Decameron: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and King Belshaz’ar

The writing on the wall said "Mene Mene Tekel."  Unable to read it, King Belshaz'zar summoned Daniel who interpreted the words:  “God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”

Historian Mark Perry tells us in his recent article, "The Military Officials Who Knew Saudi Arabia Would Fail," in the American Conservative:

"While it seems axiomatic that most Americans suffer from historical amnesia, that’s not necessarily true for the U.S. military. And as America and Iran were sprinting towards a military confrontation last week, a recently retired senior U.S. military officer expounded on what he called `the bumbling, incompetent and feckless stupidity of it all.'

"The target of the officer’s ire was not Donald Trump (whom he admires) or Mike Pompeo (who he doesn’t), but Saudi Arabia’s March 2015 decision to go to war against the Iranian-allied Houthi tribal movement in Yemen —`which is,' he argues, `how all of this nonsense got started in the first place.'”

Perry's article is enlightening and important.

However, here at Colonel Lang's Committee of Correspondence, the early warning was immediately sounded, first in April 2015, re-published 2 September 2016, and republished again 30 August 2019.

So, read it again. The writing is on the wall. Col. Lang's original posting: 

IMO Saudi Arabia lacks the military capability to intervene successfully in Yemen.  This is equally true in what was North Yemen (YAR) and also in the former PDRY.  SA's armed forces were always built for show with a lot of expensive equipment that they were never capable of employing except at the elementary "stick and rudder" level of operations.  The maintenance contracts for all that equipment have always been impressive.   On the ground the Saudis possess a Wahhabi beduin manned force in the SANG that is designed to maintain population and territorial control and in its more modern parts to overawe the Twelver Shia majority population of the Eastern Province (where the oil and gas is located).  The rest of the Saudi Land Forces are pretty much a jobs program for poor people from the Asir and Najd regions.  In its warlike pronouncements thus far SA is mimicking the PR employed by he US, but such PR methods do not win wars against determined opponents.  Egypt is dragging its feet.  The coalition allies have contributed little except for the US.  pl

***********

"Ground troops would certainly face stiff resistance from the Houthi militiamen. Seasoned guerrilla fighters, they seized parts of southern Saudi Arabia during a brief war in 2009, killing over 100 Saudi troops.

Saudi Arabia has not ruled out a ground attack, but its allies appear wary of such a move. The kingdom has asked Pakistan to commit troops to the campaign, but that country is deeply divided over participating in an operation that could anger its own Shiite minority.

Though fraught with risk, continued airstrikes and a possible ground incursion may be the only choices that Saudi Arabia sees itself as having, said Imad Salamey, a Middle East expert at Lebanese American University. He said that officials in Riyadh probably are concerned that relenting could be perceived as weakness, especially by Iran."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-air-war-struggles-to-make-gains-as-yemen-fragments/2015/04/09/1a045766-ddf6-11e4-b6d7-b9bc8acf16f7_story.html

-----------------

IMO Saudi Arabia is headed for an embarrassing failure in Yemen, one that will reveal its true nature as a gang of nepotistic hedonists sitting on immense wealth.

What could be more tempting?  pl 

 

 

Comments

[CK]

Another instance of that "great military hero" McCain pushing for yet another losing war.
Why doth treason never prosper?
Because when it does, none dare call it treason.

[bwilli123]

Breaking news from Yemini Journalist Nasser Arrabyee (@narrabyee)
‏
3 Saudi brigades fell in hands of Yemen’s Houthi fighters in Najran south of Saudi Arabia.
Hundreds killed/injured and detained. A huge quantity of weapon including armored vehicles. Saudi senior officers among the war prisoners.

[Paul Bogle]

The Saudis are in quite a mess but the deployment of Iranian cruise missiles in Yemen places all of the kingdom's water supply at risk. The ability to take out the desalination plants that supply thirty eight million Saudis is like a knife to their throat.

[Linda]

Yes!

[Babak Makkinejad]

5 years of butchering defenseless people ended when Iran taught Yemenis how to fight. Western humanitarians were sanguine about it until the attack on that pumping station concentrated their minds, just like that proverbial death sentence

[Barbara Ann]

Rumors of an assassination attempt on MbS by his senior bodyguard in the Royal Palace:

Major General #Abdulaziz Al-Fagham the bodyguard of Salman bin Abdulaziz was killed after an attempt to assassinate the king inside his palace by a family member whose name has not yet been given to us.

From a machine translation of https://twitter.com/MohammedAWADDA/status/1178094760759844875

[Morongobill]

I doubt Iran can teach the Houthis much about fighting. Teach them about new equipment tech, yes.

Just my layman opinion.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Something changed, in weapons and in tactics.

[turcopolier]

Babak

"Experience in war is the best teacher." Clausewitz

[Babak Makkinejad]

No doubt.

[J]

Colonel,

A lot of speculation that MBS is trying to clean up loose ends of those who pose a threat to him by their knowledge of where all the skeletons were buried.

Shot dead under mysterious circumstances Abdulaziz al-Fagham whose mission was protection of the senior members of the royal family.

https://intelnews.org/2019/09/30/01-2639/