CNN: Pentagon in position to evacuate U.S. Embassy in Yemen
Update: US Senator Dianne Feinstein .... the Democratic vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence .... is now demanding the immediate evacuation of the U.S. embassy .... Feinstein: Evacuate Yemen Embassy Now (Josh Rogin, Bloomberg).
WNU Editor: Shiite radical rebels backed by Iran have violently taken control of the capital city .... it does not take a security specialists to know that the U.S. embassy is probably under threat right now. But here is an easy prediction .... with President Obama's State of the Union Address only a few hours away .... there is going to be no evacuation of the embassy. The optics of a President giving such a speech while U.S. helicopters are landing on the US embassy grounds to evacuate U.S. personnel will be .... to put it bluntly .... a signature moment of his Presidency that he will never be able to shake.
6 comments:
While Al Quida in the Arabian Pennisula, is a threat to the US Embassy, the Houthi's are not.
The Houthi's are fed up with the Yemen Government's corruption, ineffectiveness, their moves to federalize Yemen and sideline the tribal networks,
The Drone War, the SOF War, it's ineffectiveness, it's radicalization effects, and how the Yemen Government has used it to target political non-AQ regime opponents.
And they are pissed that they have been considered nothing more than " collateral damage" for over a decade.
Mr Prez is going to be biting his tongue for calling Yemen a success story.
I agree Jay. I was not thinking of the Houtis as being a threat to the US embassy .... I was thinking of the other groups like Al Qaeda who may take advantage of the chaos in the city to launch a strike.
What you may see is the Iranians through a third party attack the embassy and attempt to take hostages. If they could pull it off without their name on it publicly, it would be of enormous use to them.
Houthi's are 5'vrs, Iranians are 12'vers, and while the Houthi's have benifitted from Iranian aid, that's pretty much the extent of the relatiinship.
The Houthi's also, are not "anti-American", they were the core of the Civil Service when Yemen was a British Protectorate, post- Independence, they kept their status in the South, but lost out post reunification.
Sooo... is he going to tout Yemen as a success, like he did just 4 months ago?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/01/20/four-months-ago-obama-called-yemens-war-on-terror-a-success-now-the-yemeni-government-may-fall/
Post a Comment