President Obama was “not surprised” the Yemeni government fell into the hands of rebels backed by Iran, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said Sunday.
The senior Obama aide said the president has had concerns about the Middle Eastern country since the early days of his administration.
“Governance in Yemen has always been difficult,” McDonough said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
McDonough touted counterterrorism efforts in Yemen that he said were designed to keep Arabian Peninsula terrorists “off-kilter.”
“But the government fell,” host Bob Schieffer said. “I mean, the strategy obviously didn’t work.”
The president’s chief of staff continued to defend the policies that led to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Yemeni government this week.
“We were not surprised that this government collapsed,” McDonough said. “We knew this was an ongoing challenge over the course of the last several months.”
“We knew it was an ongoing challenge over the course of the last several months”. I thought you said it was a success. So were you lying when you said it was a success?
Let’s roll back the tape:
September 10, 2014 approximately 9:11 pm
“But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.”
This despite the fact that the Embassy had to be closed due to a credible threat and a kidnap attempt against two Embassy officers in May. Then on September 27, just over two weeks after Obama’s success comment, the U.S. Embassy compound in Sana’a, Yemen is hit by rocket fire by al Qaeda group, Ansar al Sharia, injuring at least two guards. Americans citizens were advised to leave and some non-essential peersonnel were evacuated from the Embassy. Despite the claim of responsibility by the al Qaeda group that they specifically targeted the Embassy, the Obama regime said there was “no indication that the Embassy was the target of the attack”.
In December, Al Qaeda executed U.S. hostage Luke Somers after a failed rescue attempt.
In January, AQAP claimed credit for the attacks in Paris on the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo. The Obama regime has failed to even acknowledge this claim of responsibility. The Kouachi brothers, who were involved in the attack, had trained with al Qaeda in Yemen and met with Anwar al-Awlaki, and reportedly received $20,000 to finance the attack.
In response, on January 15, the Obama regime released 5 Yemeni suspected al-Qaeda fighters from Gitmo.
On January 20, as the rebels were entering the presidential palace, shots were fired at an Embassy vehicle, fortunately nobody was hurt. Sen. Feinstein called to immediately evacuate the Embassy.
Yesterday, the Obama regime had to deny a report that counterrorism actions were suspended in the wake of the loss othe people who were assisting us in the Yemeni government.
But other than all that, things are going swimmingly in our fight against al Qaeda…