Yemen Coup the Latest Disaster Caused by Obama’s Short-Sighted Foreign Policy

What did the political transitions caused by the 2011 Arab Spring in Yemen, Egypt  and Libya have in common?  They were all supported by the Obama administration even though it had no strategy to address the consequences of the heads of state of these countries leaving power.

The Obama administration supported the removal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a longtime friend of the United States, and later supported his successor, Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohammed Morsi.  President Morsi was overthrown by the Egyptian military in July 2013 after he granted himself unlimited powers and due to constant protests that devastated the economy.  The Obama administration’s vacillating  policy toward Egypt since 2011 has weakened America’s close relationship with the Egyptian government and provided an opening for Russia.

The Obama administration also supported the removal of from power of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi who agreed to give up his weapons of mass destruction and allied with the United States.  Since Qadaffi was ousted and killed, Libya has descended into anarchy.  It no longer has a functioning national government and has been overrun by rogue militias – some associated with radical Islamists.

In 2012, Yemeni autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down and handed power to his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, as part of a political settlement negotiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council backed by the United States.  Although the United States embraced President Hadi and worked with him to target al-Qaeda in Yemen, Hadi had a tenuous hold on power since Saleh never left the political scene and used his influence with government ministries and the military to undermine Hadi.  He also has allied with Houthi militias facilitated their occupation of Sanaa, the capital.

The Houthis are Shiites from northern Yemen backed by Iran.  Thousands of Sunnis took to the streets in Sanaa over the weekend to protest the resignation of the Hadi government forced by the Houthis.  In the south of the country, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the secessionist Southern Movement reportedly are already exploiting the political chaos.

The chaos in Yemen is the latest example of the Obama administration’s reckless  support of the 2011 Arab Spring protests as a democratic revolution and the administration’s lack of a strategy to deal with the political instability caused by these protests.  The weakness of the Hadi government and political meddling by former President Saleh was well known.  The Obama administration did little to prop up the Hadi government other than vote for a UN Security Council resolution last September that condemned Saleh for helping the Houthis capture Sanaa.

Unfortunately, lack of foresight has been a common factor in almost all Obama administration’s foreign policy decisions and initiatives.  While the political deterioration in Yemen is the latest example of this, similar – and possibly worse – fiascos are on the horizon due to other short-sighted Obama foreign policy initiatives on the Iranian nuclear program and normalizing relations with Cuba.