US Admits "Doing The Planning" For Saudi Strikes In Yemen

[Swordsmyth]

In a new meeting with reporters, Defense Secretary James Mattis has offered new details about US involvement in the Saudi invasion of Yemen, providing specifics about what the US is doing that contradict long-standing claims of a very limited, non-combat involvement.

Mattis now admits the US is “doing the planning” in Yemen strikes, and has shown the Saudis how the concept of a no-strike zone is supposed to work, and engaged in a maturing process of “battlefield management” intended to see Saudi strikes killing fewer civilians.
Mattis also tried to spin the already established US involvement in mid-air refueling as beneficial for civilians being bombed. He warned Saudi bombers would make “rash or hasty decisions” if they had to worry about running out of fuel before bombing a place, and might take less time to avoid hitting civilian targets.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-29/us-admits-doing-planning-saudi-strikes-yemen

 

[dean.engelhardt]

I wish people were half as concerned about Yemen as Syria.

 

[Jan2017]

In a new meeting with reporters, Defense Secretary James Mattis has offered new details about US involvement in the Saudi invasion of Yemen, . . .

Mattis : "We have the best budget predictability we've had in a dozen years, . . ."
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transc...bility-with-secretary-mattis-at-the-pentagon/

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U.S. Department of Defense

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Media Availability with Secretary Mattis at the Pentagon
Press Operations
Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis
March 27, 2018

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SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JAMES N. MATTIS: All right. First, I just -- I have not seen you since the time when we got our budget.

And I would just point out that, when we did the National Defense Strategy -- you'll remember there's three major lines of effort and this sort of thing -- and we turned out the Nuclear Posture Review pretty much in tandem with it -- there was a little bit of a gap as we put one through the approval process with the White House, then followed by the other -- and there were questions that -- would we -- would we get the dollars -- the money for it.

And I thought that we would, and now you see that we did. We have the best budget predictability we've had in a dozen years, with the two years of congressional intent. It was passed with bipartisan support, showing the defense of this country is a nonpartisan issue.

Republican and Democrat congressmen and senators, congresswomen, senators voted for it by a large number. It was not a close-run vote at all, which gives you an idea of the Congress's view, aligned now with the executive branch's view of the threats to this country and the circumstance of our military readiness, current and future.

 

[TheCount]

And also supplying the munitions, and conducting ground operations, and...