President Trump’s Tuesday night veto of a joint resolution pulling U.S. military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen may not have been a surprise, but the decision doesn’t make it any less disappointing. Trump had the opportunity to become the first president in U.S. history to sign a War Powers Resolution withdrawing the United States from an unauthorized overseas conflict — the sort of groundbreaking moment that would have appealed to his ego and sense of place in history.
Instead, Trump did the easy thing: He threw in his chips with the Saudis yet again, despite the colossal failure Riyadh’s quagmire in Yemen has become. Trump in effect transformed himself into a battering ram for the Saudis, laying on the tracks in order to stop a bipartisan bullet train advocating for a U.S. withdrawal from reaching the station.
This, of course, is not all about Trump, but rather what Trump’s veto represents. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates already believe they have the United States over a barrel and hold most of the leverage in their relationship with Washington. Saudi and Emirati officials look at what’s going on in Washington and see an administration, and a Congress, deep into a maximum pressure campaign against Iran that relies in large part on cooperation from the Gulf states. They have used the situation to their advantage as any clever state would, cooperating with the sanctions regime, buying American-made weapons, pumping oil at consistent rates, and building up goodwill in the process. It should be noted that U.S. participation in Yemen’s civil war was started by former President Barack Obama, who thought throwing Riyadh a bone would alleviate some of the Saudi anger over Washington’s nuclear talks with Iran. Riyadh gladly played along.
The most elementary questions, however, were either skirted or not asked. Is Saudi Arabia’s war against the Houthis in Yemen a war the U.S. should even be involved with? Are the Houthis direct threats to U.S. national security? How would supporting the Saudi and UAE in their air campaign affect the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula? Will the carnage and vacuum of authority increase — and if so, will the anarchy provide al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with more space to expand and more time to ingratiate itself into local communities? Is Saudi Arabia’s war America’s war? And is any of this legal or constitutional without Congress weighing in and signing off?
Four years removed, Yemen is a pit of misery with poverty, starvation, cholera, death, broken glass, rubble, tears, and extremism sweeping the land. The U.S. has contributed to this awful situation by refueling Saudi aircraft up until last fall, selling munitions to the Royal Saudi Air Force, giving Riyadh the benefit of the doubt, and refusing to hold it accountable when the same mistakes are made over and over again.
Trump could have issued a much overdue correction by fully removing the U.S. from a conflict it had no business being involved with from the beginning. This is a man, after all, who campaigned on extricating the U.S. from endless wars with no strategic purpose. Signing the War Powers Resolution Tuesday would have been a win-win-win situation: a win for the president, for the country, and for the Yemeni people.
He chose a different route. The veto is one more error in judgment for a foreign policy establishment in Washington that can’t seem to kick its addiction to meaningless foreign misadventures.
Daniel DePetris (@DanDePetris) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. His opinions are his own.
