Smart power: US evacuating 100 commandos from Yemen air base after AQ captures nearby town

Hot Air ^ | March 21,2015 | ED MORRISSEY

[Hojczyk]

Remember when the Obama administration cited Yemen as a success story for its counterterrorism strategy? Let’s say that the situation has evolved since Josh Earnest bragged about the outcome of Barack Obama’s Arab Spring strategy of bolstering the local government they wanted after chasing out the previous regime.

Shi’ite Houthi terrorists have returned the favor by chasing the US out of its embassy in Sana’a, and now Sunni al-Qaeda terrorists have chased out 100 Special Ops forces from a Yemeni base after seizing a nearby town:

A day after suicide bombers attacked a pair of mosques in the Yemeni capital, the U.S. military decided to pull the remainder of its troops out of the rapidly fragmenting nation, CBS News confirmed Saturday.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the withdrawal of about 100 special operations troops would be completed within hours.

Martin reports that no direct threat prompted the decision. Instead, it was the overall deterioration of the country. NBC hears something a little different from its sources:

The U.S. commandos, including Green Berets and Navy Seals, have been training Yemeni military forces in counterterrorism operations, but the Americans have not been involved in direct ground combat maneuvers against militants.

The move comes as al Qaeda fighters captured the capital of a southern Yemen province late Friday, leading to the deaths of about 20 soldiers, Reuters reported. Earlier, four suicide bombers hit a pair of crowded mosques in the capital of Sanaa, killing at least 137 people and injuring more than 300 others, officials said. The US forces didn’t directly engage against AQ, but they ran the drone programs that the US uses to target its leaders:

[moehoward]

" Let’s say that the situation has evolved since Josh Earnest bragged about the outcome of Barack Obama’s Arab Spring strategy…"

[VideoDoctor]

It appears Obama has redefined the statement.. “these colors NEVER run”