Washington Times: Yemen chaos leaves U.S. intel in the dark on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Yemen’s descent into political chaos makes it the latest Mideast nation too dangerous for U.S. officials to operate in — a development intelligence sources say will dangerously limit America’s ability to track and target al Qaeda and other extremist terror movements in the region.
While some Obama administration critics see the military triumphs of Shiite Muslim Houthi rebels in Yemen as a victory by the region’s Shiite powerhouse, Iran, others say the more dangerous fallout will be the loss of real-time intelligence and on-the-ground assets following the withdrawal of U.S. special forces from a Yemeni air base that has long played a key role in the battle against Sunni extremist al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
WNU Editor: Even the base that U.S. Special Forces used in launching drone strikes and other military operations against Al Qaeda has fallen .... Yemeni President Flees as Rebels Take Base Vacated by U.S. Special Forces (Time).
More News On The Collapse Of U.S. Counter-Terrorism Strategy In Yemen
US counterterror strategy in Yemen collapses as country's violence spins out of control -- FOX News
US counterterrorism strategy in Yemen collapses amid chaos -- AP
Chaos in Yemen Stymies U.S. Counterterror Operations -- WSJ
CIA insider: U.S. intelligence to suffer from troop withdrawal in Yemen -- CBS
Homeland Security chairman: US blind in Yemen after pullout -- The Hill
No U.S. intelligence in Yemen or Syria, Homeland Security chairman warns -- Washington Examiner
Update: White House responds .... White House: Despite Yemen Withdrawal, U.S. Can Still Fight Terror (Washington Free Beacon/Reuters).
10 comments:
THE COLLAPSE OF US FOREIGN POLICY IS NOW COMING TO ITS PEAK NATION AFTER NATION THEY INTERFERED IN IS HITTING BACK BY THROWING THEM OUT SYRIA BE NEXT THEN URKAINE
White House: Despite Yemen Withdrawal, U.S. Can Still Fight Terror
Which means drones in large part.
Which means less intel on the ground and greater probability of targets being civilians and/or claimed as civilians.
Which means when specs ops does go in their lifeline is a whole lot longer.
But the Whitehouse's butt is sitting comfy in a chair in D.C.
The only reason Somalia has not collapsed is because Ethiopia and Kenya are their on the ground. Otherwise the Whitehouse would not claim victory their either.
The White house is putting enough resources in Somalia to keep a lid on, to suppress AL Shabaab.
There is not will to win, so that we can get to pure infrastructure rebuilding.
Could we dispense with hysterics over US foreign policy. "Collapse", "spiraling out of control.. " Etc..
Level headed people in the NSC/administration are attempting to move the US to a position of offshore balancer. The process will necessarily be messy but it's better to start now. Perpetual warfare in the ME or anywhere else in Asia isn't a sane or wise policy.
"offshore balancer" sounds very erudite. When you start adding adverbs and adjectives you know that the message is smart!
So we are going to play the tie breaker between Iran supported Houthi or ISIS.
That's the ticket
"Perpetual warfare in the ME or anywhere else in Asia isn't a sane or wise policy."
Wars can be mathematically modeled with a discrete distribution, The Poisson distribution. that ought to give you pause. I'll let you figure out the parameters. You definitely need the practice and need to meet reality.
Poisson distribution? Why not bring up Lanchester's laws smart azz.
In "reality" do you think that Rummy, Cheney, Wolfowitz and the rest of the gang considered 19th century equations when they cooked up the Iraq debacle.
Given your "erudition", you should know all about Thucydides and how honor, fear and interest are the main forces driving foreign policy. To that I'd add the narrow-minded quest for domestic political advantage, revenge and a zealous attachment to an idea. Rational mathematical calculations don't enter into the picture.
I don't think the Houthis give damn about much outside Yemen and Iran's economy is so messed up that they are going to have an awfully difficult go of it projecting power in their own neighborhood let alone beyond the Gulf. So yeah, I think that is the ticket.
Oh yeah, statistics is so yesterday.
Iran was able to project power to Hamas & Hezbollah. They also kept Assad in the game.
North Korea is messed up more than Iran and they are able to stir things up.
Would Hezbollah exist and achieve the stature it holds today without the Israeli invasions of Lebanon?
Would Hamas exist if their creation wasn't partially supported by Israeli domestic security forces?
Sure the Iranians supported Assad, but the Russians and Chinese played a major role in propping him up by blocking resolutions at the UN and providing advice, intelligence and weapons. As bizarre as NK is, the Chinese will never tolerate them doing anything to upset stability in North Asia.
"As bizarre as NK is, the Chinese will never tolerate them doing anything to upset stability in North Asia."
You assertion is not a given.
Some people have argued otherwise that now NK is a loose cannon and that the Chinese have lost control of their proxy.
Regardless of Israel Shia would have fought Sunni for control of Lebanon due to their Demographics and Iran looking for allies.
The problems in Lebanon started n the mid 1970s (& had antecedents before then; mu father lined up more than once on the tarmac ready to be ordered to Lebanon under Eisenhower, CUZ it was such a stable country!) and were related to demographic power sharing and shifts and the PLO being the turd in the punchbowl. They got kicked out of Jordan after an attempted coup and then proceeded to relocate to Lebanon and start killing Christians.
"Sure the Iranians supported Assad, but the Russians and Chinese played a major role in propping him up by blocking resolutions at the UN and providing advice, intelligence and weapons"
Sure if the Russians had not been there, Obumbler might have just enough backbone to intervene. Putin had little and back Obumbler down. With that type of playing Putin could win at poker all night against Obama with good hands or bad hands.
Post a Comment