On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 13:52:25 -0500, Rex B wrote:
F. George McDuffee wrote:
Chavez is behaving in several vary dangerous ways for "world
piece." Sadam Hussein took these same actions immediately before
the invasion.

The top seven reasons an invasion is plausable:
snip
That is very interesting. Chavez sounds like a smart guy, rather than
the thug I envisioned. Where did you get all this information?
Rex
=====================================
Some information comes directly from emails from friends in
Venezuela and adjacent countries, more from Spanish language web
sites located in the area.

Hugo Chavez Frias was born in Sabaneta, Barinas State on July
28th, 1954. His parents were both schoolteachers and, after he
finished high school, they decided to send him to Venezuela's
Military Academy, where he graduated with a degree in Military
Sciences and Arts. In 1982 he founded the Bolivarian [Apparently
named for Simon Bolivar, not the country] Revolutionary Movement.
During 1989-1990, he studied Political Science at Simon Bolivar
University in Caracas. President Chavez attained the rank of Lt.
Colonel in the Venezuelan Air-born, which apparently is an elite
unit. President Chavez thus has the equivalent of an American
BS/BA degree with work on a Masters.

Given the influence of the Venezuelan oligarchy and the tight
control they keep on the military by supplying most of the
officers, President Chavez is self-evidently no "dim bulb,"
either academically, socially, or politically. Additionally, he
was able to overcome a US backed coup-d'état while the incumbents
presidents of Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Guatemala, and several
other Latin American countries were not, thus avoiding another
"great terror" of a redux Pinochet regime in Venezuela.

President Chavez has apparently turned to Cuba for medical
personnel and socio-political/military advice for the simple and
pragmatic reasons that Cuba has surplus medical personnel well
trained in the special diseases/conditions of the poor in the
tropics, and Cuba has managed to remain independent of US control
for 40 years despite at least one attempted invasion, extensive
sabotage, and numerous assassination attempts.

I do not know what it means, but President Chavez has stated he
is looking for a third way, outside of communism, which has
failed, and trans-national free market capitalism which is
failing. I wish Venezuela all the luck in the world, and hope
they can find something that works for all their citizens and can
be applied everywhere.