For the past three years a lot of conservative-independents and libertarians, previously disenfranchised with the Republican party, have reluctantly defended the policies of President Donald Trump. I happen to be one of them.
Tax reform and deregulation of business made our economy skyrocket. Trump also made it easier for farmers to grow hemp. These policy positions were phenomenal for small business owners across America & it’s hard to get mad at Trump for his role in engaging these changes.
When it came to his current position on war, Trump was (I repeat, "Was") also very liberty-minded. He promised to get us out of Afghanistan and (eventually) decided not to go to war with Syria (although there were a couple of days when we thought it might happen).
If Hillary was President we'd be unlikely to enjoy any of these changes. She's a neo-con disguised as a liberal, he's a populist disguised a conservative. While I happen to describe myself with none of those titles, so far Trump has clearly been the better option for liberty lovers the nation over.
All that being said, yesterday Trump let the liberty-movement down when he signed the second veto of his presidency. This veto overturned a congressional resolution to end U.S. support for war in Yemen.
A lot of Americans may not even realize we're at war in Yemen. Heck, most probably couldn't locate Yemen on a map. You may not realize you’re in Yemen but your money goes there every day.
The House passed the bill earlier this month by a vote of 247-175, and the Senate in March by 54-46. The votes marked the first time both chambers of Congress agreed to use the war-powers resolution to withdraw our military from an overseas conflict.
So what does this veto mean? In short, it means the US will continue to participate in a futile regime change attempt at the expense of thousands of innocent lives and billions of American dollars. While it's hard to put an exact dollar amount on what we've spent funding our super-secret CIA missions in Yemen, we do know we've pissed away about $6 trillion in that region. We also know about 13,600 people have died in the Yemen war.
Yemen, by the way, is the poorest country in the Mideast. They have nothing of any value short of their limited access to crude oil which will be all dried up sooner than later; and while we're on the subject, most of the country is illiterate.
So why are we there?
Short answer: Saudi Arabia. Remember that country who killed Jamal Khashoogi? They keep paying us to help them conquer the region and so far it's pretty much been a futile effort.
If all of this talk of Yemen is new to you, you're not alone. Most Americans have been ignoring this war for years. Explaining every detail of the war in Yemen would be tedious and pointless because, more than anything else, we're just there to help the Saudis who bribed our politicians. Whether the Saudis conquer the region or hand it over to Iran, it will do little to affect America's economy, safety or everyday way of life. This statement speaks just as much truth now as it did during the Obama era. I wrote about it back in 2017 and you can get the synopsis here. Since then we've made no progress and very little has changed.
But to anyone who's still convinced the US is capable of helping execute a regime change in Yemen, let me ask you this: did it work when we tried it in North Korea, Vietnam, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, or Iran?
No, and it won't work in Yemen either.
Something happens when you go to DC. Non-interventionists get converted to interventionists faster than you can wrap a shrimp in bacon. Why?
I have a hypothesis about this. It’s relates to an individual’s need to feel like they are in control of something, and it’s enabled by the seductive power of the jet fighter. Remember Top Gun? Air power is awesome. We can blow stuff up without getting our hands dirty! Killing people from the air removes the stigma of killing someone face to face. No need to wipe the blood off. And, we don’t really have to do anything. All we have to do is train someone else to pilot the planes (or drones).
This sort of leadership option helps when a president has to deal with the pesky Congress. Some presidents bowled to let off steam, still others played golf, but every damn one of them in the modern age was quite happy to express power and authority by bombing the snot out of countries in places where we don't go on vacation.
And that’s why the war in Yemen sucks.
(The always brilliant Sandra Peterson contributed to this article - Follow here her.)
Huthi fighters sit outside a polling station in the capital Sanaa on April 13, 2019, during by-elections held by Huthi rebels to replace 24 'deputies' from their assembly after the deaths and defections of former elected officials. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP) (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images)