WH Stands By Previous Obama Statement That Yemen Is A Model For Success
Today, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest Said “Yemen Did Serve As A Template For The Kind Of Strategy That We Would Employ And Have Employed To Mitigate The Threat From Extremists Around The World.” EARNEST: “The case that we have made is that Yemen did serve as a template for the kind of strategy that we would employ and have employed to mitigate the threat from extremists around the world. And in Yemen, the United States did on occasion take steps to remove some extremists from the battlefield. Those were steps that were carried out using U.S. capabilities, but they were done in coordination with a central government and with national security forces inside that country. Ultimately our goal here is to build up the capacity of local countries so that they can assume responsibility for their own security situation. And that has both the effect of stabilizing the country so that extremists can’t use it as a safe haven to carry out—to plot and carry out t attacks against the west, but it also means that these countries can better provide for the security situation inside them so they aren’t vulnerable to extremist actions on their own.” (Press Secretary Josh Earnest, White House Press Briefing, 3/23/15)
The Obama Administration “Has Touted Yemen As A Success of Its Counter-Terrorism Strategy.” “Fostering stability here has been a major goal of the Obama administration, which has touted Yemen as a success of its counter-terrorism strategy. The nation is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, regarded as among the most potent of the global terrorist network’s branches. U.S. drone strikes continue to hit Al Qaeda targets in Yemen, despite the Houthi takeover.” (Patrick J. McDonnell and Nabih Bulos, “Yemen Port City Of Aden Seethes With Separatist Fervor,” Los Angeles Times, 2/22/15)
Obama: “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.” OBAMA: “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.” (Barack Obama, Statement On ISIL, Washington, D.C., 9/10/14)
American Forces Have Left Yemen As It Teeters On The Brink Of All Out Civil War
Over The Weekend, U.S. Special Forces Evacuated From Yemen As It “Has Verged On Civil War,” “Defense officials said the U.S. decided to pull the forces out of al-Annad air base after al Qaeda targeted the nearby city of al-Houta in fighting that U.S. officials said has verged on civil war involving the country’s besieged president, a former president and a patchwork of militant groups. ‘It’s a very unstable situation in Yemen,’ a U.S. defense official said. ‘There was no direct threat against these guys, but the security situation had deteriorated to the point where the decision was made that it was time to bring these guys out of there before it got too bad.’” (Dion Nissenbaum, “U.S. Confirms Military Withdrawal From Yemen,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/15)
The Evacuation Of American Special Forces From Yemen “Is The Latest Blow To The Obama Administration’s Counterterrorism Campaign.” “The evacuation of 125 United States Special Operations advisers from Yemen in the past two days is the latest blow to the Obama administration’s counterterrorism campaign, which is already struggling with significant setbacks in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in the volatile region, American officials said Sunday.” (Eric Schmitt, “Out Of Yemen, U.S. Hobbled In Terror Fight,” The New York Times, 3/22/15)
OBAMA MIGHT BE THE ONLY PERSON LEFT WHO THINKS YEMEN IS A SUCCESS—HE’S BEEN PANNED BY ALL CORNERS SINCE HIS ORIGINAL CLAIM
NBC’s Richard Engel In 2014: Obama Was “Wildly Off Base” In Comparing The Situation With ISIS To The Strategy Used In Yemen. RACHEL MADDOW: “He also said that this strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the front lines is a strategy that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. Essentially saying he wants to do to ISIS what the United States has been doing to al Qaeda and its affiliates in Yemen and Somalia. What do you make of that analogy?” RICHARD ENGEL: “I think it is wildly off base, frankly. I think it’s an oversimplification of the problem.” (MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” 9/10/14)
- Engel: “I Think It’s An Oversimplification Of The Problem.” (MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” 9/10/14)
“The Growing Violence” In Yemen “Underscores The Failure Of Yemeni And American Efforts” To Fight Terror In That Country. “By then, in the fall of 2011, chaos in the wake of the ouster of Yemen’s longtime ruler, Ali Abdullah Saleh, had allowed Al Qaeda to seize large swaths of territory in the country’s south. In 2012, Yemeni forces, and American drones strikes, drove A.Q.A.P. out of the towns it had captured. But in recent months, as a Shiite militia known as the Houthis seized power in Sana and elsewhere across Yemen, A.Q.A.P. has gained strength by rallying Sunni tribesmen against the Houthis. The growing violence, including numerous A.Q.A.P. bombings, underscores the failure of Yemeni and American efforts, including the drone campaign, to dismantle the group.” (Scott Shane, “In New Era Of Terrorism, Violence From Yemen Echoes,” The New York Times, 1/10/15)
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: Obama On “Questionable Ground” In Claiming Success Combating Terrorism In Yemen. JAKE TAPPER: He pointed out that for the first time since 9/11 the combat mission in Afghanistan is over. He noted that six years ago there were nearly 180,000 American troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and today fewer than 15,000 remain.” WOLF BLITZER: “Yeah but he also seemed to suggest that the U.S. is really winning on this war on terrorism. Here I think he was on more questionable ground, to be sure, because it looks right now that ISIS in Iraq and Syria still very powerful. Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, in Yemen, still very powerful. And these other Al Qaeda groups whether going forward in Somalia or elsewhere in Africa, North Africa, they seem to be very formidable. Represent not only a significant threat to people in the Middle East and North Africa, but Europe and potentially here in the United States as well.” (CNN’s State Of The Union Coverage, 1/20/15)
The Washington Post’s Adam Taylor: Even In 2014 When Obama Cited It As A Success, “Many Who Knew The Situation In Yemen Questioned That Logic.” “Even back then, many who knew the situation in Yemen questioned that logic. My colleague Ishaan Tharoor argued that Yemen was an example of “U.S. mission creep, not success,” and that the threat posed by AQAP was still very real (after AQAP claimed to be behind the high-profile attacks in Paris this month, that point grew stronger).” (Adam Taylor, “Four Months Ago, Obama Called Yemen’s War On Terror A Success. Now The Yemeni Government May Fall,” The Washington Post, 1/20/15)
“If The Broader U.S. Policy Goal In Yemen Is Stability, It Doesn’t Look Like A Success At All Right Now.” “The fight against AQAP seems likely to take a hit, however: While the Houthis have battled against al-Qaeda forces before, wider chaos in the country could well help AQAP. The Houthis are also unlikely to be a willing partner for the United States, which they have accused of meddling in Yemen’s affairs in the past. As such, America’s ‘successful’ war on terror in Yemen, long deeply unpopular within the country, may have to be reassessed. And if the broader U.S. policy goal in Yemen is stability, it doesn’t look like a success at all right now.” (Adam Taylor, “Four Months Ago, Obama Called Yemen’s War On Terror A Success. Now The Yemeni Government May Fall,” The Washington Post, 1/20/15)
The Washington Post’s Editorial Board: “The Yemen Mess Reveals The Weaknesses Of Mr. Obama’s” Strategy. “The Yemen mess reveals the weaknesses of Mr. Obama’s ‘partners’ strategy, which has been too narrowly focused on drone strikes and training of specialized units, and not enough on providing security for the population, institution-building and support for moderate political forces.” (Editorial, “Yemen’s Turmoil Exposes Mr. Obama’s Crumbling ‘Partner’ Strategy,” The Washington Post, 1/22/15)
The Post’s Editorial Board Also Said Obama’s “Cursory And Formulaic Description” Of His Counter Terror Policies “Suggested That He Remains Uninterested In Correcting His Mistakes.” “Unfortunately, the president’s cursory and formulaic description of his counterterrorism policies this week, following a year in which jihadist forces and terrorist attacks expanded across the world, suggested that he remains uninterested in correcting his mistakes.” (Editorial, “Yemen’s Turmoil Exposes Mr. Obama’s Crumbling ‘Partner’ Strategy,” The Washington Post, 1/22/15)
Jamel Benomar, The U.N. Special Envoy For Yemen: “What We See In Yemen Is A Potential Humanitarian Crisis, The Prospect Of Economic Collapse, And Possible Areas Of Conflict.” “‘What we see in Yemen is a potential humanitarian crisis, the prospect of economic collapse, and possible areas of conflict,’ Jamal Benomar, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, said in an interview in Sana. ‘The prospect for fragmentation is clearly there. We are saying that there is no other way but for all the political parties to come together and make a deal sometime soon.’” (Patrick J. McDonnell and Nabih Bulos, “Yemen Port City Of Aden Seethes With Separatist Fervor,” Los Angeles Times, 2/22/15)
The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board Called Obama’s Handling Of Yemen “A Strategic Fiasco.” “That’s the lesson of Syria’s civil war, which the Obama Administration also said would burn out. Iran is already promising free oil shipments to the Houthis and is doubtless shipping arms. Yemen’s disorder may now draw in Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t want either an Iranian ally or Islamic State to control a country on its southern border. The U.S. should help the Saudis and Mr. Hadi, but mark this down as another strategic fiasco.” (Editorial, “The Yemen Meltdown,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/15)
