As Trump pushes for Venezuela's oil, here's what to know about the U.S. and Iraq's oil

""A fairly rapid change of a head of state prompted by U.S. military forces is always going to bring back memories of Iraq in one way or another," says Raad Alkadiri, a managing partner at 3TEN32 Associates, a political risk consultancy, who lived in Iraq from 2003 to 2007. But Alkadiri says there's a key difference, and that's the way the Trump administration is taking control of Venezuela's oil."

"After the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. and the United Nations set up a system for managing Iraq's oil revenue. While the handling of Iraq's oil revenues involved the United Nations and independent oversight, that isn't the case with Venezuela's oil. To date, the U.S. military has seized seven Venezuelan oil tankers. And the U.S. is selling Venezuelan oil through two Swiss oil trading firms, both of which have pled guilty to paying bribes in the past."

Since the U.S. removed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, analysts recall the 2003 U.S. removal of Saddam Hussein and occupation until 2011. After the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. and the United Nations set up a system to manage Iraq's oil revenue and an independent auditor tracked the funds. The Trump administration's approach to Venezuelan oil lacks UN involvement and independent oversight. The U.S. military has seized seven Venezuelan oil tankers. The U.S. is selling Venezuelan oil through two Swiss trading firms that previously pled guilty to paying bribes. Officials call current sales a short-term fix and say the long-term plan is normal market sales.

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