A comment I posted yesterday was removed by something or someond.
The comment said, "Mad Dog Mattis and the sham secretary of state are getting us into wars around the world without Congressioinal oversight." Can't remember what I said after that.
Why would that comment be removed? There was nothing against NYTimes comment policy. Apparently someone or something - inside the NYTimes or outside - is okay with hate speech but doesn't want the truth. Please NYTimes, get to the bottom of this interference. Thank you.
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It is about time US news media started talking about Saudi-US collusion in Yemen. Way overdue.
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I'm genuinely confused. If the the Houthis ousted the Yemeni government in 2014, how is the US assisting "government troops from Yemen"?
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"purposeful blurring of lines of lines between train and equip mission and combat."
Senator Tim Kaine on Green Berets mission in Yemen
Remember Vietnam? This is how the American intervention in Vietnam started. The military were there as advisors. We know what happen.
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'For years, the American military has sought to distance itself from a brutal civil war in Yemen, ...' But at last, despite its best efforts - and through no fault of its own - the US military has been forced to become involved - on the Saudi side. I have heard implausible scenarios and declarations of pristine innocence before, but this one takes the cake....
Henri
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Real simple how ISIS finds recruits. They simply show young Muslims the honest truth about U.S. involvement in the Mid East over the years and many are ready to lay down their lives to stamp out that evil.
Yes, evil.
It is evil to bomb children and women and old people who are non combatants.
It is evil to destroy societies that have existed for a thousand years before America was "discovered".
It is evil to invade countries that have not attacked us, as Bush did in Iraq and Trump and his tribe are wanting to do in Iran.
It will take a hundred years to undo the damage we have done since WWII around the world.
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It appears that some nations are uniting (North Korea and South Korea) on mutually acceptable denuking of nukes, while others are sectioning off with anti-western sentiment as the main focus. Are we expected to continue to align ourselves with these alleged civil wars (Ukraine, Syria, and now Yemen) attempting to end "terrorism" and support our allies? Has anybody thought about the possibility of these nations simply deciding to declare another split in order to have the U.S. military running around the world stomping out terrorist fires rather than focusing our energies on cybersecurity, preventing economic warfare and electronic warfare?
Perhaps an American military contractor working for SA has an inside track to someone at the WH (who was dazzled by SA last year). BD's brother?
We just really LOVE Saudi’s. They don’t even have to ask, we gladly will send our young women and men to fight for them, in Yaman, Syria and very soon in Iran. No effort is too much our lovely Saudi friends.
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I guess the Saudis government is incapable of training their own special force unit? With no shortage of money, why don't they hire mercanries?
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This story seems to be very thinly sourced. It sounds like rumors put forward by the Iranians.
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you do realize the US is on the same side in this war as ISIS and Al Qaida
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Yesterday is was Special Ops commandos, tomorrow a squadron, and then a regiment, and then, and then, full blown invasion. It started that way in Afghanistan and soon will take on the same mistakes of Iraq. U.S. never learns. We rather have GI Joe on the streets of Yemen, than an ex unemployed GI Joe on the streets of America. Seems reasonable.
UHMMM, NO LONGER A SECRET, RIGHT?
So the US has, again committed war crimes and involved itself into an illegal war.
Again, Trump has committed war crimes.
When will we see Trump in jail and when will we see sanctions against the USA?
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THe MIlitary-Industrial-Financial complex has taken over OUR country. The prediction of Eisenhower (the last decent Republican is now reality. All War, All The Time is the mission statement of the Right. The only chance we have to take it back is to vote, and to NEVER vote for a Republican. Gerrymandering and Citizens United make recovery challenging, but not impossible if we all show up.
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Our troops shouldn't be supporting such a massive violation of human rights by Saudi Arabia. They have bombed hospitals full of patients, killing hundreds. Is this what America has come to?
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Who’s surprised? This is what America has been up to since the end if WW2.
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So, Trump's getting our troops involved in the insoluble Yemeni war on orders from the Saudis. No doubt this is to improve hotel building deals in Riyadh and so on.
It's disgusting, and useless to America, and so it's exactly what I'd expect of Trump.
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And not a mention of the Yemeni civilian casualties.
Endless war = endless blowback = endless terrorist recruits.
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The U.S. helping the Saudis, to create havoc in Yemen 'secretly'? you are kidding, right? A covert operation, very overt to everybody else.
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What in the world are we doing in Yemen (especially helping the Saudis, of all the non-deserving countries)?
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Isnt it great! Here we are helping the Saudis --anyone remember that they threw us out before we attacked Iraq.....We had to move our command center to Qatar .
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Do we even know anymore who are the good guys and bad ones in the various wars, civil wars, religeous and genocides? Or do we just support oil frenemies.
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Maybe there is a strategic logic to lying about an endless string of trivia -- one-night stands, audience sizes, who paid whom for what. The public becomes jaded. Yawn, there goes another lie. So when a really important lie arises, like denying that US troop support is being secretly provided to the Saudis in Yemen, nobody notices. Yawn, just another little fib.
The Yemeni caper also adds context to the seemingly irrational impulse to jettison the Iran nuclear agreement even though no violations have been documented. The total demonization of Iran offers political cover to the secret Yemeni operation: Iran is so awful, and the need to oppose it so urgent, that scuttling the democratic process in pursuit of this higher good becomes justified.
The big question is this: if civil liberties and the democratic process can be secretly overridden by the national security apparatus every time it unilaterally decides that it senses a danger, what exactly is left of our republic? This critical issue is staring at us from many different angles -- not just Yemen. Thus far we have been unwilling to acknowledge on a governmental level that the problem even exists, let alone discuss how best to confront it. Congress desperately needs another Church committee.
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One more time into the breech to help our allies in the fight for democracy the royal family of "the kingdom."
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Helping to prop up the Saud family who, if they resided in the US, would be prosecuted under the RICO statute. On a daily basis, the Trump administration plumbs new depths of absurdity.
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Remember, "Vote for Wilson, he kept us out of the war," and how that turned out?
Apparently Trump voters didn't.
This is a job for our top negotiator. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are authoritarian and in conflict due to a religious divide. We can do business with them, so as to help them concentrate on the future. We need to help them maintain their global status as energy suppliers by pushing the development of their solar and wind power. Let us try to leap frog them into the future by focusing on an economic race rather than an arms race.
The Saudi’s again, before Iran’s current role mucking around in Syria and generally behaving badly in the region we’ve had the Saudi’s. Purveyor of Islamic extremism, birthplace of Al Qaeda & paymaster behind Wahhabism’s intrusion & radicalization of otherwise peaceful Islamists around the world, that is our allies the House of Saud. For generations now European powers & the United States has helped advance the interests of one of the most repressive Islamist states in the world. Why have administrations regardless of political party or ideology supported the Saudi’s with military and diplomatic assistance. Can we say a reliable source of and price for oil, the price of which we partially paid for on 9/11. Its always been a devils bargain we made for the wealth the Saudi’s pumped out of the ground. In return they have spread it around Washington DC buying influence & hiring (as Trump would say) all the best people. Now we are actively fighting their wars for them and enabling a brutal human rights disaster in Yemen. Trump may be the latest American patsy to play the great game in the Middle East but he’s not the first and likely won’t be the last. When will we learn, their not our friends and barely our allies. Sad
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Under what mandate are we fighting the Houthis? Why the mandate of the defense contractors, of course. I have a feeling that getting American troops on the ground was a condition to any sort of massive arms deal between Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, etc. and the Saudi government. And what baby wants, baby gets thanks to Uncle Sam.
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The Saudis manage to get people from all over the world to do domestic jobs the Saudis themselves didn't want to do. There have been many observations over the years that it would prove difficult for the Saudis to find people willing to fight a war for them. That may be changing.
We have heard much about children suffering in Syria, Bangladesh and other places, but Yemenis and their children are also suffering terribly, and on a grand scale. Is this a conflict we really want to get involved in? Some people in high places would rather not discuss it
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Yes this is another Sunni vs Shia conflict fought by the Saudi's and the Iranian's for dominance in the region. Once again the conflict is not being fought on their soil but on the soil of a tiny poor country - Yemen. The horrific price - in blood and starvation- will be paid by ordinary people in Yemen. The innocent are always the victims. Unless we ourselves are willing to be innocent victims we should never be an advocate for war.
But that's not how the world has ever worked, unfortunately.
Endless mindless wars will ruin US. Better to spend money on health care and schools.
The war in Yemen is a tragedy and another national disgrace. Simply horrible this continued abuse of the military without getting proper authorization. The Saudi’s are committing severe crimes against humanity in Yemen and we are complicit. It is stunning to me as a New Yorker given that 15 of the 9/11 murderers were Saudi. How much did, “the prince,” pay/invest to Jared Kushner? People killed by American bombs remember those things . . .
Ballistic missiles in the hands of a "terrorist" group? In other words a stateless "nation". That is something we want to be able to get a handle on. So sending American military to help train and equip the Saudis to do this is a good thing. I'm sure the big reason they are trying to keep this quiet is to prevent the rise of another Osama bin Laden. Remember that he made his mark on extremists because of Americans being station in Saudi Arabia during the Kuwait/Iraq war.
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Perhaps one of the biggest flaws in U.S. foreign policy is preferential treatment. The U.S. sanctions foreign governments for human rights violations and nuclear programs if they are considered "enemies" or "rogue states" but leaves friendly nations alone, even if those countries are among the worst violators of human rights in the world. Trump sadly continues to provide the Saudi army with resources needed to attack Yemeni civilians and is a close ally of Riyadh just for oil and to level the playing field with Iran. The federal government should treat all nations equally, no matter if those countries are our worst enemies or our closest allies.
This incursion is in violation of law . As is incursion into Africa . Never enough for this administrations foreign policy to feed the USA civilian munitions suppliers.
Why is congress not doing their sworn duty ? Maybe a list of who sees President would clear things up , oh that’s right there is no record or when there is one its redacted to the point of ridiculousness
The only way that this horror show we call daily live in USA will return to normal is if rational Republican legislators return to there senses and call for an end to this madness. They would be rewarded with re-election voted in by both left and right voters . Voters that REALLY put country first .
Every time I read about what our Black Ops are up to somewhere around the world and who and what they’re taking out, it makes Putin look pretty tame. Just so long as they stay out of London, it’s fine apparently.
This will come back to haunt us, just as Korea has, Viet Nam has, Afghanistan does, Iraq does, Syria does, and dozens of other countries where Special Forces are being used. How have we moved so easily into this posture? Why do we continue to try to solve such entrenched problems by military force? I went to college with veterans from the Korean war, and watched years later on a college campus as young men left for Canada to avoid being drafted to fight in Viet Nam. No place on this planet is as convoluted, nor torn by religious strife, as the Middle East. Yet we continue with the interventions used in the 1950's and the 60 & 70's. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is generally regarded as either deeply stupid or insane. Our leaders are both.
There's a humanitarian crisis in Yemen because of this war. The suffering of civilians, especially children, is due to the Saudi governments illegal bombings.
If we help the Saudis we're aiding and abetting war criminals.
This seems like a very one-sided argument. Why are there no corresponding details about the number of bombs the Saudis have dropped on Yemen in the same period and the number of people they have killed -- the missiles fired by the Yemenis have not killed anyone is my understanding. While the article does state that the Houthis started firing missiles in response to the Saudi bombing campaign there is no analysis of that and it does seem very much like a David versus Goliath situation given the support the Saudis are getting from American weapons
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I hope this war, and the associated humanitarian disaster, will definitively refute the myth of American Exceptionalism for those who are paying attention. It is not that the US Government is no better than other ones, in fact it is much worse, much more malignant, raining death and destruction on innocent people all over the world. It is fitting that our evil government would ally itself with another exceptionally malignant State. The Kingdom of the Saudi family, named after its rulers.
It has been shown that Saudi Arabia was a leading conspirator in the 9/11 attacks, but we can see that the evil US Government cares as little about the lives of its own citizens as the lives of foreigners. It is sad that Americans accept this malign tyranny disguised as a democracy. I wish they would come to their senses.
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We shouldn't be surprised to learn we have troops (and agents) in every hotspot and possible hotspot on every relevant continent.
Since 9-11, and well before, we were engaged in preemptive warfare (better to know and have time for options than to not know and then overreact/overcommit/blunder in.) Since 9-11, it's the same approach only on steroids.
I have great respect for the sacrifices women and men are making on these deployments and in the support organizations back home and abroad, too. Do I wish there were less volatile alternatives. Definitely.
Wait; I thought Trump was going to avoid foreign entanglements. America first? Not so much.
I'm shocked the U.S. is helping the Saudis protect themselves from missile attacks launched into their territory by Iranian-backed Houthis! Did Mr. Trump not get the memo from Obama that the Iranians are our friends? President Obama gave Iran money so they could fund these activities in the Middle East. He needed that peace deal to rationalize his Nobel Peace prize, and the Iranians were willing to help him out for a ton of cash, sanctions relief and no restrictions on their insurgency campaigns or ballistic missiles. The New York Times will continue to shed light on military activities that threaten Iran and their wonderful Obama deal. Because, as we all know, that is what matters - the Obama legacy.
Unlike perhaps line units in the US Army (divisional units like 1st Infantry Division), Special Forces/SF units, Ranger battalions and Delta have deployed almost continuously since 9/11. Many of these troopers have deployed 10 plus time for various lengths depending on the mission.
Most are seasoned NCO's with 10-15 years of service.
What do they earn? Most would be surprise the maximum amount earned (depending on rank) is about $40K to $45K per year. And, if they are injured, they are medically discharged perhaps with $1,200 plus per month. That is it!
For me eight (8) deployments and outside the US for 17 years was just "average" in terms of time commitment.
Most should say.."where do we get such men...?"
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Under Trump, the U.S. seems bent on siding with the glitziest, wealthiest, filthy rich oligarchs in suppressing revolutionary movements. I'm sure SA is using American weapons and planes against the Yemini revolutionaries.
And then we wonder, and wring our hands, at our inability to win friends and influence people in broad swaths of the Middle East.
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Don't only blame Trump. It goes back at least to Obama.
It goes back a heck of a lot further than that. Remember when the US over though a democratically elected gvmt in Iran in the 1950's and put the Shah in power. Good times.
Apparently it is no longer a secret.
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The statement in the article that "Yemen has been convulsed by civil strife since 2014, when the Shiite Muslim rebels from the country’s north stormed the capital, Sana." is a gross failure of journalism. The civil strife went on for many years before 2014, the Houthis being only one of the many conflicting sides.
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The U.S. is still trying to rule the world. Anything to promote the profits of U.S.-based international businesses, like those that process and sell Saudi petroleum. The beneficiaries are not the taxpayers, especially now that the tax burden has been shifted further towards those with less money.
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It is a good thing that the U.S. is trying to rule the world. We stand for democracy, free market capitalism, and compassionate but restrained government. You're welcome, world.
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Restrained when it comes to bombing other countries, eh? Democratic when it comes to supporting foreign governments that oppress their people like that in Honduras, or Saudi Arabia, or in Egypt, or in Kazakhstan, or in many African countries we're "defending", to mention only current examples? Or (referring to past events that have become known) overthrowing democratically elected governments in Iran, Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, to name a few?
We should help the Saudis fight Iran in Yemen. It is a proxy fight between the two. America has no security interest or threat from Yemen to speak of. No American boots there, Please. Our involvement MUST be LIMITED to annihilating Al Aqeda and ISIS in Yemen and help Saudi kill Iranians.
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What do you have against Iran? Saudi Arabia is perhaps one of the most oppressive and regressive societies on Earth, even with the recent reforms.
"We should help the Saudis fight Iran in Yemen."
How is Iran "in Yemen"?
" Please. Our involvement MUST be LIMITED to annihilating Al Aqeda and ISIS in Yemen and help Saudi kill Iranians."
How is Iran in Yemen? Also do you have any idea that Iran is mostly Shiite and Al Qaeda (backed by Saudi Arabia) is Sunni?
America has no security interest or threat from Yemen
The US is fighting Yemen for the sake of the Sudeten because of money and nothing guy money
The American does not forget that he was a cowboy and a mercenary
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Sec. Pompeo, Asst. Sec. Karem, Gen. Votel, and the Green Berets are terrorists. The worst part of their terrorism is they claim to use violence against the civilians in Yemen as defense of Americans. For that crime they should be tried, convicted and receive the same 20 year sentence in a Federal prison John Walker Lindh was given.
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Well, when those our Special Forces are fighting are not in a military uniform I suppose that makes them civilians in your eyes but the Iranian-supplied AK-47s, RPGs, and long-distance rockets make them combatants to any sensible person. Oh, and our SF troops are patriots, not terrorists. Be thankful and grateful they’re manning a post in a dangerous part of the world.
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The Saudis allowed trump to prance around with a sword and touch a glowing orb (of peace? How ironic!) So trump owes them, he's decided to sacrifice US lives and treasure to pay them back.
I'm no isolationist, but it's pretty disgusting that the US wastes our armed forces at the bidding of the likes of Saudi Arabia. And probably soon at the bidding of Israel. Why do we keep fighting other countries' wars for them?
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We have been fighting Israel's wars for decades. They helped us produce ISIS , which secured TRILLIONS and decades more of US involvement in the Mideast.That APAC IS SO WIDELY ATTENDED WHICH WOULD BE CONSIDERED A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION is deplorable. Trillions in debt , and for what?
I have a feeling this "help" isn't that secret to the people whose doors they kick in. Or to anyone else. One more aspect of the US war on the world.
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Classic. First, send "advisors" and make backroom deals with the client state's authoritarian leader, then second, wait for the inevitable cycle of escalation and then send in troops, or drones.
Forever war in the service of Empire is what this is about.
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It is strangely refreshing to hear of a militant group that has not been labelled as terrorist.
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We need to cut back on military spending. This is a waste of money.
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Stop buying new toys, & supplies for older toys. But, pay the enlisted in all the services wages on a par with civilian jobs, plus combat pay of double regular pay, & insurance of $1 million dollars for death, $1.5 million + live long care at the same level the filthy rich get, for dismemberment. Along with all education costs for the injured & the children of the killed. Make it hurt with a tax only on the filthy rich to pay for it.
This is how we became embroiled in the Vietnam debacle. How can we justify this involement? The Saudis are not our friends. They are still killiing people under the their blasphemy laws! Regardless of their expensive PR they have not changed.
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Trump is sending American soldiers to die for Saudi Arabia, so Saudi Arabia will give financial perks to Trump's business buddies. So the business buddies can buy American media properties to use for pro-Trump propaganda.
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One might think with the billions of dollars of weapons the US has sold the Al Sauds, they wouldn't need Americans to hold their hands and become involved in their war of choice.
This is so far over the top illegal as to make my head spin. Our military is absolutely and illegally abused by greedy and power hungry administration. Our nations military have NO RIGHT to sacrifice the lives of our sons and daughters unless we are being attacked in OUR HOMELAND and an act of WAR is officially declared!
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Still wondering also whether Saudi fighter-bomber jets are piloted by Saudi nationals or by foreign mercs. Either way, where do they go for their training? With what ideology are they indoctrinated that permits aerial assaults on civilians?
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When in the history of our involvement in the Middle East has our mission and can find Pentagon claims?
First person advisors and then the special forces and On and on and on until suddenly the Army is rolling down main street helping to build a new nation
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Houthi rebels could hide mobile missile launchers anywhere from inside culverts to beneath highway overpasses.
That's the closest reference to anything regarding infrastructure I've read about in a long time and as usual it isn't about the kind here at home.
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Say what you will those special forces are doing what has to be done. A few years ago, the Iranians shot missiles at a US destroyer and at US forces nearby.
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Were those forces in US or Iranian waters? How many Iranian drones have crashed on US soil?
Just asking.
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Do you forget the Americans shooting down a fully loaded Iranian civilian/ commercial airliner --by mistake?
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" A few years ago, the Iranians shot missiles at a US destroyer and at US forces nearby."
A: That remains unproven.
B: About that Iranian passenger jet in 1988, you're advocating Iran attack the USA?
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Thankfully, President Trump has directed Secretary Pompeo to de-escalate the situation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/world/middleeast/mike-pompeo-saudi-ar...
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Given that Trump is our CiC, shouldn't this say "a secret roll"?
Unbelievable.
The NYT and their readers care more about porn stars.
Bush lies about weapons of mass destruction and invades a country (2) and America cares more about who the President has had sex with within the last ten years.
Bush gets away with an invasion/mass murder and Clinton & Trump are moral pariahs.
It's psychologically fascinating.
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No, we've just come to terms with the fact that the military does pretty much whatever it wants at the behest of moneyed interests, regardless of the will of the people. It's been this way since the founding of the Army to exterminate Indians in the Ohio Territory.
Great promotion of America. The ongoing rubblization of Yemen by the Enlightened Wahabi Prince using the "finest" American weaponry, with Green Berets acting as Saudi "border guards"/mercenaries, and the worsening humanitarian disaster are a disgrace. Shame.
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Man Iran is so dangerous.
Saudi Arabi, though?
Nah, they're cool.
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This is NOT the only hidden involvement of the Special Forces. They spent months trying to find Joseph Kony in Uganda.
Obama had no problem sending them after a quasi Christian terrorist.
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Once again the idiotic, militarised foreign policy of the US is delivering misery to tens of thousands of innocent people. Congratulations on being so consistently wrong.
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Yes, except for the "foreign policy" -- if that implies that we have a coherent plan for interacting with other nations, or defined missions. And civilian - as in Congressional - discussion and oversight.
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Here we go again, America sticking here toes into the muck, only to get mired down in an unwinnable war. Doesn't America ever learn anything from past wars such as Vietnam or Afghanistan!
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So can we now finally stop saying that the US is not involved in the rubblization and starvation of Yemen by our Wahabi allies?
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My local news/head shop on Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan is owned and staffed by Yemenis, a whole bunch of them.
They came to the US to escape the US-backed Saudi rape of their country. (On some level, they remind me of the Vietnamese-run laundry I used to use.)
One of them worked with little time off for years to save up enough vacation time to go back to and currently be in Yemen for 5 months to visit his family. I sometimes wonder if he’ll survive that visit.
In any event, there are ramifications for what the US is doing in Yemen. I stare those flesh-and-blood ramifications in the face several times a week.
And as an American, I make sure never to discuss the politics of the Arabian peninsula with the individual ramifications I encounter. (I did discuss Yemeni politics once, asking them about the US-backing of the Saudis, and if they were Houthis. It emphasized for me why it’s not a good idea to discuss sex, politics, and religion in casual conversations.)
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Response to DaveG
Glad to see these Yemeni asylum seekers are contributing to the country that gave them a new home by running a “head shop” in New York. Just what we needed.
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Yémen is not only Saudi Arabia’s war but America’s war. Obama, after GWB, sunk us deep into this conflict and Trump seems to be making things slightly worse.
Given all the dirty work done by our two main allies with US backing, Saudi Arabia and the country-we-dare-not-name, it makes one wonder about the so-called “axis of evil”.
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NYT: "...Expanding America’s role in a war it has tried to avoid". How exactly has the US tried to avoid this war? Based on the how the NYT writes their stories the US never wants to be involved in any of these conflicts, but we keep getting dragged into, or stumbling into military involvement as if by accident. Can you be honest with your subscribers and be objective when covering US military involvement?
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We can't fix Puerto Rico, pay our teachers, have clean water, and good bridges in our nation because of all these stupid costly adventures abroad.
Going clean energy, while tightening fuel and energy standards would make overseas oil a nuisance we wouldn't have to deal with and would save our planet.
We'd have so much money we could pay coal miners to reclaim open pit mines ravaged and abandoned by big coal.
Enough of the repeated stupidity already.
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We have an unending talent for taking the wrong side in international conflicts. It was never necessary to put our best in harm's way for a ruthless theocratic monarchy.
Horrible, mindless, disgusting and frankly un-American.
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So Trump and his reactionary cult are now setting up their Vietnam do-over...this should be pretty....
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And how much did Trump get for this ???
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Perhaps I missed it in article, but looks like it failed to mention attempted attack on the USS Mason in 2016 by the Houthi rebels using same missiles mentioned in article. This would appear to be a highly relevant fact.
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What would be even more relevant would be explaining what the USS Mason was doing in harm's way. Hint : it wasn't delivering humanitarian aid to refugees, it was a combatant in a conflict the US is itching to escalate.
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Which happened days after the Saudi bombing of the funeral that killed over 100 people.
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Mission Creep is never a good thing!
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Will the NYT or someone please explain the power that Israel and Saudi Arabia hold over our elected officials? I believe we have lost our moral standing and our credibility.
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Doesn't seem complicated...Israel enjoys the support of the evangelical movement, and Saudi still has those oil reserves everyone covets.
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Saudi Arabia, oil prices and supply stability and the wealth influence buys. Israeli, domestic politics somewhat influenced by conservative religious ideology and the generally understandable support for a once threatened people. The reasons for our support of Saudi Arabia and Israel vary considerably but the consequences are similar and just as problematic regardless of the validity of that support.
Please be honest. They're not "Houthi" missiles. They're Iranian missiles.
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This is total insanity. Does the President even know? I’m pretty sure that Anderson Cooper wanna-be who is the VP knows, but does the President know?
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If he doesnt it's because he's too lazy to read his briefings and too disinterested to care. The buck and the blame stops at his desk!
If they tried to avoid the war they sure did't try very hard. It's my tax dollars going to starve a nation and expand their war games.
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Where was the national debate over which side to help? The Yemenese or the Saudi Arabians? Of course, I guess since the Yemenese flew planes into the World Trade towers that is an easy debate, what? So did the Saudi Arabians purchase the Green Berets also, we will take ten F-15's and three dozen "quiet" Green Berets.
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To say that they pose no direct threat to the US is misleading, what you should have wrote is that they pose no direct threat "at this time", remember that there was a time when Osama bin Laden didn't pose a threat to the USA, but that changed.
Our military commanders know that it's better to fight them over there then it is here and if you stop them early enough they will never come here.
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The US is complicit in these war crimes. Surely much more is hidden and heinous. Soon, our soldiers will be fighting yet another Saudi conflict, probably in Iran. The Saudi criminals and cowards have been protected by 3 administrations, notwithstanding the mountain of evidence of their involvement in the horrific attacks on 9/11 and the murder of (now) more than 3,000. As Hillary Clinton said in her State Department cable of 2012: “Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.” and, “Continued senior level USG engagement is needed to build on initial efforts and encourage the Saudi government to take more steps to stem the flow of funds from Saudi Arabia-backed sources to terrorists and extremists worldwide.” No mention of Iran.
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>>> ". . .Help Saudis Combat Threat From Yemen Rebels"
The headline reads as if the "threat" originated with Yemeni rebels. In fact, of course, the Saudis, with U.S. support and assistance, stepped into a civil war which had threatened them not at all.
The underlying reason, quite obviously, is the ongoing battle of the KSA against all entities perceived to be associated with Iran and its Shia -- a battle which the United States is eager to fund and reinforce.
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Saudi Arabia is theocratic monarchy, that has beheaded more people than ISIS, and is the leading exporter of extremist terrorist propaganda in the world.
So the USA is helping them commit daily war crimes against the people of Yemen, including bombing schools, hospitals, and relief routes, with American supplied weapons and munitions.
The United States of America has no business interfering in the Middle East. When the politicians (in both parties) claim that we are protecting our interests, what they really mean is that they are aggressively pushing the interests (profits) of global corporations that make huge campaign donations, and who will give them cushy high paying lobbyist jobs when they leave office.
The Constitution does not authorize our government to project offensive military force all around the world, with troops in 140 countries, to provide for the particular welfare of private corporations.
The Second Amendment says that we should have militias provide for the common DEFENSE, not a standing army.
Most of our actions in the ME have created failed states that are havens for terrorists, who don't kill anywhere near as many people as the U.S. military, but who corporate media constantly hype as an excuse for more state terror.
To be clear, I have a lot of respect for our soldiers and their commanders, but the politicians that make policy are working against the Constitution, the People, and world peace.
Stop believing pro-war propaganda.
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Bragging about the US role in creating and sustaining a humanitarian crisis is not a good look. This is not our conflict and we should not be aiding in genocide.
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Proxy wars in the Middle East have that Cold War feeling once again...as with the USA/Russia extravaganzas, this is a condition that starts wars, endless wars and the loser is not one of the nation-states attempting Empire, but the people of those lands, caught in conflict, fleeing, living in camps, in tents, in despair and suffering.
As Iran launches Hezbollah, supports Houthis and even Sunni groups as long as they attack American troops (the enemy of my enemy is my friend, apparently, in this rubric), their Shia political/military desire for supremacy leads the region to ruin -- Iran's leaders can't manage their own country, their people are close to rebellion, their economy suffers from mismanagement and ineptitude, and they continue to pour cash into whatever conflict they can find that will further their interests.
Saudi Arabia is the backstop against their adventurism. And they are armed to the teeth. I wonder how long things will continue before all out war starts between the Saudi monarchy and Iran's theocracy?
One thing we can be assured of? The suffering of people, chased from their homes and lands, subject to ruthless military attacks on civilians, to ruthless suicide bombings and terror of all kinds?
It will continue.
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The Congress has the full power and only power to declare war.
Declaring seems to be completely different from executing since, successive administrations have used the 2001 act by Congress to declare war on ''terror'' and to flimsily send troops anywhere on the globe.
Congress needs to do their job and take back control.
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...I guess it’s no longer a secret?
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Why are we spending our blood (potentially) and treasure on the Saudis? Whatever happened to "America First"?
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the almighty 'petro dollar'.
saddam Hussein dared to trade oil in euro. Kaddafi dreamed of gold backed dinar and then refused u.s. request to setup base in northern Africa.
wmd and humanitarian crisis in Iraq and Libya were just propagandas.
Since National Security Adviser John Bolton recently said that the United States is shifting away from fighting "terrorism" are we now officially just in it for the oil money? What's the mission? What's the goal? Who stands to benefit? Certainly not the American people.
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At least if tump should Support terrorist Eradication (Termite?), better some dead “rebels” With more precisely aimed Counter attacks than some indiscriminate civilian deaths in/as collateral damage, As has been the status quo for the Saudi directed anti- terrorist actions, with sometimes indiscriminate bombardment of civilian targets (As Obama was trying to not be seen supporting)
No boots on the ground in yeman, just advisors next door. This was the directive for the media just a few years ago while we were bombing civilians via drones in yeman. I wonder what changed the media narrative? Heck, we were even going so far as to murdering US citizens in yeman under Obama. And just in case you might wonder, I oppose any military or intelligence agency involvement in yeman. It was bad when Obama did it with media approval and it is bad now that trump is doing it with media disapproval. Consistancy people, gotta have some if you want an iota of credibility.
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Someone--uniformed men and women like myself--has to go out there in this sometime ugly, dangerous world to defend our freedom and way of life, doing the "dirty works" so that some of us may sit comfortably in our couches pontificating over the imperfect nature of the universe. Unfortunately, this means hurting and killing people. War is hell but so are religious nuts like American-born Anwar al-Awlaki, clerical leader of AQAP (the most active and dangerous al Qaeda franchise in the world until ISIS ascent, with multiple attempts at striking in the homeland including "underwear bomber," ink cartridge bombs", "Time Sq. bomb," etc.). Obama was correct in using non-conventional means rather than GW Bush heavy-handed "liberation" and "nation-building" approach to neutralize such a clear and present danger, just like the case with bin Laden. Trump maybe policy-ignorant but is mart enough to recognize a balanced solution and preserve it, to not get entangle in an obvious quagmires and instead delegate it to proxies like the Saudis, even if he vehemently loathes most of the legacy of his predecessor. Droning and raids are inhumane but are balance and preferable evils to full-scale invasion (ie, Iraq, Syria). We don't like wars and are fearful of terrorists, but we do like driving gas-guzzling SUVs and leaving our AC 24/7. Consistency indeed.
Has the monolithic "media" weighed in one way or another?
The claim that Obama regularly criticized civilian casualties inflicted by the Saudis is at best a half truth. Last I checked (about a year ago), you could find youtube videos put up by Russia Today where John Kirby, Obama's State Department spokesman, was excusing Saudi air strikes as accidental and contrasting them with what the Russians and Syrians were doing in Yemen. He also praised the farcical Saudi investigations into their air strikes which killed civilians. The cut in aid at the end was largely a wrist slap.
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@Donald
Really?
To quote you: "Last I checked (about a year ago), you could find youtube videos put up by Russia Today"
First, you admit you are not current on the issue.
Second, you admit, openly, that your ''news" source is RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA OUTLETS?
Donald, go back to fox and friends. Comments such as what you've posted are clearly partisan and don't even begin to pass the credibility test.
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Wrong on all counts. I hadn't watched the video in question for about a year, but I found it and posted it below.
Second, the fact that it appeared on a Russia Today outlet is an indictment of the US press. The Obama spokesperson (Kirby) was engaged in apologetics for the Saudis. People who have followed the issue (I have followed it for over 2 years) know that the Obama Administration supported the Saudis. The Trump Administration took a bad policy and made it worse.
Finally, the idea that I am a Trump supporter is false, but you concluded that because I criticized Obama. This illustrates what is wrong with this country-- a great many people approach issues like war crimes in a purely partisan spirit. It is a bipartisan problem, though the Republicans are worse.
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The headline and the story itself exaggerate the "threat" to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the point of portraying the Saudi role in Yemen as primarily defensive. Saudi Arabia and a few allies have intervened, without provocation, in a domestic power struggle, and have been on the offense from the air for more than three years. The article contains misleading statements about the US effort to "distance itself" from a war in which it provides weapons, in-air refueling, etc. In identifying the Houthis as Iranian-backed Shiites, the authors supply the Saudi rationale that it is a sectarian conflict in which the Kingdom battles Iranian incursions. Pompeo's unproven allegation of Iranian provision of Houthi rebels is cited without qualification; the fact that via a naval blockade and extensive bombing of its facilities al-Hudaydah port has been out of commission for three years is overlooked entirely. The assertion that "President Barack Obama regularly criticized Saudi Arabia for civilian casualties inflicted by its bombing campaign in Yemen, and blocked arms sales to the kingdom" is at best partly accurate, since as President Obama visited the Kingdom at least four times, also to sell arms, as did other members of his administration.
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I’m no isolationist, but I have seen too many American soldiers killed and wounded in these endless no-win religious conflicts to say enough.
We watch military age men fleeing countries like Yemen and Syria and yet send our own soldiers there to fight? Why? We don’t need the oil any longer, which is the reason Bush sent our troops into Iraq in the first place.
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Regarding the Obama Administration's "criticism" of the Saudi killing of civilians in Yemen, this was largely farcical. Here is an example from the fall of 2016, before the Saudi strike which killed over 100 people in Sanaa when the Obama people were forced to pretend to care a bit more. Here is an example from the fall of 2016, before the Saudi strike which killed over 100 people in Sanaa when the Obama people were forced to pretend to care a bit more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYZwgc6GwZ4
Note the contrast Kirby tries to make between the bombing of Russia and Syria in Syria and the Saudi bombing in Yemen. In reality there is no difference, but in the words of Kirby it is "ludicrous" to compare them.
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Very encouraging. Are they also helping stop the incessant bombing of civilians, hospitals, emergency groups (double-hit bombing) by the Saudis all aided and re-fuelled by the US military? Causing the biggest epidemic in modern times.
No. Because the Oil Industry owns the US, and the Saudis own the Oil Industry.
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And the global banks own them both.
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Soldiers for hire from other nations is as old as nations.
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How well we have progressed. . . From Bush the Bloody, to Trump the Terrible. . .
All those civilians dead and wounded already, and now escalation . . .all due to our American Demagoguery. Before (or if) he goes, Trump is going to have as much blood on his hands as any dictator the World has ever known.
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Don't forget Obama the Abominable.
Both parties have essentially the same foreign policy, which means that as long as you believe voting for a third party is a waste of your vote, there is no way to stop these unconstitutional offensive wars.
7
This is a disturbing revelation, too reminiscent of our secretive, early entanglement in the Vietnam civil conflict leading to escalation after escalation and ending with the final, tragic consequences of the Vietnam War, haunting America to this day. Where is Congressional oversight of this development? May the Times doggedly continue its reporting on this very important story, providing the transparency which our government obviously wishes to deny to its citizenry. We are depending upon you!
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The Times is far too willing to repeat pro-war propaganda coming from both corporate political parties.
4
Oh, right. We've "tried to avoid" this war. When did we ever try to avoid a nice opportunity to get involved in other people's business and blow up some ordinance that the American taxpayer gets to replace?
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It was probably ours in the first place, but "fell into" the hands of someone we don't like anymore.
1
American military operatives were secretly active in support of South Vietnam about the same time, if not before the French were kicked out in 1954. Nothing new about US secret operations in most countries where the US has an agenda. Virtually all of Latin America. Most of Southeast Asia. Certainly many countries in Africa. So common, in fact, official diplomacy and covert ops are regularly interchanged by the same individuals. So common, in fact, it's pretty much common knowledge by everyone - involved or not.
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We were attacked, on 9/11, by Sunni terror states like Saudi Arabia (the biggest state sponsor of terror on the planet).
In response to that brutal attack the US government has fallen over itself in its rush to protect the very people responsible for the murder of 2,977 innocent civilians.
In the immediate aftermath our governments primary concern was the safety of Saudi Arabian citizens.
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Yes, we protect the leading exporter of non-state terror in the world, and then use the resulting terror as are excuse to kill a thousand times more people than terrorists ever could.
For example we used 3,000 killed on 9/11 as an excuse to kill about 500,000 Iraqis, at the cost off 45,000 dead and wounded American troops (and trillions of dollars) even though it was obvious that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.
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This is how Vietnam began - advisors helping one side. We need to stop doing this.
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And they were never just advising.
5
The US is up to its eye in the many, varied and continuing war crimes in Yemen.
And this at a time when the US is again trying to convince the US public that a country like Iran is the big bad guy.
When was the last time Iran blew up multiple children's hospitals?
The US has help SA do this in Yemen.
When is the last time Iran bombed refugee camps and prevented aid from reaching millions of starving women and children? The US has done that and helped SA do that in Yemen.
Iran wasn't even in Yemen for the first decade or so of this mess... but this very paper reported that, before Iran was there, the main benefactors of US policy in Yemen were... wait for it... ISIS and al Qaeda.
So it comes as NO surprise that US troops are again on the ground there... this is the continuation of a decades worth of failed foreign policy in Yemen. If the US didn't, like Russia, protect itself from criminal prosecution in the UNSC - and by refusing to join the ICC - US soldiers and politicians would be in the dock today for criminal behavior.... as it stands, sure, it's just more murder and self-destructive foreign policy.
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This is an immoral war in which we're on the side of the agressors. This will come back to bite us big time.
100
yes you are right. The Saudis aren't going to prevail against the Yemenis and we are complicit in this.
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Yes, the increase in US involvement in Yemen from 2016 to 2017 against rebels who pose "no direct threat to the United States" had absolutely nothing to do with Houthi rebels repeatedly firing cruise missiles at US Navy ships far offshore in late 2016, which somehow escaped being mentioned in this article.
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The Saudis are our ENEMIES. They have sponsored hate spewing madras(sp) throughout the areas we've been waging our war on terror (which again they had a hand in starting). I'm no expert on Geo politics but I do know that I don't go out of my way to help my enemy. This has been the most insane part of our foreign policy since 9/11. Has anyone in the government read The Art of War? and if so, understood it?
6
The US and Saudi war in Yemen began in 2015. The attacks on the US ships came right after a Saudi air strike killed 150 people. Only an American would think our involvement in war crimes is justified because people shoot back. If we don’t want our ships under fire, stop helping the Saudis bomb civilians.
1
“They appear to contradict Pentagon statements that American military assistance to the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen is limited to aircraft refueling, logistics and general intelligence sharing.”
We are helping to cause massive famine in Yemen.
"It will not be like the famine that we saw in South Sudan earlier in the year, where tens of thousands of people were affected. It will not be like the famine which cost 250,000 people their lives in Somalia in 2011. It will be the largest famine the world has seen for many decades, with millions of victims."
https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/09/middleeast/yemen-famine-saudi-arabia/inde...
Looks like we do not care about humanitarian reasons for being the Saudi Mercenaries around the world.
26
Are the contributing any food to the people?
Just asking since this "war" is shaping up to be one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the century.
31
LOVE the part where the Administration says the Green Barets are "mostly" helping secure the border, while tacitly noting elsewhere in the article they are also blowing up the Rebel's arms.
I seriously doubt the Rebels are leaving a cache or two of their weapons on the Saudi side of the border to be conveniently 'blown up' by the US Army.
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Why is the US involved in every war on the planet?
The security of Saudi Arabia is not our concern- they are a major threat to our people.
39
We're helping with a genocide by Saudi Arabia. Why?
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Because Saudi Arabia spends Billions of $$$ on American military supplies.
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Because the US gets lots and lots of premium Saudi oil!
1
petro dollar. it gives us the ability to print greenbacks out of thin air.
we provide the sand dunes oil producers with military protection in return. it's a protection racket. as long s they do our bidding we allow them to exist. we could do a regime change there as well. won't we?
it's all about control of resources. we do not have a need to own any of it.
2
"We are authorized to help the Saudis defend their border."
With an ex-president who is an actual adopted member of the Saudi family I do not find this surprising.
Everyone serves some master. Apparently the House of Saud is ours.
7
Both governments serve the Devil I'm afraid. Why do we tolerate this?
So in Yemen we are helping the Saudi backed government rid themselves of the Iran backed Houthis. I just read the other fantastic article, editorial from Joost Hiltermann in today's paper. Where among other things he states along with a few factions, Iran has helped us and is still going after ISIS in Syria. A bit ridiculous and scary how absurd it's getting. But overall it seems the United States has aligned itself with The Saudis ( Sunni ) & of course Israel. And to me that is a big mistake. The wrong side of history. We should not lean very heavily to one side. Esp. if they don't have our & the world's best interests at heart.
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