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Why Does the U.S. Support the War on Yemen?

It is just another example of our needlessly destructive meddling in the affairs of other nations..
Kerry and Fayçal (Saudi Arabia) - yemen for the metadata

Ryan Cooper asks a good question about U.S. support for the appalling war on Yemen:

But we’re still effectively allowing [the Saudis] to smash a Muslim nation, starve its population, and create a haven for al Qaeda in the process. Why?

The standard answer is that the U.S. wants to “reassure” nervous client governments, and so it has indulged them in their latest reckless intervention in order to prove its reliability. It’s a lousy answer, and it doesn’t explain very much. Encouraging clients in their worst instincts and helping to fuel their paranoia aren’t the actions of a smart patron, but this is what the U.S. has chosen to do in this case. This isn’t so much a reason for U.S. support for the war as it is an excuse. There is no good argument for U.S. involvement in the war on Yemen, and so it has to be presented as part of maintaining good relations with the Saudis. That doesn’t really answer the question, either, since other states that value their relations with the Saudis have refused to participate. If any state is in a position to deny the Saudis support for an unnecessary war, it would have to be the U.S., and yet our government was one of the first to sign on to back the campaign. This is all the more ridiculous when we realize that the war is turning into a disaster for Saudi Arabia as well.

Bruce Riedel reports on growing unease in Riyadh over the war:

Inside the kingdom growing doubts about the war are circulating quietly. The king’s ambitious son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and minister of defense, is derisively called the “little general” behind his back for his role in starting the war.

The late foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal is rumored to have opposed the war and warned that it would be a quagmire or worse before passing away. Saud enjoys great respect among Saudis; invoking him against the young Mohammed bin Salman is a calculated maneuver to undermine the war and the prince.

Whether the former foreign minister actually opposed the war or not, it is significant that such criticism of the war is gaining purchase inside Saudi Arabia. It may take some time, but perhaps eventually the costs of this unnecessary war in Yemen will become too great for the Saudi government to tolerate any longer. That will make our indulgence of the Saudis’ folly all the more disgraceful in the end. There is no good answer as to why the U.S. is helping to wreck Yemen. It is just another example of our needlessly destructive meddling in the affairs of other nations.

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