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Through night-vision goggles, Mike Durant watched as two heavy laser-guided bombs slammed onto the Panama's military base while he hovered near the nation's southern shoreline in a military helicopter.

"A massive explosion, coming after a boom ... similar to the biggest lightning flash you've ever witnessed in your lifetime," the former US military aviator recalled of the opening attack of the Battle of Rio Hato's Air Base in the month of December 1989.

Past Parallels

The stealth aircraft blitzkrieg and following military special forces attack signaled the commencement of Operation Just Cause - intended to dethrone the Panamanian military dictator, Manuel Noriega.

Durant and his fellow soldiers had orders to capture the Panamanian military forces base to stop troops coming to Noriega's defense. During the following days, the pilot and over 25,000 other US military personnel hunted the dictator, who finally surrendered on January 3rd 1990.

"The dictator was a bad, bad individual ... and he needed to be removed," commented Durant.

Present-Day Armed Forces Movements

Memories of Just Cause have reemerged in recent weeks after Donald Trump directed the biggest American armed forces build-up in Latin America and the Caribbean Sea since the time of that operation nearly four decades prior.

A seventh of American naval assets - featuring the planet's biggest naval vessel, the USS Gerald R Ford - have been sent to the area since last August, with strategic aircraft and elite troops seen near Venezuelan north shoreline. Military strikes on suspected drug ships in the Pacific and Caribbean have resulted in the deaths of over 60 persons.

Official vs Suspected Objectives

Publicly, the stationing of naval vessels, Reaper unmanned aircraft and about 10,000 service personnel is part of a operation on South American drug traffickers who Trump accuses of flooding the US with illegal substances. But many think the administration's real aim is removing Venezuelan dictator, President Maduro, like President Bush toppled Noriega prior to he was tried and jailed in the US.

Opposition Perspectives

Various representatives of Venezuela's opposition seem keen for a repeat of the Panama operation, on an even more larger magnitude. The exiled politician Leopoldo López recently voiced approval for a US military action to unseat Maduro, who is generally thought to have rigged the previous presidential election.

"Not to be the messenger of negative news, but it appears like we are about to embark on another regime change operation, like, the coming week," stated commentator Carlson recently week, mentioning Iraq as a key instance of the US's ignominious record of government overthrows that backfired.

"Such actions seldom achieves its goals - but we are pursuing it once more, apparently," Carlson added.

Public and Expert Opinion

A current survey found nearly half of US citizens opposed employing armed action to oust Maduro with merely 18% supportive.

Durant also had doubts, despite viewing Just Cause the most effective operation of his 20-year army service. He was confident American military could remove Maduro, as they did Noriega. "Our forces have significant capacity and superb personnel. But would it be worth risking all that at jeopardy?" asked Durant.

Prior to Just Cause, thousands of American soldiers were stationed in Panama, Durant noted, but the US has no equivalent deployment in the country.

Strategic Assessment

The situation was additionally unknown how effective Maduro's Venezuelan troops were of combating back. "That to me is the greatest wildcard," Durant said. "They do well-organized parades. But what can they truly do? Are they trained? Are they funded? Are they willing to resist? Are they loyal?"

Historical Precedents

Michael Grow, a historian who authored research about American leaders and Latin American cold war interventions, saw "interesting parallels" to historical military actions.

In the year 1988, on the eve of Just Cause, the United States prosecuted Noriega for drug trafficking - just as they have with Maduro who in recent times had a $50m reward put on his person for allegedly running a "drug trafficking" network. "Therefore ... they've established a convenient pretext if they decide to pursue a military path," Grow commented.

Potential Scenarios

"But I don't think it's on the agenda with this administration ... These particular people are not neocons. They're far more isolationist ... I just do not envision the United States becoming involved in a land war in South America," Grow continued, while he did not rule out "surgical attack drone operations"

Ambassador Story, the US's top representative for Venezuela from 2018 to 2023, also questioned a Just Cause-style attack was likely: "We always like massive strength and it would need 100,000 forces - and that is not Trump."

Different Approaches

But the former diplomat - who initially considered the administration's armed forces buildup sabre-rattling - now saw an eighty percent probability of "some aggressive operation" on the country's soil in the coming 30 days' time, possibly an air strike. "The level of forces that have been deployed in the area indicate to me that we are planning