Venezuela

The interesting question will be how this will be framed.

Is it going to be like Iraq? Like the baddie had it coming? Quite probably. I mean they got their peace nobel price winner moved into place already.

Or is it going to be pinned on Trump? Like a democrats president would never do this but ah sure what can you do?

Or a bit of both? What is it going to be?

Its certainly not going to be the international law defying unprovoked brutal attack where the 'free' world has to step in for support and arms deliveries and heavy sanctions against the attacker.

I dare the say the hypocrisy levels will go right through the Richter scale.

I have my doubts about that. The standard air group of a Wasp-class helicopter carrier encompasses only 6 fighters, either Harriers or F-35s, with the rest of the air group made up of helicopters and Ospreys to land troops and provide close air support for the landing. It's also worth pointing out that USS Iwo Jima is assigned to an MEU, a Marine Expeditionary Unit, a force designed purely around landing Marines. At least one other landing ship of the Iwo Jima's MEU, the USS San Antonio, is operating with the helicopter carrier, whilst another landing ship is currently in port in Mayport, Florida, according to USNI News.

I doubt we're going to see any major move on Venezuela until the USS Gerald Ford and her carrier strike group arrive in the area. According to the USNI's fleet tracker, the Ford CSG left the Mediterranean last week on her way to join US Navy forces in the Caribbean:

https://news.usni.org/category/fleet-tracker

Agree with you regarding a full-scale landing. That's highly unlikely and the risks stand in no relation to the possible rewards. Having said that, neither the current president nor the current SecDef are rational actors, so I don't believe we should completely rule out the possibility.

Regarding the air group, I do agree that this can be adjusted as required. Having said that, even when fully configured as a "sea control ship", aka a light carrier, we're looking at an air group of 20 VSTOL fighter aircraft. Neither the Iwo Jima nor their other Wasp-class sister ships can operate F/A-18s, since these require catapults for launch and arrestor cables for recovery, neither of which are present on the Wasp class. This would be smaller than the number of operational fighters in the Venezuelan Air Force, although there is of course a massive gap in capability if F-35Cs are deployed aboard.

It is worth pointing out though that just because a light carrier loadout is possible, that doesn't mean that it's optimised for it, The Wasp class are still primarily designed as a delivery system for Marines.

I consider the reactivation of Roosevelt Roads to be aimed more at Cuba than at Venezuela. It allows for that island to be isolated with relative ease. While I agree that it can be used for strikes against Venezuela, it requires a lot longer of an approach than launching from a carrier that's only 100 miles or so off shore, and that longer approach will likely mean mid-air refuelling either on the way in or on the way back. If we see anything, my money is on cruise missile strikes from ships like USS Gravely, followed by air strikes from aircraft carriers, with possible long-range strikes by B-1s and B-2s.