Obama's odious war in Yemen
Now that U.S. boots are on the ground in Yemen, can we please debate our involvement in this war?
President Obama used to complain about inheriting a mess in the Middle East. Now he boasts about fixing it.
In the recent legacy-anxious interviews the administration is giving to the press, he and other team members tout their accomplishments in the region. And their favorite brag is to say that Obama extricated America from the Middle East. They imagine themselves to be the only truth-tellers in Washington on the region.
"The president recognized during the course of the Arab Spring that the Middle East was consuming us," John Brennan, Obama's first term counterrrorism advisor told The Atlantic. If Bush set about trying to liberate the Middle East only to enmesh us in quagmire, Obama has wisely chosen to liberate the U.S. from the Middle East.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Except, that's not true at all.
Just this month, the United States added "boots on the ground" in Yemen, as Obama expands on our involvement in that war. All those self-flattering interviews mention Obama's "frustration" with Saudi Arabia, yet they never mention our cooperation with its discreditable war.
We had already been providing logistical aid to the Saudis and their Arab allies. We've also been using drone strikes on their behalf, a kind of rent-a-murder arrangement with our close allies. The air campaign in Yemen has bombed refugee camps, hospitals, and weddings. But, our Nobel Peace prize-winning president is now more deeply implicating the U.S. in the humanitarian crisis that is the war on Yemen. So, boots it is.
Some more background is probably warranted: Yemen is a country with diverse strains of Islam. In the north are Houthis, who practice a type of Shia Islam called Zaydi. Southern Yemen is largely Sunni (as is Saudi Arabia), and that section has historically dominated the state. In 2012, the Houthis rebelled. And when a transitional government refused to include them, they overthrew it and seized the capital and many other cities in the south. In response, Sunni powers led by Saudi Arabia have bombed their position and blockaded the country, resulting in famine-like conditions, as Yemen must import nearly all its food. Hundreds of thousands of children were malnourished because of this blockade. Naturally, the Houthis have also resorted to extreme tactics.
Just this week Yemen's Sunni-dominated "government" suspended peace talks with the Houthi rebels, because the insurgents demanded a new government that would give them some share in the governance of the country in which they live. Needless to say, this strong-arming tactic was made possible only by the assistance of Saudi Arabia, powered by the United States.
Yemen is made to suffer. And for what reason? The UN says that 7.6 million Yemeni are on the verge of starvation. Eighty percent of the country's population are in need of some humanitarian aid. And yet its appeal for $1.8 billion this year is only 16 percent funded.
Obama only appears to be a man of peace because he hasn't provoked American opinion against further involvement in the Middle East. But the truth is, he has made the United States co-belligerent in a war that had nothing to do with U.S. interests.
By depriving America of even consultation over the use of its military, Obama has positioned American troops just as they were before other humiliation moments like the Lebanon bombing in 1983 or the disaster in Somalia in 1993. U.S. troops are now on the ground in two wars the American public never debated and would have difficulty understanding. Actually, in the case of Libya, the U.S. Congress already backed away from authorizing more involvement there. Yet, we've drifted in. If an attack hits and kills American soldiers in Syria or Yemen, how will the administration even begin to explain itself?
I know it must seem unbearably pious, in the days of kinetic-actions, humanitarian intervention, and drone warfare to ask that the people in a reputed democracy be consulted before their military is deployed to kill and starve Yemenis at the behest of the neighborhood's oil-selling theocrats. This constitutional concern was a piety that Obama once faked when running for president. Well, he's faked a lot of pieties along the way.
And now he's faking his way to being a peacemaker, while America connives to starve Yemen.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.
-
6 scenic white water rafting destinations to get your heart racing
The Week Recommends Have a rip-roaring time on the water
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Dangerous substances in Lunchables are raising concerns over children's health
In the Spotlight High levels of lead and sodium were recently found in the snack packages
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Fired art
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Sudan on brink of collapse after a year of war
Speed Read 18 million people face famine as the country continues its bloody downward spiral
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How powerful is Iran?
Today's big question Islamic republic is facing domestic dissent and 'economic peril' but has a vast military, dangerous allies and a nuclear threat
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US, Israel brace for Iran retaliatory strikes
Speed Read An Iranian attack on Israel is believed to be imminent
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How green onions could swing South Korea's election
The Explainer Country's president has fallen foul of the oldest trick in the campaign book, not knowing the price of groceries
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Ukraine's battle to save Kharkiv from Putin's drones
The Explainer Country's second-largest city has been under almost daily attacks since February amid claims Russia wants to make it uninhabitable
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
India elections 2024: the logistics of world's biggest vote
The Explainer More than 10% of the world's population is registered for a historic democratic exercise, with PM Modi likely to dominate again
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Erdogan set back in key regional elections
Speed Read The main opposition party flipped or held Turkey's biggest cities, including Istanbul
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published