State Department Jen Psaki’s statement on violence in Yemen: “The United States remains firmly committed to supporting President Hadi to counter the shared threat from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The United States also denounces elements seeking to exploit the current security situation to further inflame matters, particularly members of the former Saleh regime and Houthi leadership who continue to use violence to further their own agendas at the expense of the Yemeni people.” Spokesperson Jen Psaki also called on the Houthi’s to return the ‘medium and heavy weapons” the group has captured.
One of the two ‘models’ of a successful foreign policy strategy touted by Obama.
“But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.”
Yemen and Somalia are examples of U.S. mission creep, not success
In Yemen, the most impoverished state in the Arab world, the United States is still trying to snuff out al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a branch of the terror group that has proven capable of orchestrating plots that directly threaten the United States. In December 2009, the “underwear bomber“, trained in AQAP camps, almost managed to detonate an explosive device while sitting in a plane on a Detroit tarmac. Letter bombs that could have exploded in flight, sent from Yemen, were intercepted en route to the United States.
With the tacit support of the Yemeni government, the Obama administration stepped up targeted drone strikes on AQAP militants and commanders. The attacks, couched in a hazy legality, have led some critics to accuse the United States of committing war crimes.
Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/11/yemen-and-somalia-are-examples-of-u-s-mission-creep-not-success/
Yemen Car Bomb Hits Houthi Base, Dozens of Casualties Reported