The U.S. Evacuation Of Its Nationals From Yemen Has Been A Disaster

Weekly Standard: If This Is What Success Looks Like, Just Imagine Failure



The Obama administration once pointed to Yemen as the proof that the application of what it calls “smart power” works. Today, from John Zarocostas, writing for McClatchy, we learn that:



American citizens escaping Yemen, including small children and some frail elderly, are arriving exhausted in Djibouti after harrowing journeys from the besieged country …



The U.S. ambassador:



… Tom Kelly, said hundreds of Americans have arrived in Djibouti in recent days aboard foreign ships and aircraft after journeys that for some included hundreds of miles of dangerous land travel from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, to the ports of Hodeidah and Aden.



With:



... some would-be evacuees ... left behind at the port of Aden because they had been unable to climb up rope ladders to board an Indian navy frigate from smaller boats that had ferried them to the larger ship, which had been unable to dock because of fighting in the city.



The Americans who fled Yemen were on their own after the Obama administration decided it wouldn’t be smart “to organize a rescue mission for the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 U.S. citizens in Yemen.”



WNU Editor: There are still 3 to 4 thousand Americans trapped in Yemen, and if it was any other administration, the U.S. press would have been on this story 24/7. And the weird part of this story is that many Americans have been rescued from other countries, Russia included . And while it is hard to be sympathetic to people who decided to stay even though they were repeatedly warn that it was dangerous .... the U.S. government still has an obligation to try its best to bring them back home.