Yemen

It's not in the news very much, but did you know that the United States is fighting a war in Yemen? Well we are. We have been fighting there for almost two years in support of Saudi Arabia. We currently have a full carrier group stationed there providing tanker support to the Saudi air force, intelligence support, and logistical support.

Well, there must be some major threat that we are going after right? The war on terror and all that? Well... no. Not really. The war is a civil war between the Houthi's who are trying to reinstate Ali Abdullah Saleh who was deposed during the Arab Spring four years ago by Abed Mansour Hadi. The Saudis are trying to support Hadi and prevent the Houthis from taking back over. What is worse is that by supporting the Saudis fighting the Houthis we are actually fighting on the same side as Al Qaeda. To top it all off, the Saudis, who are managing the air campaign, seem to be relatively indiscriminately bombing military and civilian targets. Most recently bombing a funeral killing 140 people.

The Saudis are our allies, so it stands to reason that we would support them to some extent. We do sell them significant amounts of weapons and technology. But getting involved in a civil war is a bridge too far. Especially when it poses significantly more of a threat to American lives to be involved than to not.