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2018-11-29 Arabia
Mattis: Pulling back US military support in Yemen would be misguided
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has said that pulling American military support in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
and weapons sales to partners would be misguided.

Mattis’ statement came during his meeting with US senators in a closed briefing at Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

"It is in our interests to end the civil war, to counter Iranian influence and stop Iranian-supplied Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
rocket and unmanned aerial vehicle attacks on UAE and Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and their civilian populations," Mattis was quoted as saying.

"Our withdrawal of limited military support would further remove any reason for the Arab coalition to hold up their operation against Hodeidah Port. Taken together, our disengagement and resultant loss of influence would have the opposite effect of mitigating the humanitarian crisis," Mattis added.

Mattis cautioned senators that it took the US "too long to get here" and that a change in American approach would work against U.N. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths’ efforts by breathing new life into the Houthis' combat operations, "just when they are reluctantly engaging with the UN interlocutor," he said.

Posted by Fred 2018-11-29 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ]  Top
 File under: Houthis 

#1 Arrgh! Sigh...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-11-29 02:13||   2018-11-29 02:13|| Front Page Top

#2 WTF? Detailed PPT briefings needed for this one.
Posted by Besoeker 2018-11-29 02:19||   2018-11-29 02:19|| Front Page Top

#3 Again: what are we fighting for? What is the prize in Yemen?

Nothing. This is just meaningless war for empire. Endless expense, a hell of a lot successful than people think it will be.
Posted by Herb McCoy 2018-11-29 04:00||   2018-11-29 04:00|| Front Page Top

#4 against Iranian expansion and terrorist puppets. But you aren't really interested in reality, are you?
*Pffft*
Posted by Frank G 2018-11-29 06:52||   2018-11-29 06:52|| Front Page Top

#5 I would rather have someone else use our weapons to kill these Iranian fucktwits than have Iran gain a foothold on the other side of the Persian Gulf.

Keep the supply line going and make the grass grow.
Posted by DarthVader 2018-11-29 10:55||   2018-11-29 10:55|| Front Page Top

#6 Who cares? Yemen? We're going to start a major war because the Iranians want Yemen? Since when is it our business? What's the benefit for us? What do we get if we win?

Jesus, this isn't a game of Risk by Milton Bradley. The goal isn't to put your armies on every territory.
Posted by Herb McCoy 2018-11-29 11:44||   2018-11-29 11:44|| Front Page Top

#7 Herb, you're Johnny One-Note and your isolationism and Strategic Stupidity is obvious. As I've helpfully said - make it easier on yourself: use a Macro
Posted by Frank G 2018-11-29 11:52||   2018-11-29 11:52|| Front Page Top

#8 You're not engaging with ideas or making any coherent arguments. You're just engaging in the ad hominem fallacy by hurling insults. Rather like a leftist, frankly.

Endless war for empire is a terrible idea and we need to stop doing it.
Posted by Herb McCoy 2018-11-29 12:47||   2018-11-29 12:47|| Front Page Top

#9 And you aren't? All I'm seeing from you is "AMERICA BAD!! KEEP US FROM PROTECTING STUFF OUTSIDE OUR BORDERS!!!!"

We kinda have a world economy, if you didn't notice, and massive disruption to one part of it will trickle over into our economy. I personally don't want Iran to get more power and control over the ME and have a dagger pointed at Europe and India's throats.

But yes, continue to keep hidden in your binky and ignore the monsters outside. That has worked sooooo well in the past.
Posted by DarthVader 2018-11-29 13:07||   2018-11-29 13:07|| Front Page Top

#10 Whatever the US and KSA do about Iran, the Eurines will water down every way they can. We can't ignore it.
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-11-29 14:41||   2018-11-29 14:41|| Front Page Top

#11 Iran, much like the Soviet Union until it disintegrated a generation ago, is engaged in covert and proxy wars around the world with two aims as far as I can tell: 1) to absorb all Muslim countries with a significant Shiite population, rebuilding the Persian Muslim empire of yore with the addition of Mecca and Medina, and 2) burrow into the underbelly of Dar al Harb, the House of War, in order to distract us from involvement in their activities over there, and to prepare the way for the “inevitable” conquest of the world for the Shiite version of Allah. Thus we have significant colonies of Iranians in America — apparently there are 900,000 Iranian passport holders in this country, an estimated third of whom are Muslim and some unknown number of whom have dual citizenship — the largest concentrations being in Los Angeles, New York City region, Washington DC region, Texas, and Chicago region. It is known that Iran has spies among them.

Likewise there are Iranian emigrant communities in Central and South America, likewise riddled with spies from the Iran Revolutionary Guard and Hizb’allah who have been forging connections with various Socialist governments as well as drug kingpins.

In my opnion, this is not about ego and empire building. It’s that we either engage Iran’s spies and proxies at home and around the world or we can close our eyes and wait to be conquered. ISIS and Al Qaeda are following an old script, not inventing a new one.
Posted by trailing wife 2018-11-29 20:39||   2018-11-29 20:39|| Front Page Top

23:16 swksvolFF
22:21 DooDahMan
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21:54 trailing wife
21:25 Anomalous Sources
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