David D. Kirkpatrick writes in the N.Y. Times that the pullout of U.A.E. forces from Yemen has left Saudi Arabia in a stalemate position. They can bomb from the air but the U.A.E. forces were doing most of the ground fighting.
While the Saudis have fought almost entirely from the air, the Emiratis, seasoned by years of combat alongside the American military in Afghanistan and elsewhere, led virtually every successful ground advance. Behind the scenes, Emirati officers, weapons and money played an equally critical role in holding together a fractious alliance of mutually hostile Yemeni militias, which have already begun jostling to fill the power vacuum left by the Emiratis.
The Saudi’s don’t have the ground capability to defeat the Houthis but are unwilling to negotiate an end to the war because of their fear of Iran.
One reason the war has not generated more domestic opposition, he said, is that the fear of Iranian influence that motivated the intervention “is not just limited to the royal family — the Saudis just have an intense, passionate feeling that they are under threat.”
This fear is also shared by Mike Pompeo and John Bolton who will use their hatred of anything Iranian as an opportunity to involve U.S. forces.
At an American-sponsored conference in Warsaw in February, Mr. Pompeo bluntly told the Saudis and others that the coalition fighting in Yemen should kick the stuffing out of the Houthis, one diplomat present said, although he said Mr. Pompeo used an earthier noun than stuffing. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting.
The State Department declined to comment.
The Saudis say statements like Mr. Pompeo’s remind them that Washington shares an interest in containing Iranian influence by rolling back the Houthis.
“Why haven’t the Americans carried out a single operation to help?” asked Mustafa Alani, a scholar at the Saudi-backed Gulf Research Center who is close to the royal court.
He recommended that the Saudis take a blunter approach to convincing Washington that the Houthis were an American problem: withdraw completely and let the United States deal with the anti-Western militants and Iranian surrogates he says would overrun Yemen.
In spite of Congressional opposition the U.S. is sending more weapons and now more troops to Saudi Arabia.
Five-hundred troops are expected to go to the Prince Sultan Air Base, located in a desert area east of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, according to US two defense officials. A small number of troops and support personnel are already on site with initial preparations being made for a Patriot missile defense battery as well as runway and airfield improvements, the officials said.
It sure looks like we are being slow-walked into war. Congress and the U.S. public need to keep the pressure on the Trump administration to end our support for this genocidal war against Yemen.
