this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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The Houthis Won (zeteo.com)
submitted 4 weeks ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world
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Trump's announcement on Tuesday that the US would cease bombing the Houthis, not even two months after he foolishly escalated the cynical sea-and-air assault he inherited from the Biden administration, came as a surprise, particularly while Sanaa International Airport lay smoking on Monday from Israeli warplanes. But the year-long US campaign, from the start, lacked any theory of victory.

Any de-escalation in this frightening Middle Eastern moment is cause for relief, particularly as the Yemen Data Project claims US-led strikes last month alone killed 208 civilians, including 17 children, and wounded 366 more. The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, frustrated the Navy, rather than defeated it outright. And Trump can say whatever he likes to portray this as a victory. But the material realities in Yemen and the Red Sea, as well as both presidents' objectives for the air-sea campaign, make the US capitulation undeniable.

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 9 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (2 children)

the year-long US campaign, from the start, lacked any theory of victory.

It is so bonkers to me, as a civilian, that our government gets into these wars without any idea of what victory means, and so many Americans don't give a second thought to the prospect of a indefinite (ie, permanent) war. In the case of Yemen, they apparently didn't even plan the logistics well, given the stories about ammunition running low.

It's almost as if a drunk sailor was put in charge of this debacle.

Apart from just mercenary vengeance for the Israels and Saudi Arabia, what exactly was the point here?

[–] sxan@midwest.social 9 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

It's almost as if a drunk sailor was put in charge of this debacle.

Or... senile geriatrics?

[–] Zero22xx@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 weeks ago

Or a reality star and news reader. Even if they weren't both cooked in their heads, it's still a reality star running a country and a news reader running the military.