A “coup” is not a coup, an “evacuation” is not an evacuation. They believe they can get away with this stuff because they are virtually never called out by the media in this country. Yet, they can’t politically schmooze the rest of the world into believing them. That hasn’t been working so well.
Via Politico:
Just days after Yemen’s president visited the White House, his government and the U.S. are at odds over the U.S. decision to pull most diplomatic personnel from the Arab country amidst fears of an impending terrorist attack.
Yemen’s embassy in Washington said Tuesday that the move is counterproductive and advances the goals of militant groups.
“While the government of Yemen appreciates foreign governments’ concern for the safety of their citizens, the evacuation of embassy staff serves the interests of the extremists and undermines the exceptional cooperation between Yemen and the international alliance against terrorism,” Yemen’s embassy said.
State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki made clear Tuesday that the U.S. does not share that view.
“We would certainly disagree with that,” she said. “This decisions and the announcement this morning…is a response to an immediate, specific threat.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. announced that it was evacuating non-emergency personnel assigned to the U.S. embassy in Yemen. The United Kingdom said it had pulled out all diplomatic personnel. Both countries have closed their embassies in Sana’a for a least a week because of concerns that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was planning an attack.
Psaki insisted at a daily briefing Tuesday that the mandatory exit of the U.S. embassy staff was not an “evacuation.”
“It is inaccurate to call it an evacuation,” Psaki noted. “This is a reduciton in staffing. We still have a presence in Yemen. The U.S. government does. The State Fepartment does. We still will be able to provide some services.”