Re: This Post Is Not About Yemen Posted by Michael Cohen

I can't tell below if Pat Barry is being provocative or if he's just mischaracterizing my words. He claims that I grievously attacked Exum and Fontaine for the "audacious suggestion that the U.S. could “attempt to mitigate the worst of the coming challenges that will plague Yemen,” by 'combin[ing] security assistance with mediation efforts, development, regional engagement and an effective communications approach'  Some people might look at that and conclude it was a prudent set of suggestions."

Huh? That is some selective reading right there. What I did in fact suggest was that:

• Ex and Fontaine were biting off a bit more than the US could chew with the suggestion that "The goal of U.S. foreign policy toward Yemen should be for the country to emerge as a stable, functioning state, one that presents no sanctuary for transnational terrorist groups."  
• The notion we should devote more resources to Yemen was a knee jerk reaction and was not taking into full account whether such a move would backfire against US interests - particularly since Yemen is not exactly a Jeffersonian democracy and their current president is not exactly George Washington
• Perhaps our response to a failed terrorist attack by a lone individual should be focused less on Yemen and more on US homeland security and better inter-agency intelligence sharing  
• Maybe America's reaction to every international incident should not be how can the US become more involved in places where we have marginal interests. Or perhaps we should assess our interests - and capabilities - in a more comprehensive manner before jumping in feet first.

Now Pat argues that this reflects a "growing frustration among progressives with the way in which the fear of a terrorist attack has lowered the threshold for determining when America should act abroad." But he is looking at this too narrowly. 

The threshold is low no matter what the incident. Consider Russia's invasion of George last summer as great example of this phenomenon or even the response to pro-democracy demonstrations in Iran this past summer (where somehow the muted US response stifled the hope of pro-democracy forces. Please!) 

Or we tend to take credit for things because we imagine a world where all governments make decisions based on what America does. Libya giving up its nuclear weapons program (because of the war in Iraq); or the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon (because George W Bush talked about democracy in his inaugural speech). Even in Iraq we seem to believe that the dip in civilian casualties was all because of the US military and had nothing to do with the Iraqis themselves.

The fixation on Yemen is yet another example of our policymakers - and their cheerleaders - believing that there are no limitations on US interests and power; that through US engagement we can solve every problem and that every minor threat of challenge to American power is a major problem. These are the false and dangerous notions that we need to get beyond.

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