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Home > Obama Disastrously Backed the Saudis in Yemen, Now He's Deploying US
Troops to Deal with the Fallout
________________________________________
Obama Disastrously Backed the Saudis in Yemen, Now He's Deploying US Troops
to Deal with the Fallout
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 12, 2016
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The Obama administration has said little about its fresh deployment of
American troops to Yemen, where the U.S. has spent the past year backing the
ruthless Saudi Arabia-led military intervention by shipping weapons,
identifying bomb targets and sending its warships to assist the naval
blockade.
In fact, when he briefed reporters [3] last week, Pentagon spokesperson Navy
Capt. Jeff Davis would not even say how many U.S. troops had been deployed,
for what exact length of time and under what legal authority (Obama has not
held a congressional vote over the Yemen war). Davis only said the U.S. is
sending a "very small number" of forces to support United Arab Emirate's
ground combat against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
This development goes hand-in-hand with an escalation in U.S. intelligence
and aerial refueling to back the UAE, as well as the deployment of U.S.
assault ships off the coast of Yemen. Meanwhile, Central Command announced
last week that the American military "has conducted four counterterrorism
airstrikes against the [AQAP] terrorist organization in Yemen in recent
weeks." At least a dozen countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan,
Pakistan, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United
States and Britain) are participating in or backing the military coalition.
Amid the Obama administration's relative silence, brief comments [4] made by
state department press spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau to reporters on
Tuesday shed light on the incoherent justifications that underlie the
ramping up of America's role.
Asked by an unidentified reporter whether the U.S. deployments are part of a
"grander plan to bring about stability," Trudeau replied: "So, no, this was
limited support. So the Department of Defense has actually spoken to this.
U.S. Central Command provided limited support to an anti-al-Qaida of the
Arabian Peninsula operation led by Yemeni, Saudi, and Emirati forces in and
around Mukalla. We remain concerned about AQAP and we welcome the operations
taken by the Yemeni forces with the support of the Emirati and the Saudi
forces to address this. It was limited."
In fact, the Saudi-led campaign has significantly strengthened AQAP, as well
as ISIS. Thanks to the war, AQAP has been able to seize nearly 400 miles of
Yemen's southern coast and significantly boost its ranks. As Yara Bayoumy,
Noah Browning and Mohammed Ghobari put it in a Reuters investigation
published [5] last month, "The campaign, backed by the United States, has
helped [AQAP] to become stronger than at any time since it first emerged
almost 20 years ago."
The state department does not dispute this fact, as revealed by the
following excerpt from Tuesday's briefing:
QUESTION: Right. As far as the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is
concerned, it was really one of the showcases of this Administration,
because they basically decimated al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. But then
this war brought them back, by and large due to, let's - to the war that is
being waged --
MS TRUDEAU: It's true.
QUESTION: -- by Saudi Arabia and others. So it's like a - it's kind of...
MS TRUDEAU: Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the instability in Yemen. This
was an operation. And again, we thank the Saudis and the Emiratis as well as
the Yemenis for moving forward on this operation.
So the U.S. admits that it is ramping up a war that has strengthened the
forces it claims to be fighting. However, reality is even more nefarious. A
recently-released PBS Frontline documentary by journalist Safa Al Ahmad
reveals [6] that combatants from the Saudi-led coalition are fighting
alongside militants affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Yemeni city of Taiz.
The BBC acknowledged [7] that Al Ahmad's film provides evidence "that troops
from a Saudi-led coalition force and Al Qaeda militants are both fighting
Houthi rebels in a key battle. On a visit to the frontline near the city of
Taiz, a documentary maker filmed jihadists as well as UAE-supported
pro-government militiamen."
This is not the first report of its kind. Last July, Maria Abi-Habib and
Mohammed Al-Kibsi wrote [8] in the Wall Street Journal that "local residents
and a senior Western diplomat" all testify that Saudi-backed militias have
"turned to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, for
help."
The current Yemen war, meanwhile, is not the first time [9] that the U.S.
has directly or indirectly cooperated with Al Qaeda affiliates around the
world.
So AQAP is not only growing in strength because it is "taking advantage" of
the chaos, as Trudeau characterized it. Rather, some of its forces are
fighting alongside elements of the coalition. Whatever the extent of this
collaboration, the fact that Al Qaeda affiliates are growing in strength as
a result of the coalition's war is indisputable. What evidence suggests that
an escalation of this failed war will somehow yield a different result?
Yet, in the name of fighting Al Qaeda, the United States increasing its
participation in a coalition that has unleashed extraordinary bloodshed on
ordinary people throughout the country. The coalition has targeted densely
populated urban centers [10], factories [11], weddings [12] and a center for
the blind [13]. American-made cluster bombs have rained down [14] on
civilian villages. More than 3,000 civilians have been killed and, in
February alone, two-thirds of the innocent people slain died by coalition
air strikes, according to [15] the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Relentless bombings and a naval blockade have pushed the entire country to
the brink of famine, with the UN estimating [16] that half of Yemen's
population-14.4 million people-"urgently need food security and livelihood
assistance."
But the U.S. military's war against Al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen goes back
further. Since 2002, the U.S. has launched up to 137 drone strikes on Yemen,
killing as many as 101 civilians, among them 9 children, according to [17]
the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. This covert bombing campaign has
unleashed untold psychological terror [18] on some of the poorest areas of
Yemen.
Now U.S. troops appear to be fighting in alliance with forces that are, in
fact, associated with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the mission continues to creep
with little debate within the United States. While it is not apparent
whether the incoherent American role in Yemen is the product of confusion or
sinister calculation, one thing is clear: this war comes at the expense of
ordinary people in Yemen, who are being robbed of their well-being, food
security and lives.
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [19].
Share on Facebook Share
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [20]
[21]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/incoherent-empire-what-obama-doing-
sending-troops-yemen
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-pentagon-idUSKCN0XX1ZJ
[4] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/05/257074.htm
[5] http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/yemen-aqap/
[6] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/yemen-under-siege/
[7] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35630194
[8]
http://www.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-fights-on-same-side-as-saudi-backed-mil
itias-in-yemen-1437087067
[9] https://harpers.org/archive/2016/01/a-special-relationship/?single=1
[10] https://aoav.org.uk/2015/state-of-crisis-explosive-weapons-in-yemen/
[11]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/15/yemen-factory-airstrike-killed-31-civili
ans-0
[12]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/world/middleeast/airstrikes-in-yemen-hit-w
edding-party-killing-dozens.html
[13]
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/05/saudi-coalition-just-bombed-a-center-for
-the-blind-in-yemen/
[14]
http://www.alternet.org/world/meet-american-firm-whose-internationally-banne
d-cluster-bombs-are-killing-civilians-yemen
[15]
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17146&L
angID=E
[16] http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=53912#.VzS8-2bXn-B
[17]
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-graphs
/
[18]
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/03/05/us-drones-psychological-torture-
above-and-resistance-below
[19] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[20] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Obama Disastrously
Backed the Saudis in Yemen, Now He's Deploying US Troops to Deal with
the Fallout
[21] http://www.alternet.org/
[22] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Obama Disastrously Backed the Saudis in Yemen, Now He's Deploying US
Troops to Deal with the Fallout
Obama Disastrously Backed the Saudis in Yemen, Now He's Deploying US Troops
to Deal with the Fallout
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 12, 2016
AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+More
AddThis Share optionsShare to Email
The Obama administration has said little about its fresh deployment of
American troops to Yemen, where the U.S. has spent the past year backing the
ruthless Saudi Arabia-led military intervention by shipping weapons,
identifying bomb targets and sending its warships to assist the naval
blockade.
In fact, when he briefed reporters [3] last week, Pentagon spokesperson Navy
Capt. Jeff Davis would not even say how many U.S. troops had been deployed,
for what exact length of time and under what legal authority (Obama has not
held a congressional vote over the Yemen war). Davis only said the U.S. is
sending a "very small number" of forces to support United Arab Emirate's
ground combat against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
This development goes hand-in-hand with an escalation in U.S. intelligence
and aerial refueling to back the UAE, as well as the deployment of U.S.
assault ships off the coast of Yemen. Meanwhile, Central Command announced
last week that the American military "has conducted four counterterrorism
airstrikes against the [AQAP] terrorist organization in Yemen in recent
weeks." At least a dozen countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan,
Pakistan, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United
States and Britain) are participating in or backing the military coalition.
Amid the Obama administration's relative silence, brief comments [4] made by
state department press spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau to reporters on
Tuesday shed light on the incoherent justifications that underlie the
ramping up of America's role.
Asked by an unidentified reporter whether the U.S. deployments are part of a
"grander plan to bring about stability," Trudeau replied: "So, no, this was
limited support. So the Department of Defense has actually spoken to this.
U.S. Central Command provided limited support to an anti-al-Qaida of the
Arabian Peninsula operation led by Yemeni, Saudi, and Emirati forces in and
around Mukalla. We remain concerned about AQAP and we welcome the operations
taken by the Yemeni forces with the support of the Emirati and the Saudi
forces to address this. It was limited."
In fact, the Saudi-led campaign has significantly strengthened AQAP, as well
as ISIS. Thanks to the war, AQAP has been able to seize nearly 400 miles of
Yemen's southern coast and significantly boost its ranks. As Yara Bayoumy,
Noah Browning and Mohammed Ghobari put it in a Reuters investigation
published [5] last month, "The campaign, backed by the United States, has
helped [AQAP] to become stronger than at any time since it first emerged
almost 20 years ago."
The state department does not dispute this fact, as revealed by the
following excerpt from Tuesday's briefing:
QUESTION: Right. As far as the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is
concerned, it was really one of the showcases of this Administration,
because they basically decimated al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. But then
this war brought them back, by and large due to, let's - to the war that is
being waged --
MS TRUDEAU: It's true.
QUESTION: -- by Saudi Arabia and others. So it's like a - it's kind of...
MS TRUDEAU: Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the instability in Yemen. This
was an operation. And again, we thank the Saudis and the Emiratis as well as
the Yemenis for moving forward on this operation.
So the U.S. admits that it is ramping up a war that has strengthened the
forces it claims to be fighting. However, reality is even more nefarious. A
recently-released PBS Frontline documentary by journalist Safa Al Ahmad
reveals [6] that combatants from the Saudi-led coalition are fighting
alongside militants affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Yemeni city of Taiz.
The BBC acknowledged [7] that Al Ahmad's film provides evidence "that troops
from a Saudi-led coalition force and Al Qaeda militants are both fighting
Houthi rebels in a key battle. On a visit to the frontline near the city of
Taiz, a documentary maker filmed jihadists as well as UAE-supported
pro-government militiamen."
This is not the first report of its kind. Last July, Maria Abi-Habib and
Mohammed Al-Kibsi wrote [8] in the Wall Street Journal that "local residents
and a senior Western diplomat" all testify that Saudi-backed militias have
"turned to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, for
help."
The current Yemen war, meanwhile, is not the first time [9] that the U.S.
has directly or indirectly cooperated with Al Qaeda affiliates around the
world.
So AQAP is not only growing in strength because it is "taking advantage" of
the chaos, as Trudeau characterized it. Rather, some of its forces are
fighting alongside elements of the coalition. Whatever the extent of this
collaboration, the fact that Al Qaeda affiliates are growing in strength as
a result of the coalition's war is indisputable. What evidence suggests that
an escalation of this failed war will somehow yield a different result?
Yet, in the name of fighting Al Qaeda, the United States increasing its
participation in a coalition that has unleashed extraordinary bloodshed on
ordinary people throughout the country. The coalition has targeted densely
populated urban centers [10], factories [11], weddings [12] and a center for
the blind [13]. American-made cluster bombs have rained down [14] on
civilian villages. More than 3,000 civilians have been killed and, in
February alone, two-thirds of the innocent people slain died by coalition
air strikes, according to [15] the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Relentless bombings and a naval blockade have pushed the entire country to
the brink of famine, with the UN estimating [16] that half of Yemen's
population-14.4 million people-"urgently need food security and livelihood
assistance."
But the U.S. military's war against Al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen goes back
further. Since 2002, the U.S. has launched up to 137 drone strikes on Yemen,
killing as many as 101 civilians, among them 9 children, according to [17]
the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. This covert bombing campaign has
unleashed untold psychological terror [18] on some of the poorest areas of
Yemen.
Now U.S. troops appear to be fighting in alliance with forces that are, in
fact, associated with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the mission continues to creep
with little debate within the United States. While it is not apparent
whether the incoherent American role in Yemen is the product of confusion or
sinister calculation, one thing is clear: this war comes at the expense of
ordinary people in Yemen, who are being robbed of their well-being, food
security and lives.
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [19].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [20]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[21]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/incoherent-empire-what-obama-doing-
sending-troops-yemen
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-pentagon-idUSKCN0XX1ZJ
[4] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/05/257074.htm
[5] http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/yemen-aqap/
[6] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/yemen-under-siege/
[7] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35630194
[8]
http://www.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-fights-on-same-side-as-saudi-backed-mil
itias-in-yemen-1437087067
[9] https://harpers.org/archive/2016/01/a-special-relationship/?single=1
[10] https://aoav.org.uk/2015/state-of-crisis-explosive-weapons-in-yemen/
[11]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/15/yemen-factory-airstrike-killed-31-civili
ans-0
[12]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/world/middleeast/airstrikes-in-yemen-hit-w
edding-party-killing-dozens.html
[13]
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/05/saudi-coalition-just-bombed-a-center-for
-the-blind-in-yemen/
[14]
http://www.alternet.org/world/meet-american-firm-whose-internationally-banne
d-cluster-bombs-are-killing-civilians-yemen
[15]
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17146&L
angID=E
[16] http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=53912#.VzS8-2bXn-B
[17]
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-graphs
/
[18]
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/03/05/us-drones-psychological-torture-
above-and-resistance-below
[19] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[20] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Obama Disastrously
Backed the Saudis in Yemen, Now He's Deploying US Troops to Deal with
the Fallout
[21] http://www.alternet.org/
[22] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
