Tales from a failed coup

摘要

The Bush administration's behaviour during the failed coup against Hugo Chavez is becoming a foreign-policy embarrassment. Christopher Dodd, a senator from Connecticut, is looking into what officials did and said during the chaos in Caracas. Did they know about the coup in advance? Did they help plan it? And what damage has the coup and its failure done to America's credibility? The administration argues that since it had no idea a coup was coming, it could not have been involved in planning it. If that is true, it is a disturbing intelligence failure. Practically everyone in Venezuela knew a showdown was imminent. The CIA should surely have known it too.