Speaking on Newsmax TV’s “The Record” on Friday, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark (retired) said the Biden administration is “micromanaging at the political level” when it comes to the fight against the Houthis, and that this micromanaging, pinpoint strategy is “similar to the strategy that hurt us in Vietnam under the Johnson and Kennedy administrations.”[s].”
Host Tom Basil said: [about] In the face of the Houthi attacks, I keep thinking Gulliver being plagued by these little people: Why don’t we eliminate these people, why doesn’t Israel do so, or why don’t we work with them to do so as they continue to attack Israeli land targets and demonstrate their power?”
Clark responded, “I agree with the frustration. First of all, it’s a very tough area. The Egyptian military actually fought there in the 1960s, but they haven’t had much success in north Yemen. It’s mountainous, it’s a tough area, and it’s bigger than it looks on the map. But the real problem is that we didn’t give them a mission. As far as I know, all we did was tell them to go out there and say, if they try to attack the ship, you can protect the ship, and when we come back to Washington, we might approve one or two ground attacks.”
Clark added, “They should have issued a mission order to the United States Navy Command, to the 5th Fleet, and said, ‘I want you to defeat this threat.’ Tell us what it takes, what it will cost, what the risks are, contact us, and we will make the decision.” Instead, we are micromanaging at the political level. As long as I’ve been in national security, this is the most persistent failure of the White House. It was a casualty in Vietnam under Johnson and Kennedy.[s]Many of the Harvard intellectuals thought they knew exactly what to do to the North Vietnamese: bomb them here, bomb them there, show them, stick a pin in them, and hope they got the message. They never got the message. And… [are] There are only two ways to deal with this type of conflict: either gain the advantage through escalation and convince the other side that they will suffer great losses if they do not give up now, or physically eliminate the threat with overwhelming or decisive force.”
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