By Doug Bandow
Still, the administration played the victim card, claiming that it destroyed Houthi radar stations in "self-defense." However, the US had provided targeting intelligence, refueled airplanes, trained pilots, and supplied munitions to Riyadh since the latter, backed by several other Gulf states, attacked Yemen in March 2015. The Pentagon even deployed ships to prevent Iranian vessels from approaching Yemen’s coast.
By taking an active role in the Yemeni war, Washington made Americans as responsible as Saudis for the carnage in the world’s poorest nations. Perhaps 4,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting, the majority by the KSA-led "coalition." These deaths also are America’s responsibility.
The US made much the same mistake when President Ronald Reagan intervened in the Lebanese civil war to back the "legitimate" government based in Beirut. The USS New Jersey rained death and destruction down on opposing Muslim factions. Colin Powell subsequently explained: "When the shells started falling on the Shiites, they assumed the American ‘referee’ had taken sides against them. And since they could not reach the battleship, they found a more vulnerable target," both the US embassy and Marine Corps barracks.
President Barack has developed a reputation for being reluctant to plunge into new Middle Eastern wars. What possessed him to decide to help kill Houthis who had not threatened America?
The administration’s involvement appears to be an embarrassed response to Riyadh’s criticism of the Iran nuclear deal. Instead of dismissing the royals’ presumption that American policy should revolve around their desires, the US backed their aggressive war for regional influence.
Source: Forbes, Edited by Website Team
