The United States President Donald Trump and his administration believed that they could bomb the Houthi rebels into submission. Instead, the US is demonstrating to all countries in the region the limits of its naval and air power, according to Larry C. Johnson who is an American blogger, political commentator and former analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Johnson thinks that the truth of the matter is that old Uncle Sam has an impotence problem. Locating and destroying mobile missile platforms is a daunting task, especially in the rugged terrain of Yemen. He added “After seven weeks of bombing the Houthis, Uncle Sam’s carrier strike group has failed to quell the Houthis. Not that the US had a great reputation to begin with, but the bombing of civilian targets inside Yemen, which has produced scores of dead women and children, is only fueling greater hatred of the United States”.
Despite more than 600 bombing sorties, the Houthis continue to launch missiles and drones at US ships in the Red Sea and targets inside Israel. If Houthi reports are accurate, they have shot down one MQ-9 Reaper drone every week since the start — i.e., seven. With an average cost of $35 million per drone, that means the cost so far is $245 million.
Johnson concluded “Now, in the wake of the loss of another F/A-18 Hornet — this one fell off the carrier and sank into the Red Sea. It is not Iran’s fault that the crew on the US aircraft carrier failed to properly secure the jet and the tractor, which fell off the carrier during an emergency evasive maneuver. That was a $70 million oopsie.