Despite Pledges, US Sucked Deeper and Deeper Into Yemen

Several Hundred Advisers Replace 'No Boots on the Ground'

Repeated promises that the US would never have “boots on the ground” in Yemen have been broken, and as US drone strikes and US-backed invasions escalate the overall violence in the country, they find themselves pulled deeper and deeper into the conflict.

What was once a red-line against deploying troops has become a deployment of hundreds of special forces troops, nominally “trainers,” in a myriad of advisory positions, and pledges of ever growing support to the regime of new US-backed ruler Maj. Gen. Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Officials say they are escalating these sorts of operations as an alternative to a full-scale military invasion, yet they seem to be setting the stage for more violence, more anti-US sentiment, and more excuses for that invasion.

President Obama is said to be determined to “capitalize” on the single-candidate election that installed Hadi, but so far this has meant pushing Hadi into launching massive offensives that his military seems ill-prepared to follow through on, and which are dividing the nation all the more.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.