article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Supported by American intelligence and supplied with advanced U.S.-made weaponry, Saudi jets began airstrikes in Yemen late last month in the name of what the kingdom's Washington ambassador described as "restoring the legitimate government" and protecting a "Yemeni constitution and elections.
article_snippet.sent: Indeed, Saudi motives in Yemen likely have nothing to do with protecting Yemen's "legitimate government," Yemen constitution or Yemen electoral process.
article_snippet.sent: Saudi motives in Yemen seem clear if one looks at Saudi monarchy's history of not allowing regional competition of any kind, while consistently combating efforts to build democratic governments that empower the people.
article_snippet.sent: This approach was evident in 2013, when Saudi Arabia voiced Saudi Arabia support for the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsy in Egypt, which was in keeping with counterrevolutionary Saudi policies that aimed to contain or reverse the results of the Arab Spring.
article_snippet.sent: The Saudi goal is simple:
article_snippet.sent: With all this in mind, the American decision to stand behind the Saudi attack on Yemen can best be described as misguided.
article_snippet.sent: But one of the biggest miscalculations has been that U.S. policy has adopted the Saudi-Gulf narrative on Yemen, effectively placing Saudi ambitions to control Yemen above previous American priorities like destroying the safe haven for al Qaeda in the country there.
article_snippet.sent: Indeed, the Obama administration appears to have abandoned Yemen to Saudi machinations.
article_snippet.sent: This reality was underscored when U.S State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki effectively endorsed Saudi bombing, saying the "Saudis have legitimate concerns about the possible impact of current events in Yemen on the "Saudis security.
article_snippet.sent: The implication here seems to be that any country "concerned" about Yemen neighbors can go ahead and bomb any country "concerned" about its neighbors, a view that risks creating a dangerous precedent.
article_snippet.sent: Back in September, White House spokesman Josh Earnest described Yemen as a success story in the war on terrorism, explaining that the U.S. priority in Yemen was not to establish a "Jeffersonian democracy" but to prevent Yemen from becoming a safe-haven for al Qaeda in the country and affiliates.
article_snippet.sent: Yet if that policy goal remains in place, then that policy goal must be acknowledged that the Saudi war on Yemen will not only undermine the U.S. aim of preventing al Qaeda in the country from making Yemen a safe haven, but also undermine broader U.S. efforts in Yemen.
article_snippet.sent: The reality is that Saudi and Gulf Co-operation Council jets are effectively acting as al Qaeda in the country air force by bombing the same group that had managed to uproot al Qaeda in the country from several Yemeni regions.
article_snippet.sent: Already, Yemen was forced to cancel flights to southern airports, and Yemen has also reportedly suspended classes in schools in the border regions.
article_snippet.sent: Saudi interests in Yemen should not replace those of the United States.
article_snippet.sent: A change in approach is essential not only because the Saudi-led war on Yemen is wrong and destined to fail, but because the Saudi-led war on Yemen might end up further opening the Yemeni door to Iran.
article_snippet.sent: But perhaps most importantly, by supporting a self-interested Saudi campaign, the United States may actually empower an al Qaeda with the potential still to do great harm to the United States.
highlights_snippet.sent: Saudi Arabia has launched airstrikes against rebels in Yemen .
  