playing checkers, but in reality, they’re playing chess-a really bad, no-rules kind of chess where the pawns are entire nations and the bishops act like queens. Remember Trump’s notorious slogan? “Drill, baby, drill.” And indeed, he did-except he didn’t just drill. He disrupted global regulations and, well, kidnapped a president.
The Constant Theme? Leveraging conflict for profit under a humanitarian guise. It’s a classic bait-and-switch.
This isn’t just about poking fun at the “orange man” or past administrations. It’s a reminder to stay vigilant, question the narrative, and lean on credible sources. If we get complacent in the wild world of politics and swallow the false storyline,we may lose the very thing humanity holds most dear, our freedom.
Stay curious, stay skeptical, and keep your humor intact. Sometimes laughing is the only way to keep from crying over the world’s worst remix.
Links to Sources (If you would like to do your own reading):
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64980565 [BBC article on why the USA invaded Iraq]
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/venezuela-us-military-strikes-maduro-trump/ [CBS article on the invasion of Venezuela]
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001533 [Journal article on the deaths in Iraq]
https://www.wfp.org/countries/iraq#:~:text=The%20national%20poverty%20rate%20has,social%20cohesion%2C%20peace%20and%20development. [statistics on the current Iraq situation]
https://www.worldometers.info/oil/iraq-oil/ [stats on Iraq oil reserves]
https://www.worldometers.info/oil/venezuela-oil/ [stats on Venezuela oil reserves]
