Undeterred by the disastrous commando raid on Yemen in the first days of his Administration, where plenty of civilians were killed but the target got away, President Donald Trump has escalated US military involvement in the tragic Yemen conflict to an unprecedented level. In fact as Foreign Policy reports, the US President has bombed Yemen more in the past week than President Obama (no peacenik) has bombed in a year.
But although the US escalation in Yemen is sold back home as another aggressive front in the war against al-Qaeda, in fact US operations in Yemen are actually helping al-Qaeda as well as its chief sponsor, Saudi Arabia.
The problem is that because his advisors are increasingly drawn from the neocon camp, the advice he is given is filtered through the “noble lie” that the neocons view as the central tenet of their faith. Thus even though the main enemies of al-Qaeda in Yemen are the Houthis, because Trump has been sold the neocon lie that the Houthis are Iranian proxies Trump is droning Yemen back to the stone age to the advantage of al-Qaeda and Saudi Arabia, who are on the same side.
While it is arguable that the President has authority under the authorization for the use of military force against those attacked us on 9/11 to attack al-Qaeda in Yemen, very few would argue that such authorization extends to actually helping al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Meanwhile, US drone attacks are killing civilians in Yemen and contributing to the genocide of the Yemeni people whose only crime is to have rejected a president who ran unopposed – a US-backed “Arab Spring” candidate – and who immediately approved US drone strikes on his own country.
The Trump State Department is going all in. A sale of anti-Houthi weapons to Saudi Arabia that even the Obama administration rejected was hastily approved by the new Administration and soon will be deployed in Saudi Arabia’s war of aggression against its neighbor.
The Trump Administration is doubling down on all of President Obama’s mistakes. Siding with al-Qaeda in Yemen on the false notion that it is fighting a proxy war against Iran.
The neocons are running circles around the new US President. Deal-maker? On foreign affairs, he’s more like a vulnerable rube walking into a used car lot populated by shark car salesmen.
By the way, the Pentagon just finished investigating the Pentagon over the disastrous Yemen raid – where scores of civilians were gunned down by the US military in cold blood but they missed the claimed target. It may shock you, but the Pentagon found that the Pentagon had done nothing wrong. Investigation complete!
Daniel McAdams is director of the The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity. Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
I’m sure glad I didn’t vote for Hillary!
This will work for Trump with both the Repubs and the Dems. But it might be resisted by antiwar people on this site if they are more antiwar than Repub.
About the only way they can do that is accuse Trump’s selected hawks of going against Trump’s wishes. It could have started with CJ’s post below but I’m pretty sure that was sarcasm.
“The problem is that because his advisors are increasingly drawn from the neocon camp…”
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No, the problem is that Trump is neither a peacenik nor anti-war, and never was. But he is Pro-Trump.
Trump seems to be following the Obama/Clinton war strategy in a lot of ways… not good for world peace.
much worse in fact. There has always been one party that is antiwar. Now there is neither until the Repubs get their domestic agenda accomplished and are ready to turn against Trump. That will likely be too late.
The Dems, either willingly or otherwise, were manipulated into being the prowar side because of Trump’s few words on US/Russia relations improving. He never meant a word of it but now the Dems are rock solid against Russia.
A situation accidentally created or purposefully? I’m not ready to make an educated guess.
There ain’t a dimes wortha difference between the democrats and the republicans.Where did I hear that. Oh! Yeah! About 50 years ago from George C. Wallace.They had to shoot him just like JFK, MLK and RFK.
Two false alternatives,controlled opposition. They pull this same stuff on the American people over and over and over. Is it any wonder they hold us in such contempt and they are laughing at all of us!
‘Bomb the Sh*t Out of Them!’
The words of the man in which Raimondo lays all his confidence.
And he does that on behalf of this site!