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US troops in Yemen...

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The Lurker

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I don't see anybody here talking about this.

Pentagon admits presence of US troops in Yemen as cholera cases top one million - World Socialist Web Site

The Pentagon admitted for the first time this week that it has “conducted multiple ground operations” in Yemen, the impoverished and war-ravaged country on the Arabian Peninsula, while conducting more than 120 air strikes there this year, triple the number in 2016.

This revelation of an escalation on yet another front in the expanding US military intervention in the Middle East came as Yemen marked the 1,000th day of the war being waged by Saudi Arabia and its fellow Gulf oil sheikdoms against the poorest nation in the Middle East.
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There's also this interesting piece that really puts into perspective what's happening to this country.

Moon of Alabama

The Saudis claimed several times to have lifted the blockade to let aid come into the country. The U.S. claims to have increased its humanitarian aid to Yemen. But USAID, the government organization which distributes such supplies, says that this is not true. It has money to spend but no way to get any goods into the country and to the people in urgent need:

There are no signs that a blockade of Yemen’s ports by a Saudi-led military coalition has eased to allow aid to reach communities increasingly at risk of starvation, the head of the U.S. government’s aid agency said on Tuesday.
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I lay the blame on both the Obama administration and the Trump administration.
 
US military components can be found on six continents, the oceans, and various seas.

They're rarely far from foreign hot spots.
 
Barnacle said:
Trump is now also responsible for the Arab Spring?!? :lamo
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That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that he's continuing the policies of the Obama administration, particularly when it comes to the U.S. foreign policy. There is nothing that separates them.
 
American troops have been there for years. Whenever and wherever the Saudis want us, we go. We're their lapdogs.
 
PoS said:
American troops have been there for years. Whenever and wherever the Saudis want us, we go. We're their lapdogs.
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And Israel's, unfortunately...
 
The Lurker said:
That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that he's continuing the policies of the Obama administration, particularly when it comes to the U.S. foreign policy. There is nothing that separates them.
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I don't think so. Although it seems that for Trump's first year he concentrated on commerce for the US of A, he nevertheless started the Arabic re-alignment of power during his famous sword dance. Saudi Arabia is "cleaning" out ISIS-related closets in their neighboring countries, starting with Qatar after Trump's visit.

Yemen is still home to ISIS.
October 2017 - "As the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria comes to a close, U.S. military and counterterrorism officials are setting their sights on the group's growing presence in the war-torn country of Yemen."

Saudi Arabia will try to control supplies intended for civilians so they may not fall into the hands of the very people the US and Saudis are fighting.

How do you get help to civilians without being killed on the way to them?!? I would consider that to be a very difficult situation.
 
Barnacle said:
I don't think so. Although it seems that for Trump's first year he concentrated on commerce for the US of A, he nevertheless started the Arabic re-alignment of power during his famous sword dance. Saudi Arabia is "cleaning" out ISIS-related closets in their neighboring countries, starting with Qatar after Trump's visit.

Yemen is still home to ISIS.
October 2017 - "As the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria comes to a close, U.S. military and counterterrorism officials are setting their sights on the group's growing presence in the war-torn country of Yemen."

Saudi Arabia will try to control supplies intended for civilians so they may not fall into the hands of the very people the US and Saudis are fighting.

How do you get help to civilians without being killed on the way to them?!? I would consider that to be a very difficult situation.
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ISIS follows the command of the United States and is a force used to destabilize other countries. Don't forget that it was the U.S. that shipped ISIS commanders out of Syria when they were losing ground to the Syrian/Russian forces.

Read this if you have the time:

Mainstream Media Admits CIA Not Only Armed 'Moderate' Rebels It Paid them Monthly Salaries

ISIS' New Top Military Commander was Trained in U.S. by Blackwater & State Department

But that still doesn't answer the crux of the problem here which is that Trump's foreign policy is the same as Obama's foreign policy. We should be getting out of the Middle-East, not baby-sitting them.
 
The Lurker said:
I don't see anybody here talking about this.

Pentagon admits presence of US troops in Yemen as cholera cases top one million - World Socialist Web Site



There's also this interesting piece that really puts into perspective what's happening to this country.

Moon of Alabama




I lay the blame on both the Obama administration and the Trump administration.
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You do know that we lost a soldier there in combat in January? The Pentagon confirmed this. So the presence of US troops is not new.
 
joG said:
You do know that we lost a soldier there in combat in January?
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Yes, I know. Though I think this is the first time that the Pentagon has formally acknowledged the military's presence in Syria.
 
The Lurker said:
ISIS follows the command of the United States and is a force used to destabilize other countries. Don't forget that it was the U.S. that shipped ISIS commanders out of Syria when they were losing ground to the Syrian/Russian forces.

Read this if you have the time:

Mainstream Media Admits CIA Not Only Armed 'Moderate' Rebels It Paid them Monthly Salaries

ISIS' New Top Military Commander was Trained in U.S. by Blackwater & State Department

But that still doesn't answer the crux of the problem here which is that Trump's foreign policy is the same as Obama's foreign policy. We should be getting out of the Middle-East, not baby-sitting them.
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And I believe we will, just not right now.
Trump untied the hands of our military in the Middle East. Success after success has been reported this year.

You don't spike a bull unless you intend to kill him.
Obama gave our military lots of spikes to work with - but never the sword for the final kill.
 
Barnacle said:
And I believe we will, just not right now.
Trump untied the hands of our military in the Middle East. Success after success has been reported this year.

You don't spike a bull unless you intend to kill him.
Obama gave our military lots of spikes to work with - but never the sword for the final kill.
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ISIS was already dying in 2016 due to Iraq, Iran, Russia, and Syria. It was al-Assad who destroyed the last ISIS stronghold in Syria. Instead of risking troops' lives, we should be getting out of there. Unless Trump were really serious about ending our country's addiction to war, he would have pulled out of the Middle-East, not consider any moves against North Korea, and stop acting like Iran is a "top sponsor of terror," which they're not.

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/21/intel-vets-tell-trump-iran-is-not-top-terror-sponsor/

Instead, it's the same old, same old. Same thing we had under Obama and the same thing we had under Bush. Trump himself called the Iraq war a huge blunder yet a year later after his election, we as a nation are still kowtowing to Saudi Arabia and Israel.

I say, bring our troops home.
 
Barnacle said:
And I believe we will, just not right now.
Trump untied the hands of our military in the Middle East. Success after success has been reported this year.

You don't spike a bull unless you intend to kill him.
Obama gave our military lots of spikes to work with - but never the sword for the final kill.
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The reported raid in Yemen by US special forces killed women and children...It was hardly a "success"
 
The Lurker said:
ISIS was already dying in 2016 due to Iraq, Iran, Russia, and Syria. It was al-Assad who destroyed the last ISIS stronghold in Syria. Instead of risking troops' lives, we should be getting out of there. Unless Trump were really serious about ending our country's addiction to war, he would have pulled out of the Middle-East, not consider any moves against North Korea, and stop acting like Iran is a "top sponsor of terror," which they're not.

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/21/intel-vets-tell-trump-iran-is-not-top-terror-sponsor/

Instead, it's the same old, same old. Same thing we had under Obama and the same thing we had under Bush. Trump himself called the Iraq war a huge blunder yet a year later after his election, we as a nation are still kowtowing to Saudi Arabia and Israel.

I say, bring our troops home.
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Okay; I just realized that you're a little ignorant (not in a negative way, just matter of fact) in the Middle East and Asian department.

Have a nice day!
 
Barnacle said:
Okay; I just realized that you're a little ignorant (not in a negative way, just matter of fact) in the Middle East and Asian department.

Have a nice day!
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Have you read the article I gave you?

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/21/intel-vets-tell-trump-iran-is-not-top-terror-sponsor/

We find this uncomfortably familiar territory. Ten years ago former President George W. Bush was contemplating a war with Iran when, in November of 2007, intelligence analysts issued a formal National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) debunking the prevailing conventional wisdom; namely, that Iran was on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. The NIE concluded that Iran had stopped working on a nuclear weapon in 2003.

Recalling this moment in his memoir, Decision Points, President Bush noted that the NIE’s “eye-popping” intelligence findings stayed his hand. He added this rhetorical question: “How could I possibly explain using the military to destroy the nuclear facilities of a country the intelligence community said had no active nuclear weapons program?”
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Official pronouncements on critical national security matters need to be based on facts. Hyperbole in describing Iran’s terrorist activities can be counterproductive. For this reason, we call attention to Ambassador Nikki Haley’s recent statement that it is hard to find a “terrorist group in the Middle East that does not have Iran’s fingerprints all over it.” The truth is quite different. The majority of terrorist groups in the region are neither creatures nor puppets of Iran. ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra are three of the more prominent that come to mind.
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How am I a "little ignorant?" Not attacking you, just asking.
 
Read all of the article that I gave you. It goes into that mainstream media myth.

And even the American Conservative has talked at length that Iran is not a threat.

As for North Korea, experts will tell you that the North Korean leadership is sane and in charge of their faculties. Neither is Kim suicidal. North Korea is not a country that I would ever want to step foot in, but they aren't looking for a war.
 
You have to wonder what the US military is doing in Yemen?...Roaming around here and there , supporting this tribe against that tribe?...Are they proxy's for Saudi Arabia?...Is their presence necessary for the defense of America or just an unwanted incursion in another country in the Middle East?
 
The Lurker said:
Read all of the article that I gave you. It goes into that mainstream media myth.

And even the American Conservative has talked at length that Iran is not a threat.

As for North Korea, experts will tell you that the North Korean leadership is sane and in charge of their faculties. Neither is Kim suicidal. North Korea is not a country that I would ever want to step foot in, but they aren't looking for a war.
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Here's an article that further elaborates on North Korea:

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/12/north-koreas-understandable-fears-2/

However, for Kim to attack the U.S., he would have to be insane, paranoid, and suicidal. Top officials in the U.S. intelligence agencies say he is not. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats has said publicly that Kim is acting very rationally; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says that Kim is “not insane “; the CIA deputy director of the Korea Mission Center, Yong Suk Lee, says that Kim is not suicidal, either.

So we can rest fairly assured that Kim Jong Un is highly unlikely to wake up one morning and nuke America because he can. According to Yong, Kim “wants to rule for a long time and die peacefully in his own bed.”[CNN, October 6, 2017]. Everyone in the mainstream media knows this or should.

And, North Korea has long had more reasons to fear the U.S. than vice versa. North Korea is not an existential threat to the U.S. national security; but the opposite is not the case – and the U.S. government is not shy about reminding North Korea of that fact. The U.S. regularly practices nuclear attacks on North Korea by air, land and sea, which draw the predictable response from Kim.

Yet, North Korea has offered to stop testing nuclear bombs, if the U.S. would stop playing nuclear war games on its border [The Guardian]. The reality is that the U.S. has been threatening North Korea for over 70 years.
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While the U.S. mainstream media ponders how to get North Korea to sit down at the negotiating table, it is the U.S. that refuses to talk. North Korea has often offered to sign a permanent peace treaty and non-aggression agreement, but the U.S. has consistently rebuffed the offers. The State Department has repeatedly said in news conferences that it will not negotiate with North Korea unless North Korean officials meet unspecified preconditions first [U.S. Department of State]. What is puzzling is what the preconditions are, and how to get the U.S. to sit down at the table. Yet, the U.S. and its media constantly say it is North Korea that refuses to talk.
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Again, Trump shouldn't be making any moves against North Korea.
 
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The Lurker said:
I don't see anybody here talking about this.

Pentagon admits presence of US troops in Yemen as cholera cases top one million - World Socialist Web Site



There's also this interesting piece that really puts into perspective what's happening to this country.

Moon of Alabama




I lay the blame on both the Obama administration and the Trump administration.
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I'm not surprised we had or have troops in Yemen conduction operations. After all that is where the terrorist are. What does amaze me is the amount of people who think war is like a video game. It isn't. I would think by now one should know if we go to war or get involved in one, against terrorism even. It won't be pretty and at times innocents suffer. The only way to avoid innocents from suffering is not to go to war or not to become involved.

Then who knows, perhaps the innocents suffer more than if we hadn't went to war or become involved. There are always two or more factions fighting, whether we are part of those factions or not. Destruction, killing, and innocents getting caught up will always happen. Remember it was us, we, the good old USA who totally pulled out of Southeast Asia paving the way for the Cambodian killing fields where Pol Pot killed between 2-3 million of his own people. So who knows if our involvement saves or costs lives?

As for whom to blame, I would blame the terrorist. I wouldn't blame Obama or Trump. How about blaming the ones who started it all?
 
Perotista said:
I'm not surprised we had or have troops in Yemen conduction operations. After all that is where the terrorist are. What does amaze me is the amount of people who think war is like a video game. It isn't. I would think by now one should know if we go to war or get involved in one, against terrorism even. It won't be pretty and at times innocents suffer. The only way to avoid innocents from suffering is not to go to war or not to become involved.

Then who knows, perhaps the innocents suffer more than if we hadn't went to war or become involved. There are always two or more factions fighting, whether we are part of those factions or not. Destruction, killing, and innocents getting caught up will always happen. Remember it was us, we, the good old USA who totally pulled out of Southeast Asia paving the way for the Cambodian killing fields where Pol Pot killed between 2-3 million of his own people. So who knows if our involvement saves or costs lives?

As for whom to blame, I would blame the terrorist. I wouldn't blame Obama or Trump. How about blaming the ones who started it all?
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Thanks for the post, but I think that it ignores the fact that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are starving an entire population. That, and if the terrorists are "there," should we really care when they're not "here?"

Also, I once read in a textbook that the U.S. backed Pol Pot.
 
The Lurker said:
Thanks for the post, but I think that it ignores the fact that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are starving an entire population. That, and if the terrorists are "there," should we really care when they're not "here?"

Also, I once read in a textbook that the U.S. backed Pol Pot.
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From 1970-75 when Phnom Penh fell, we backed Lon Nol against Pol Pot. In April of 1975 was when Phnom Penh fell and Pol Pot and his killing fields began. I was stationed in Bangkok with JUSMAGTHAI at the time. I left in July of 1976 when the killing fields were at their height. Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge from 1975-78 constantly attacked Vietnamese towns and finally the Vietnamese had enough. They invaded Cambodia to put a stop to the constant KR attacks on their villages and towns. That invasion also put an end to the killing fields.

In my view, in one of the most shameful acts since we, the U.S. were still smarting over the loss of South Vietnam and we still considered the Vietnamese enemies, Carter authorized aid to Pol Pot and his KR troops to fight the Vietnamese. If it were me, I would have sent the Vietnamese a thank you note for putting an end to the killing fields. As someone who served for 10 years in southeast Asia, I am grateful for the Vietnamese invasion. So yes, beginning in 1979 we did back Pol Pot against the Vietnamese. Reagan continued that assistance. Sort of like our one time enemy became our friend when that one time enemy, the KR was fighting what we perceived a worst enemy. Although I think that perception was dead wrong.

for 10 years Vietnam ruled Cambodia, finally leaving in 1989 when a more or less coalition government was set up under Prince Sihanouk which included the KR. Pol Pot was never arrested or held accountable for his killing fields he caused which resulted between 2-3 million Cambodians to die. That out of a country at the time of 7 million people. Pol Pot as far as I know died of natural causes.

It's ironic that today, our two military's, the U.S. and the Vietnamese get along well. In fact the Vietnamese let us use Cam Ranh Bay for our ships. We also let the Vietnamese be an observer in our military exercises in Thailand known as Cobra Gold. It won't be long the Vietnamese will be a participant. We've come a long way.

Perhaps another strange twist is Vietnam is moving more and more towards Capitalism while we slowly drift toward socialism. By that I mean the Vietnamese are going with less and less government control over businesses and property ownership while we are doing the opposite with more control.

That's the short history.
 
PoS said:
American troops have been there for years. Whenever and wherever the Saudis want us, we go. We're their lapdogs.
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Money makes the world go-round.
 
The Lurker said:
I don't see anybody here talking about this.

Pentagon admits presence of US troops in Yemen as cholera cases top one million - World Socialist Web Site



There's also this interesting piece that really puts into perspective what's happening to this country.

Moon of Alabama




I lay the blame on both the Obama administration and the Trump administration.
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I lay the blame on the military industrial complex, which controls all administrations. POTUS is pretty much just a puppet.
 
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