President Joe Biden's belated but reluctant attack on Yemen's Houthis on Thursday marks a failure of his policy to appease the Iranian-backed terrorist group, which President Donald Trump has largely suppressed. tacitly acknowledged.
Under the Trump administration, the United States sold weapons to Saudi Arabia, launched terrorist attacks against Saudi industry, and helped Saudi Arabia fight the Houthis, who threatened global shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. did.
The Democratic Party, whose hatred of President Trump spilled over into its foreign policy, became aware of the poor human rights situation in Saudi Arabia and demanded that the United States abolish its weapons. They were supported by a small group of anti-war, isolationist Republicans.
But President Trump vetoed a congressional effort to “stop the war” in Yemen, started by Iran rather than Saudi Arabia, and declared the Houthis a terrorist organization.
Biden reversed course when he took office, promising to end the war through diplomacy.
Flashback: February 4, 2021: President Biden announces halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia for the war against the Houthis, saying it will “end the war in Yemen.” pic.twitter.com/RV0W91eU8x
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) January 11, 2024
The Biden administration's excuse was that it could not distribute humanitarian aid to Yemen if the Houthis were labeled terrorists. The Houthis seemed uninterested in that explanation and continued to carry out ambitious terrorist attacks in the region.
Biden also appeared unconcerned that Iran, through the Houthis, could gain control of one of the most important chokepoints in global trade, across the Strait from the U.S. Navy in Djibouti.
Then, on October 7, when Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, the Houthis joined the fight, even though they were on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from Israel. They launched long-range ballistic missiles provided by Iran and began attacking international shipping, launching missiles, and seizing ships.
The Pentagon, along with a coalition of other countries, announced Operation Prosperity Guardian. However, this union was so weak that one European country seceded and some Arab states were unwilling to acknowledge their membership.
All the US did was shoot down a drone and sink a pirate ship. The Houthis were not directly pursued until the Biden administration finally took action following the scandal of the disappearance of the defense secretary and humiliation on the world stage.
Biden has come full circle. He did not “end the war in Yemen” which now threatens the whole world.
Under the Trump administration, the war was fought by the Saudi side. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. military is fighting.
Appeasement has failed. Peace through force worked.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. He published his 2021 e-book “The Zionist conspiracy (and how to join it)' has been updated and a new preface has been added. He is also the author of a recently published e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
