Update On "The Forgotten War" -- July 23, 2016

Updates

Later, 10:35 a.m. Central Time: what a hoot. This headline from The Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2014 -- "In devising a play for Iraq, President Obama looks to the "Yemen Model."" I can't make this stuff up.

As they plan their response to the crisis in Iraq, President Obama and his top aides are hoping to replicate elements of an often-overlooked and relatively successful U.S. military operation in another war-ravaged Middle East nation: Yemen.

We obviously missed a nominee for the 2014 Geico Rock Award: Kathleen Hennessey. I can't even imagine where she got her journalism degree. In fairness to her, I suppose, things in Yemen turned sour when the US declared victory, pulled out, and turned things over to that other superpower. 

 

Original Post

 

I saw a related story this past week, but as I told Don, I was either too tired or too frustrated with yet another Obama-failed story line to link it or post it. But I'm getting too many alerts now to ignore it. What now? The "forgotten war."

Well, actually one of several forgotten wars. Another war in which President Obama said was pretty much over, the "good guys" had won, and the "bad guys" were on the run.

Band on the Run, Wings
I went back and looked for an article to see if it was worth posting. And then I found this one posted back in April, 2016. It makes my point: the Saudis can't do much of anything without help from the outside. We'll get back to that later. No, we won't. Not worth the time.

The other story line: I haven't seen the word "quagmire" used since the Vietnam War. And here it is, "Saudi Arabia's increasing quagmire in Yemen's War." Even wiki sees this as a never-ending story with an entry devoted to the Saudi Arabian-led Intervention in Yemen.

I've long lost interest in this war, and I've even long lost interest in this story as another failed President Obama (aka Baghdad Bob) story. There are just too many of them. Only 181 more days. Oh, when will this nightmare ever end?

What caught my eye was this little one line entry, buried deep in the story, near the very bottom:

So far, the Saudi-led Coalition forces have been rather unimpressive and relatively weak, despite boasting the 3rd highest military expenditures in the world.

Third highest? Where does that put China? Fourth? The EU? Fifth? Scotland? The Fifth of Forth?

The last few paragraphs of the story are actually the best:

Yemen’s infrastructure has been reduced to rubble as a result of the Saudi airstrikes.

Millions of civilians have been displaced, with others facing starvation and dehydration.

This disastrous war has been mainly caused by the ambitious and overzealous Saudi deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who wants to improve his family’s legacy to make Saudi Arabia a regional power in Middle East.

So far, the Saudi-led Coalition forces have been rather unimpressive and relatively weak, despite boasting the 3rd highest military expenditures in the world. According to the Saudi whistleblower @ Mujtahidd, Mohammed bin Salman is facing a moral dilemma because ending the war would appear like a victory for the Houthis.

With the quagmire becoming far more apparent in Yemen, bin Salman is desperate to find a respectful end to the Saudi war in Yemen.

Now, bin Salman has decided to completely abandoned the U.N sponsored ceasefire in favor of forcing the Houthis to surrender their weapons and cities to the Yemeni government.

The source stated that bin Salman’s campaign has cost the Saudis a large number of personnel, putting the death toll as high as 4,000 killed while battling the Yemeni forces.

And one might add, a lot of cash.