How Will the Yemeni Civil
War End?
By Ron Paul
March 26, 2015 "ICH"
- The Civil War in Yemen is
rapidly expanding. We have been forced to
close our embassy and military base located
there. It is now clear that Obama’s optimism
for fighting terrorism in Yemen was
misplaced. It hardly sets a standard for
dealing with constant conflict and chaos
throughout the Middle East. It now looks
like the two major participants in this war
are Iran and Saudi Arabia. In this region
there has been competition between these two
nations for hundreds if not thousands of
years. The conflict ongoing in Yemen relates
to the age-old conflict between Shia and
Sunni Muslims. It also reflects the contest
over who will control the oil in this
region. Not only is there a conflict between
the Shia of Iran versus the Sunnis of Saudi
Arabia, there has been long-term animosity
between Arabs and Persians.
Now there are essentially
three factions fighting for the control of
Yemen. Our support for president Hadi has
failed and he is essentially out of power
although still involved in the conflict.
Former president Saleh, who remains a
powerful force in Yemen, is taking advantage
of the chaos in his desire to return to
power. So far the various factions that we
have supported over the years have been poor
choices, as usual. Today the, Houthis,
supported by Iran, seem to be the ones who
have gained the upper hand. However there’s
no sign that this civil war will soon end or
without major ramifications throughout the
Middle East and maybe even beyond.
This turn of events will
not make the neoconservatives happy, nor
will this go unnoticed by the Saudis. It
seems that al-Qaeda has gained the
grassroots support from a large number of
Yemeni citizens. Currently the chaos in the
three-way battle for control of Yemen will
guarantee that even though we have been
literally run out of Yemen, our interests
will remain. Being “allies” of sorts with
the Iranians in Iraq will not carry over to
the US sympathizing with the Iranian growing
influence in in Yemen.
The Iranian supported
rebels, who have gained the upper hand, have
been blessed with $500 million worth of
weaponry that we left behind in our rapid
retreat. This is obviously not a new
development considering the fact it’s
getting to be commonplace and happening
wherever we go. This is of course the very
same situation that occurred in Syria and
Iraq when the troops that we supported
dissipated once they encountered military
opposition. One thing is for certain: the
military-industrial complex will not suffer
and more weapons will flow into the region.
Hopefully someday our
government officials will wake up. The
counterinsurgency doctrine that was supposed
to be the answer to all our military
shortcomings is a total failure. This idea
that we can run an Empire with military
threats, missiles, and economic sanctions is
a fallacy. A goal of military intimidation
without the military troops necessary to
maintain control of country we occupy, never
works. The policy itself is foolish even if
we did send our troops, because we are seen
as the outsiders, coming from 6000 miles
away, getting involved in internal affairs
and civil strife and border disputes and
religious wars that is highly resented by
the citizens of the countries involved.
Though we have left Yemen,
to a large degree we will not go far. Our
CIA will remain. The drone missiles will
continue. Financing different factions will
probably accelerate. We can be certain that
our government, whether run by Republicans
or Democrats, will be prepared to use
military force once it’s decided it’s
necessary to restrain Iran and protect Saudi
oil.
