Yemen in chaos: Portrait of an Obama 'success' story
Feb. 11, 2015 - 2:47 - A few months ago, the president was touting Yemen as a model of his foreign policy success. Today, armed rebels seized US embassy vehicles after diplomats fled the country over growing unrest.
Flashback
How's that working out for you, Mr. President?
From the BBC:
Yemen crisis: US, UK and France close Sanaa embassies
11 February 2015
The US, UK and France are closing their embassies in Yemen due to the deteriorating security situation and political crisis in the country.
The US and UK governments have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Sanaa and urged their citizens to leave.
France's embassy in the capital has announced that it will close on Friday.
The moves come as the UN attempts to broker talks between political factions and Shia rebels who control Sanaa and dissolved parliament last week.
President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and his cabinet resigned on 22 January after the rebels, known as Houthis, overran the presidential palace and placed them under effective house arrest.
The Houthis have taken over predominantly Sunni parts of central and western Yemen in recent months, sparking battles with tribesmen and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), after advancing from their stronghold in the far north and seizing Sanaa in September....
Much more here.
I *may* be over-suspicious, but I don't believe in coincidences. Just last month was this:
Yemeni terror suspects held at Gitmo released to live in nearby Oman
15 January 2015
The Department of Defense announced Wednesday that five Yemeni terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have been released. But despite concerns from lawmakers about the risks of sending anybody back to Yemen, four were released to Oman -- which is right next door.
Yemen is back in the spotlight in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. One of the suspects traveled there in 2011 and met with the radical American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in the region, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Though the administration technically has lifted a ban on sending Guantanamo detainees to Yemen, the U.S. traditionally has balked at repatriating prisoners back to the country, where the government is battling the Al Qaeda insurgency.
Still, four of the five prisoners -- Al Khadr Abdallah Muhammad Al Yafi, Fadel Hussein Saleh Hentif, Abd Al-Rahman Abdullah Au Shabati, and Mohammed Ahmed Salam -- are being sent to neighboring Oman ...
More here.
Madness and mayhem is certainly not a new phenomenon in Yemen. War On Terror News has been chronicling terrorism in that country for the last few years.
Sadly, this was all too predictable:
U.S. Marines handed over their guns before leaving Yemen
February 11, 2015
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Marines handed over their remaining weapons to Yemenis at the airport in the capital, Sanaa, on Wednesday before boarding commercial aircraft to leave the country following the closure of the U.S. embassy, the Pentagon said.
The Pentagon said the Marines destroyed heavy weapons in their embassy arsenal, including machine guns, before leaving for the airport but remained armed with smaller weapons until the end to ensure a safe exit from the country.
"The movement from the embassy to the aircraft required armed Marines," Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said at a briefing.
The U.S. embassy closure and the evacuation of embassy personnel came after the Houthi militia group - which overran Sanaa in September - formally took power last week. The Shi'ite Muslim group is stridently anti-American and is backed by Iran.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated that about 100 Marines made up the embassy contingent that left the country.
Asked whether the Marines turned over their weapons to Houthi fighters, Warren said: "It's unclear, frankly. We believe they turned them over to government officials at the airport, prior to boarding the aircraft."...
Frankly, just about everything about the current administration's foreign policy is unclear, except to terrorists around the world, of course. THEY have wasted no time taking full advantage of the hashtag diplomacy crowd.
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