The final collapse of Yemen’s pro-American government at the hands of Iranian-backed rebels chanting “Death to America” marks another major failure of the Obama administration’s antiterrorism policy.

The extent of this failure was highlighted by the disorderly evacuation that civilian and military staff were forced to make from the American embassy in Sana’a. Despite reassurances from the State Department that it was all planned in advance, embassy staff appear to have fled in fear and without much notice. They destroyed classified documents and caught a civilian flight out of a country that once welcomed our military aircraft. The Marines on site took the last-ditch measure of destroying weapons so they wouldn’t become useful to the enemy. Vehicles were left behind unguarded, which the Houthi rebels proceeded to expropriate.