Is This Surrender?

Yesterday the news media reported that Iranian-backed Yemeni militia seized American weapons and U.S. vehicles as Americans were told by the State Department to pack up and leave. The American Embassy has shut down operations and is involved in full-scale evacuation of Americans in Yemen. U.S. Marines were ordered to hand over their weapons to Houthi gunmen at the airport.

Now that our service members and diplomats are being bullied and humiliated into leaving, American relations in the country of Yemen have taken on the look of American surrender. Is this what is in store for our efforts in the Middle East? Wasn't Yemen supposed to be Obama's bastion of success?

Today a corrected statement was issued by the Marine Corps that none of our weapons left behind in Yemen have been handed over to the Houthi or taken by them. Believe what you want -- but why are we trusting an unstable new government in Yemen to honor its word?

Back to the "Wild West" of Terrorism

According to news sources, five Yemeni terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay have been released – four of them to the country of Oman – which is, incidentally, next to Yemen.  Why would the Obama Administration release known terror suspects to a vicinity so close to where their terrorist activity originated? In President Obama’s latest push to close Guantanamo Bay, the release of these latest five terrorist suspects brings the detention center’s number down to 122.

In December of 2014, the Obama Administration released for resettlement five other prisoners to the nation of Kazakhstan, which – by the way – is the country that produced the child executioner who was posted in yesterday’s article. Clearly, terrorism is alive and well in Kazakhstan.

Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, who referred to Yemen as the “Wild West” for terrorists, warned of fresh terrorist threats yesterday during a news conference when she said,

"Now is not the time to be emptying Guantanamo."

In spite of repeated warnings to keep terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, opinions on closing the prison have changed little since 2009 with 66 percent of Americans polled by Gallup indicating that they are against Guantanamo’s closure. Nevertheless, the President of the United States continues to thwart the will of the people with his Lone Ranger governing tactics.

Resources:

1.  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/15/us-announces-release-5-gitmo-detainees/

2.  http://www.gallup.com/poll/171653/americans-continue-oppose-closing-guantanamo-bay.aspx