January 24, 2015

"Even by the standards of Yemen, where violence, uncertainty and a weak central government are endemic, the power vacuum has produced a serious crisis..."

"...  that threatens to tear the country apart, allow a resurgent Qaeda room to expand and accelerate a sectarian conflict between the Houthis, who are a Shiite sect, and Sunni tribes and militants."
It also may undermine the United States’ antiterrorism operations in the region, since the ousted president was an ally of Washington.

Still, the mood here remained calm, almost festive at times, as hundreds of Houthi supporters — bitter opponents of Al Qaeda — gathered in the district of Al Juras, their main stronghold in the capital, to condemn the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were published in the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. It was the local Qaeda franchise that claimed credit for planning the attacks at the newspaper and a kosher market that left 17 dead in Paris this month.

“God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews, victory to Islam," scattered groups chanted as they strolled back to their cars.
It's only Yemen. Are you paying attention to what is arguably — as opposed to 11 deflated footballs — the most important news story of the week?

86 comments:

bleh said...

How is a weak central government "endemic"?

traditionalguy said...

I say we send Bill Bellichek over there to out strategerise these crazy Muslims...I mean youths looking for kicks.

SteveR said...

I am paying attention, I had thought this was a "success" story but Oh Well. Seems like a good place for the long overdue Sunni-Shia death match.

YoungHegelian said...

I remember watching the news after the Iraqi Army had melted away after the American invasion of Iraq. The reporter was with some Kurdish Peshmerga troops who had fought for the Americans. One of the Kurds turned to the camera as he was leaving and said what were probably the only words of English he knew: "Arabs, no good!".

That young Kurdish man could scarcely imagine how prophetic his words would turn out to be.

rhhardin said...

According to Derbyshire, Yemen has no economy and is running out of food and water, and now has a coup.

Both Muslim factions have armies.

Original Mike said...

Heck of a job, Barry!

But don't worry. The media's got your back.

CWJ said...

This is potentially a huge multidimensional story, and the US anti terror "effort" is perhaps the least of it.

OTOH, 11 underinflated footballs is pretty cool too.

They can both coexist.

jr565 said...

this is what happens every time there is apower vacuum. people move in to fill it. And the more brutal the likelier they'll assume control. Also the more brutal the more likely they are to be our enemies, especially in the ME.

Wince said...

I wonder what kind of erotic furniture Valerie Jarrett will have when she's correnated queen of Greater Persia?

David said...

The headline in our local paper was that a state park nature center had two new baby gators in its exhibit. Yemen (and Gov. Haley's comprehensive proposal to increase the gasoline tax, reduce the income tax, fund badly needed road improvements and reform the incompetent Department of Transportation) were buried somewhere next to the egg salad recipes.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

A little qat, a little "Death to America", festive as all get out.

Fandor said...

The main stream media is ALWAYS going to divert attention away from Obama failures.

Remember,

He's "the One"
He's "FDR"
He's "Lincoln"
He's "JFK"
He's "bored" because he's too smart for the job of president.
The Republicans won't meet him halfway!
It's Bush's fault!
He has a phone and a pen.

He's the top!

Always remember these things, all you "great unwashed" out there.

bbkingfish said...

"“God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews, victory to Islam," scattered groups chanted as they strolled back to their cars."

This is how the opponents of al Qaeda feel about the U.S.?

"It also may undermine the United States’ antiterrorism operations in the region, since the ousted president was an ally of Washington."

I guess the guy we were supporting must have been the pro-al Qaeda guy.

It's a shame we were in such a hurry to kill Saddam Hussein. He might have been able to help us restore some order to the region.

It's a shame the American people took leave of their senses and elected Bush/Cheney in 2000. Regency was inappropriate for the U.S. Especially after it became clear that Cheney was a lunatic. The American people will keep paying for the neocons arrogant blundering until we get all the oil out of the ground in that part of the world.

Bob Boyd said...

2015 is shaping up to surpass 2014 as the warmest year on record for the Presidents face and ears.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Gov. Haley's comprehensive proposal to increase the gasoline tax

Wasn't it just the other day that I was assailed by posters complaining that the Dems don't care about the cost of gas for working people.


hombre said...

Young Hegelian (11:49): "'Arabs no good.'"

Gen. 16:12: "He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

Even pre-Muhammad!

Humperdink said...

Another "Mission Accomplished" moment for Barry. He seems to have a way of rolling them up.

George M. Spencer said...

All hail, King Qat!

"Khat is so popular in Yemen, its cultivation consumes much of the country's agricultural resources. An estimated 40% of the country's water supply goes towards irrigating it,[13] with production increasing by about 10% to 15% every year. One "daily bag" of khat requires an estimated 500 litres (130 US gal) of water to produce.[14] Water consumption is so high, groundwater levels in the Sanaa basin are diminishing, so government officials have proposed relocating large portions of the population of Sana'a to the coast of the Red Sea."

The typical Yemeni family spends 17 percent of its income on qat.

Good luck with your new allies, Iran!

(Wikipedia)

Michael K said...

"posters complaining that the Dems don't care about the cost of gas for working people. "

No, no. They care, They want it at 9 dollars a gallon.

We will be lucky to survive Obama. My hope is that Smith was right when he wrote: "“There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.”

richard mcenroe said...

Breaking News: Yemenis accused of deflating Tom Brady's footballs! Obama sends the Marines! Film at eleven!

richard mcenroe said...

St. George..so "Yemen" is Arabic for "Colorado"?

hombre said...

bbkingfish (12:14): "The American people will keep paying for the neocons arrogant blundering until we get all the oil out of the ground in that part of the world."

Cliche much, nimrod?

madAsHell said...

Ally??

You mean some guy that accepted greenbacks while providing intel that will require verification.

Where, oh, where will we find another one of those??

Skipper said...

If I weren't more cynical, I'd think the deflategate "scandal" was cooked up to divert attention, once again, from the real issues.

Anthony said...

It makes Obama look bad so of course they're ignoring it.

Michael K said...

"It's a shame the American people took leave of their senses and elected Bush/Cheney in 2000. "

Wow ! Somewhere a village is missing its idiot.

Al Gore would still be trying to deliver an arrest warrant to the Taliban. I disagree with nation building in Afghanistan but Iraq was worth a try after Saddam.

Marc in Eugene said...

Which countries admit people with Yemeni passports? If any do, why?

Perhaps after Mr Obama makes his obeisance to King Salman, he can make another detour and fly to Sana'a to calm the waters.

traditionalguy said...

Another plan that could work is sending Patriot Alex Rodriguez there as our Ambassador, and when they come to kill him there is a big surprise as he kills them first.

PB said...

That means Saudi Arabia is next to fall followed by Jordan.

Good job Obama!

Hagar said...

If it is just a tribal coup, it may not meant that much, exceot that Yemen remains a disaster area in a critical location.

If it indeed is a coup organized by Iran, that is a big deal.

If it is the Shia of Yemen getting together with al Qaeda, that could turn out be a very big deal, if that idea catches on.

And our fearless leaders apparently do not know any more about it than you and I do, and that is also a BFD.

PB said...

Obama just doesn't give a damn.

PB said...

Obama will hear about it when he reads it in the NY Times.

PB said...

Major media finds this as newsworthy as the escalating war in Ukraine.

Big Mike said...

Are you paying attention to what is arguably — as opposed to 11 deflated footballs — the most important news story of the week?

Yes, actually. This is very bad, and if the situation in Yemen is the logical outcome of Obama's policy towards the Arabs then the US will need decades to fix the mess he left behind.

My sons are going to grow up in very dangerous world because of Barack Obama and the Democrats.

Jupiter said...

"Are you paying attention to what is arguably — as opposed to 11 deflated footballs — the most important news story of the week?"

The most important news story of this century was the Muslim attack on the US on September 11th, 2001. Nothing that has happened since then makes a whole lot of difference. And it appears that it will require something more - a lot more - than the death of 3000 Americans and the destruction of billions of dollars of American property, to convince Americans that we do not have any "allies" in the Muslim world.

So, no, I'm not paying attention to what the fucking savages are up to this week. Same as last week, and next week. Only the victims change. Let me know when civilization decides to do something about it.

Scott said...

The United States needs to not have boots on the ground in Africa. These squalid little countries should be left alone to degenerate into stable socialist or Islamist thugocracies.

walter said...

Turning the page. Now back to free stuff!

William said...

Obama has the reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to shit. But maybe it's not him. Everything Bush touched turned to shit. There's something about that part of the world. It's a giant reverse sewage treatment plant.......That's the good thing about the Super Bowl. Someone will win, and someone will lose. In the Middle East everyone loses......,.I think Brady has now put his reputation in the hands of a ball boy. I hope Brady is giving him more than the National Enquirer would be willing to pay for the straight scoop......It's like having an underaged sex slave. It's all very well to staff your mansion with underaged sexual slaves, but at some point they will come of age and sell their story to the National Enquirer......Brady didn't look anywhere near as credible as Lance Armstrong. There's a guy who could really sell a story.

paminwi said...

The smartest guy ever isn't as smart as he thinks he is!!

Just think of how much else can happen in 2 years.
Very scary for all of us with Obama in charge!

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/01/22/smartest-guy-ever-president-isnt-quite-smart-thinks/

Paul said...

Just what makes that little ISIS ant
Think he'll move that Obamatree plant
Anyone knows ISIS, can't
Move a Obamatree plant

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your gettin' low
'Stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ISIS ant

Ops there goes another Obamatree plant

Ops there goes another Obamatree plant

Ops there goes another Obamatree plant

Apropos to Frank Sinatra and 'High Hopes'

tds said...

I bet the insurgents will kill all the salmons moved with great effort from Scotland

Paul said...

Scott said...

The United States needs to not have boots on the ground in Africa. These squalid little countries should be left alone to degenerate into stable socialist or Islamist thugocracies.

And unite to try to kill the rest of the world, right?

You don't wait for a plague to infect your body. Kill it early.

Michael K said...

"Everything Bush touched turned to shit. There's something about that part of the world. It's a giant reverse sewage treatment plant...."

The middle east is indeed a pit, with the notable exception of Israel which seems to be a problem for the US and European elites, but people who complain about Bush and Iraq never seem to acknowledge what the situation was in 2002 and 2003 there.

As someone might say in a bridge game, "let's review the bidding."

Most of it began with Jimmy Carter abandoning the Shah in 1979. As one Iranian general said, "He threw him out like a dead mouse."

Now, there is a fair argument that begins in 1914, a year that ended the The Congress of Vienna world that had existed 100 years.

Now we have another 100 years.

n.n said...

Arabs don't prosecute violence in privacy. That's actually one of their redeeming qualities. Everyone knows what they are doing and its consequences, that exposes their morality or religion to public scrutiny.

Scott said...

Were it not for the Atlantic Ocean, the argument that we had to preemptively deal with Islamic fascism in Africa might be a little persuasive.

But the ocean is there, and the reason for us being in Africa is absent. Nation building is an expensive and deadly fantasy. Adventurism just makes arms dealers rich; which is exactly why we're there. We need a president and a congress that is strong enough to stand up to the military industrial complex and shut it down.

traditionalguy said...

Obama's Muslim chaosistan is just a distraction until the nukes start hitting Tel Aviv, Paris, and NYC. Than the Iranians will be dealth with firmly and fairly in a court of law.

Obama's goal is to disable the USA's military power and energy delivery so that we cannot interfere with Jew extermination.

Obama is like the Mighty Eighth Airforce doing to the USA what we did to the German war machine.

Michael K said...

"Adventurism just makes arms dealers rich; which is exactly why we're there."

So, it's Daddy Warbucks, eh ?

Good to know.

Chef Mojo said...

Althouse, Michael Ramirez is way ahead of you.

And it's not just Yemen.

ken in tx said...

South Carolina has the lowest gas taxes of the surrounding states. They could raise them slightly and still be lower than North Carolina and Georgia. However South Carolina's roads are not as bad as people in South Carolina think. They just haven't driven in Western North Carolina which has the highest gas taxes and the sorriest roads around.

PB said...

"Were it not for the Atlantic Ocean..." We don't live in a world of 4 masted tall ships anymore. We've got an open border and plenty of opportunity for movement of undesirable actors.

Chef Mojo said...

Were it not for the Atlantic Ocean, the argument that we had to preemptively deal with Islamic fascism in Africa might be a little persuasive.

Only someone completely clueless as to the mercantile origins of Colonial North America and the United States, and the nature of regional and global sea power through the ages could make such a statement of astounding ignorance.

Oceans are not barriers to the expansion of power, ideas, disease, religion, etc. Rather, they facilitate these things because of man's genius at mastering the seas.

For those very reasons, it becomes imperative to use that "distance" to deal with Islamofascism on its turf instead of on ours.

FleetUSA said...

Does BHO and Kerry understand dominoes? It isn't a pizza joint in Chicago. You can't send in a singer or the clowns.

Anonymous said...

bbkingfish's comments are a reminder that there is still no cure for Alzheimers.
Oh the humanity.

Michael said...

Yemen, yes, but The Boko boys down in dark Africa are being ignored bigger time still. Couple of thousand brown people killed the other day by the Boko gang and here we have cricket sounds. Silence.

How is that you and I know about this just as we knew about Rwanda a few years back but the Govt. Is somehow not clued in. Could it be that the dark people of darkest Africa have lives that don't matter? Isn't there a sign or a hash tag about that?

Hagar said...

Did you see the aerial photos of the new Iranian ICBM sites on TV yesterday?

Sebastian said...

But Barry told us, “This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out [the Islamic State] wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.” So this is what success looks like in the age of Obama.

“God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews, victory to Islam," scattered groups chanted as they strolled back to their cars." Not Muslims, clearly; has nothing to do with Islam.

Anonymous said...

We will need a strong Republican President to clean up this mess once King Putt is out of office.

Of course, the Democrats will back the President in helping to clean up the mess. Until the next election anyway, and the press has put code pink and Cindy Sheehan on the news every night. And Michael Moore has made a couple of movies showing how war is bad bad bad. And Hollywood recruits the newest good looking actors to pretend to be soldiers who fight a terrible,losing war.

Then we Americans, with incredibly short memories, will elect someone even worse than Obama.

And the cycle will accelerate. Until oblivion.

There is only one answer in all of this and its found in the Song of Solomon. Fear God and obey His commandments.

Because, this isn't going to end well, for any of us.


Homosexuals, feminists and atheists should party hard now. They don't realize how good they have it in today's America.

They'll learn about hindsight soon enough.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

FleetUSA said...
Does BHO and Kerry understand dominoes?


Have you been asleep for the last 50 years? Vietnam was not a domino. It was a country with a long and involved history. Part of that history involved a long standing distrust/hatred of China. Not a domino.

Hagar said...

???
It is true that the Chinese are not particularly popular in the other countries in southeast Asia, and in fact have often been subject to pogroms, but China was already long gone.
The "dominoes" were these other smaller countries and reaching up to Indonesia, which is not at all a "small country."

Come to think of it, Indonesia is the most populous Moslem country by far, and yet does not seem to be much involved with the troubles in the Moslem countries to the west of it.

Jason said...

The pre-1974 governments of Cambodia and Laos, along with 100,000 victims murdered by the Communist regime after the fall of Saigon could not be reached for comment.

Achilles said...

AReasonableMan said...
FleetUSA said...
Does BHO and Kerry understand dominoes?

"Have you been asleep for the last 50 years? Vietnam was not a domino. It was a country with a long and involved history. Part of that history involved a long standing distrust/hatred of China. Not a domino."

Another part of that history is the killing fields and democracy purges, brought to you by anti-war activists and various freedom hating assholes everywhere.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Achilles said...
Another part of that history is the killing fields and democracy purges, brought to you by anti-war activists and various freedom hating assholes everywhere.


And yet, they aren't ever grateful for our intervention. Why is that? Remind me again how many people have died in Iraq since we got involved?

Chef Mojo said...

It always amuses the hell out of me when people invoke the old chestnut, "Military-Industrial Complex," without ever considering that Eisenhower might have been wrong, and that he had a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature and role of military related industries in the Post War/Cold War era. As Supreme Allied Commander, Eisenhower had one job; to assemble the greatest invasion armadas in human history, and successfully put them ashore in Europe to enable a two front war against Germany. He expected the American Home Front to provide him with the tools and manpower to get this job done, and he wasn't too particular about how it was to be accomplished; only that it was. The details of wartime military industry were not his job.

America was caught flatfooted militarily at the beginning of WW2, just like the beginning of every war that preceded it. It had always been the habit of the United States to gut the military after a war, which made a certain amount of sense in the context of pre-industrial warfare. In the industrial era, however, dismantling the industrial foundation of a modern military meant that the United States paid a much greater cost in blood, treasure and time in having to completely re-gear American industry into what literally became the "Arsenal of Democracy." This led to a lot of thinking during and immediately after the war that led to rethinking the concept of industrial disarmament, and that it might be a very good idea for American industry to play a dual civilian/military role, so that the United States would be better prepared for future wars. Like all great and broad ideas, it was imperfect, but it has served us well overall for the last 70 years.

Hagar said...

When Eisenhower said that we were very much engaged in the Cold War, which was very real on the civilian industrial side, never mind the occasional shooting war against Soviet proxies. It was not all about weapons.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Chef Mojo said...
Like all great and broad ideas, it was imperfect, but it has served us well overall for the last 70 years.


Has it? It has certainly cost us a lot financially. At a minimum some cost-benefit analysis would seem to be prudent. History does suggest that the threats to the nation were consistently overstated over that period.

Hagar said...

ARM need to study up on how many died in Iraq, before we "became involved" there.

And our forces were indeed greeted as liberators at the time of the invasion. The fighting since has mostly been a shadow war with Iran.

Michael K said...

"Part of that history involved a long standing distrust/hatred of China. Not a domino."

For those who were asleep in global strategy class, or never heard of it, Vietnam was a Soviet client.

Michael K said...

"At a minimum some cost-benefit analysis would seem to be prudent. History does suggest that the threats to the nation were consistently overstated over that period."

We are getting a revisionist history bonanza from ARM. Of course, the Soviets collapsed from internal contradictions that Reagan had nothing to do with.

Let's see....

Korea was not in our sphere of influence.

Taiwan is a shitty little country like Israel.

Japan showed us how to emerge from a property bubble by spending into default. The Japanese recovery will come any day now. It has only been 25 years.

al Qeada is on the run. Of course, the direction is not mentioned.

There are more available on request.

Michael K said...

""Military-Industrial Complex," without ever considering that Eisenhower might have been wrong, and that he had a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature and role of military related industries in the Post War/Cold War era."

One word. F 35. OK two words.

He wasn't wrong. The Navy is still trying to figure out how to make the Littoral Combat Ship viable.

On Feb. 24, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel confirmed rumors that had been swirling around the littoral combat ship program for months — instead of going forward with its planned 52 ship buy, purchases would be limited to 32.

The cuts were no surprise to anyone who had been following the program, which has long been troubled by cost overruns and reports of problems during testing and deployment. While the announcement is a major blow to prime contractors Lockheed Martin and Austal USA, there is a chance a modified version of the ship could emerge as the Navy’s top choice to fill out its fleet.

Hagel’s announcement halts contractual discussions beyond 2016, but that’s after the next election, said Stu Slade, Forecast International’s warships analyst. There could be major changes to the program once a new president and legislators are in office.


Hagel is a genius but we knew that.

JackWayne said...

When did ARM take over the GM franchise?

Michael K said...

An update on al Qeada is on the run.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Obama majored in foreign relations at Columbia.
The main reason why the Obama presidency has been a disaster for the US isn't that he was "born in Kenya" or that he is a "secret muslim", it is that he is not very bright.
There is something very wrong with a president who prefers watching ESPN to doing his fucking job.

Hagar said...

Well, whatever is behind it, there is something disquieting about his language and actions when Islam is involved.

It should be possible for a person as intelligent as he is supposed to be, to distinguish between the sheep and the wolves.

Marc in Eugene said...

Michael K at 1:36, I think there's a fair argument to be made that 'it all began' in 629 AD when the Muslims first attacked the territory of the Roman Empire at Mothous.

Chef Mojo said...

@Michael K:

As I stated, broadly speaking, the system has been imperfect, and is subject the the political and military culture of the time.

Currently, that culture and its procurement system is totally FUBAR.

One word. F 35. OK two words.

But you're focusing on specific programs. The same system also gave us the F/A18, F 14, F 16, F15, A 6 and numerous other proven warfighters. Remember, the Navy didn't even WANT F 35. Navy hates the damned thing. Air Force thinks F 35 is the greatest thing since canned beer, when it works. Marines probably wanted to stick with Harrier, but they turned V 22 into a viable platform, so I expect they'll beat the F 35 with a hammer until it becomes the killing machine they need. F 35 is what happens when you demand a one size fits all platform that only one of the services wants, but that the politicos are nuts for. So, yeah. The system isn't perfect. It never has been.

He wasn't wrong. The Navy is still trying to figure out how to make the Littoral Combat Ship viable.

LCS, a dog's breakfast of a ship program, is there whether we like it or not. Cross purposing it in the traditional DDG/FFG role makes sense, especially with the phase-out of the Perry class FFG platform. With the budgets being slashed, it's inevitable that the ships you have are going to have to become multipurpose platforms. This is not unprecedented. Destroyer classes in particular have traditionally shifted roles depending on what is required of them. It's expected. I'm sure the same thing will happen with the DD1000/Zumwalt program.

Look, I think Ike was wrong. It's not like he took any action over the complex. Look at the incredible cornucopia of weapons platforms designed, authorized and delivered during his administration; jets out the wazoo, super carriers, nuke subs, ships and more carriers on the drawing boards. Not to mention nuclear weapons technology and delivery systems.

Achilles said...

AReasonableMan said...
Achilles said...

"And yet, they aren't ever grateful for our intervention. Why is that? Remind me again how many people have died in Iraq since we got involved?"

While we are on the topic of grateful, the women of Iraq were pretty damn grateful we were there. They were able to send their girls to school and some were even able to walk around without fear of capture and being sold into sexual slavery.

Now women are again second class citizens subject to mass rape. The minorities are being exterminated as we speak.

When we were there a lot of people died. Most of them were the right ones. Since Obama has taken over and turned Iraq into a shit hole a lot more people have died. Mostly minorities and women.

You are responsible for this. And you are a piece of shit.

Scott said...

"We've got an open border and plenty of opportunity for movement of undesirable actors."

Okay, explain why we need to fight wars or police actions or do "nation building" in Africa to keep a horde of Islamists from invading the United States, given that the distance between North America and Africa is around 7,000 miles across open ocean. Explain the logistics.

The United States doesn't need to be there, any more than we need the endless justifications for being there from people who ought to know better.

"Undesirable actors," huh. Sounds like you pulled that cliche from a bad Tom Clancy novel.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Scott wrote:
"Okay, explain why we need to fight wars or police actions or do "nation building" in Africa to keep a horde of Islamists from invading the United States, given that the distance between North America and Africa is around 7,000 miles across open ocean. Explain the logistics."
Four airplanes full of fuel. Duh.

Scott said...

"Four airplanes full of fuel. Duh."

Yeah, and 316 million Americans are just sitting ducks, aren't they.

Scott said...

Damn, I forgot about the Yemeni ICBMs. My bad.

Scott said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lewis Wetzel said...

Damn, you forgot about 9/11, Scott!
Here's an informative link:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/762320/September-11-attacks

CWJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CWJ said...

Geez Scott,

Knock off the Africa obsession. It's a small point but everything East of the Suez canal, including the entire middle east except for Egypt, is Asia.

Hagar said...

Scotty,
Did you mean the Iranian ICBM's?

Paul said...

Scott wrote:
"Okay, explain why we need to fight wars or police actions or do "nation building" in Africa to keep a horde of Islamists from invading the United States".

Cause they won't stay 7000 miles away. They will move across all of Africa, then make inroads to South America.

Better to kill them where they are now, being weak, than to wait till they are millions strong.

Simple, no?