As Americans swarmed theatres on Friday, setting record-breaking sales to watch Captain America; Civil War, without warning or fanfare – much less, debate – the Pentagon announced ground troops have already been deployed in Yemen, ostensibly to reinforce the ongoing battle against al-Qaeda in the war-ravaged country. In fact, as typical for modern undeclared ‘warfare,’ Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said Friday that to back Saudi and Emirati forces, U. S. troops have been on the ground for two weeks now.
‘We view this short term,’ the Washington Post said Davis told reporters.
According to the Wall Street Journal, officials claimed ‘about a dozen or so’ special operations forces had been deployed over the two-week period to assist the United Arab Emirates fighting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and had helped Saudi forces reclaim the port city of Mukalla.
‘This is specifically about routing AQAP from Mukalla, and that has largely occurred, Davis said, noting that the mission isn’t one of ‘advise and assist,’ but would instead ‘fall into the category of intelligence support.’
AQAP, Davis insisted from the Pentagon, ‘remains a significant security threat to the United States and to our regional partners, and we welcome this effort to specifically remove AQAP from Mukalla and to degrade, disrupt and destroy AQAP in Yemen.’
This post was published at David Stockmans Contra Corner on May 9, 2016.
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