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[SPECIAL JANUARY PROMOTION: Spend $50+ In The FPM Store And Receive A Free Copy Of “Final Battle” By David Horowitz.]
On New Year’s Eve, Houthi Jihadists opened fire on US Navy choppers who were coming to the rescue of a container ship that the Iran-backed terrorists operating out of Yemen were hijacking.
Navy personnel were not allowed to preemptively attack the terrorists, only to issue warnings to them, until they were personally in danger. Only then were they finally allowed to fight back.
U.S. Central Command proposed targeting Houthi bases to end the wave of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The proposal went to the Pentagon where Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had undergone surgery to remove his prostate and had been released a week earlier. On Jan 1, Austin began experiencing severe pain and was taken to the hospital.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, a Pentagon bureaucrat with no meaningful military experience, was vacationing in Puerto Rico when she was told that she needed to take over for Austin who was in the ICU where he would stay for four days. She proposed cutting short her vacation and coming back in two days, rather than right away, but then she decided to stay on the beach and handle the responsibility for the national defense over Zoom.
Kelly Magsamen, Austin’s Chief of Staff, a former vice president of the left-wing Center for American Progress, was out sick with the flu, and did not know what was happening.
Central Command’s request to take out Houthi targets finally made its way to Biden who
had left on the 27th for his own vacation in the Caribbean, but he rejected any attack.
Biden and Hicks had both decided to go on vacation even though the Houthis had stepped up their attacks on Dec 23rd. Austin had undergone his prostatectomy on that same day.
On Christmas Day, Iran’s terrorist allies in Iraq had launched a drone attack that wounded three service members including Chief Warrant Officer Garrett Illerbrunn who suffered a brain injury when shrapnel struck his head. Still senior administration officials did not change their plans.
As Iran took over the region, no one was in the office at the Biden administration.
Deprived of the ability to fight back, the US Navy and the Red Sea Coalition could do nothing more than play defense. The Red Sea carries 21% of the world’s container ship traffic and shipping companies got the message that the United States would not take action and that the best they could expect was to have the Navy rescue them once they were already under attack.
Some major companies pulled out of the Red Sea entirely, slowing down the transport of goods around the world, raising prices and wrecking economies, while others agreed to meet the Houthi’s terms by certifying that they had nothing to do with Israel and likely making payments to the Islamic terrorist group under the table. That means that Iran is now in control of global trade.
A White House official claimed that on Jan 3rd, the “President convened his national security team on the morning of New Year’s Day to talk about, again, the entire situation in the Red Sea”.
In reality, Biden was flying back from St. Croix on the 3rd, Secretary of Defense Austin was in the ICU in Walter Reed Hospital, his Chief of Staff was home with the flu, and the Deputy Defense Secretary was on vacation in Puerto Rico. There was no national security team.
The only outcome of whatever meeting they had was to warn “the Houthis that they will bear full consequences and responsibility for any further attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea.” When asked “would there be another warning”, the unnamed White House official responded, “I would not anticipate another warning”. Since then the warnings keep coming.
A week later the Houthis launched the largest attack yet with 21 drones and missiles aimed at ships in the Red Sea that were shot down by US and British Navy ships at the cost of tens of millions of dollars.
Secretary of State Blinken, apparently the only high-ranking administrational national security figure who wasn’t either in the hospital or on vacation, responded by warning, yet again, “If these attacks continue, as they did yesterday, there will be consequences.
This follows weeks and weeks of warnings to the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.
The problem, as the unnamed White House officially unintentionally admitted, is that “we have acted defensively.”
US Navy ships can have as little as 30 seconds in which to shoot down incoming Houthi missiles.
That’s what acting “defensively” means.
The lives of our sailors and those on the container ships are measured in those 30 seconds. Until now, the US Navy and its allies have managed to stop every single attack. But whether it’s 9/11 or Oct 7, eventually the day comes when the terrorists get lucky and their attack succeeds.
That’s why shipping companies are either cutting a deal with the Houthis or leaving the Red Sea. Despite the presence of the USS Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier, and multiple destroyers, Iran remains in control of the Red Sea because it acts offensively while Biden acts defensively.
Besides giving Iran control of the Red Sea, the impact on the global economy will be massive. Oil prices will rise sharply and with shipping container capacity falling by a quarter, less goods will be moved around the world. Americans will see higher gas prices, less exports and some slower imports, further breaking our supply chain and depressing our economy.
Playing defense also means that we’re using $2 million missiles to stop $2,000 Houthi drones, draining our wealth and the weapons stockpiles we would need to fight Iran or China. We have the bigger defense industry, but in a contest between who can make more drones or ship missiles, the Houthis will eventually win because theirs are cheaper and faster to make.
They have a plan to win. Do we?
Much as Iran timed the Hamas attack of Oct 7 on Israel for the conclusion of the High Holy Days after initially planning it for the first night of Passover, it timed the Houthi attacks for the Christmas break. Tehran understood that much of the Washington D.C. establishment was going to be on vacation, taking care of personal business or otherwise out of the office.
And so while United States military forces were fighting Iranian proxies in Iraq and Yemen,the elected and appointed officials overseeing our national defense, including the commander-in- chief of the armed forces, were on vacation, in bed or in the hospital, but not on the job.
That’s how in a matter of weeks, Iran took control of one of the world’s major shipping channels and now holds the world economy hostage. All it had to do was wait for winter break.
Biden’s problem isn’t just his age or any speculation about his mental condition.
When he came into office, he made the decision to break off support for the Saudi campaign against the Houthis and to remove the Jihadist group whose motto includes “Death to America” from the terror list because Iran and its leftist allies had stirred up claims that the war had caused a famine in Yemen. In reality, the Houthis, much like Hamas, were stealing food.
After being confirmed on a Tuesday, Blinken rushed through “an expeditious review” of the Houthis and it was announced on that Friday that he “intends to revoke” its terrorist status.
The Houthis however decided to remain terrorists.
The Biden administration claimed that it had to end the campaign against the Houthis because of “humanitarian consequences”. What is the humanitarian impact of shutting down the shipments of food, including humanitarian aid, that were passing through the Red Sea?
Biden’s betrayal allowed the Houthis to consolidate their position in Yemen and they, rather than ending the campaign, escalated to seizing control over shipping in the Red Sea. Biden and administration officials had been warned that this might happen and they chose to dismiss it.
Every element of this preventable disaster is due to the Biden administration which sidelined sanctions on Iran, glutting the terror state with billions that it invested in Islamic terrorists from Yemen to Gaza, allowed the Houthis to seize control of a country and even the water, and which couldn’t even be bothered to delay its winter vacations to watch the disaster play out.
American soldiers and sailors battled Iran’s terrorists while their leaders lay on the beach.
When Iran took an embassy hostage, Biden was in the Senate. Now that he’s in the White House, Iran has taken the world hostage.
The whole lot of them should be brought up on charges of dereliction of duty/treason.
Same situation with the southern illegal invasion.
Where are all those powerful warships?
Vulnerable to hypersonic, lowing flying stuff, they hide farther out to sea.
Should a couple aircraft carriers be taken out, the only thing left will be icbms and the Ohio Class. Xi took the icbm silo coordinates with his weather balloon that Austin/Milley/Biden tried to hide from American Citizens.
Absolutely. The fact that they are not says everything.
Thanks Daniel, excellent coverage!
Reminds me of other wars, which started while some of the political leaders were away on vacations, etc.,, including WW1.
Except this fool is on vacation some 40 to 45 percent of the time while the actual Prez Soetoro is running between his 3 or 4 mansions.
Obama/Biden-willing-puppet foreign policy is evil. There have been no mistakes, no unintentional disasters.
Like a AAA trip-tik, every point of destruction has been plotted and planned, starting at the White House, ending with the destruction of America.
If Obama is the initiator and starting point for the insane, suicidal trip that Americans are traveling at unchecked accelerating speed towards oblivion, shouldn’t the man of evil with the plan of evil be exposed in order to save America?
Otherwise, there are no obstacles to this course of evil. Not even elections. Things are happening too fast. By Nov. ‘24 it will be too late. Does anyone else feel that this journey’s end is supposed to end before Nov ‘24, which makes Trump et al irrelevant?
Everyone in the government was ‘out of service’ – except Obama.
Barring Divine intervention, an immediate, constant attack on Obama should begin right now in order to infuriate him, to irritate his colossal, arrogant ego, get him off balance and draw him out into the open; to somehow bring him to the brink, to provoke him to the point of public, direct,
in-your-face pushback, then, his losing control of his cool facade, stripping it off in a fit of supreme disgust and earth core condescension, revealing his true anger and hatred towards America and Israel and his plan to destroy both. How hard can that be?
Obama wants to enjoy the fruits of his labors in his lifetime. That’s why he’s been in such a hurry.
I think this strategy is vital for America’s survival.
Well, he DID brag as if he, himself took out Osama Bin Laden. OBL’s supporters went off on that one. What a FOOL.
Then in January of 2017, Brandon opened the southern door really wide.
But NOT to worry, Mayorkas and Karin say the border is still cool and intact.
The “Southern Door”? That’s the “Gates of Mordor, and the “ORCS” are pouring out!
32 years ago today, Operation Desert Storm was initiated… SEVEN Navy aircraft carrier battle groups converged in the region.
The written reason? The following is the first paragraph in National Security Directive(NSD) 54 signed by George Bush Sr. 15 January 1991.
1. Access to Persian Gulf oil and the security of key friendly
states in the area are vital to U.S. national security.
Consistent with NSD 26 of October 2, 1989, and NSD 45 of August
20, 1990, and as a matter of long-standing policy, the United
States remains committed to defending its vital interests in the
region, if necessary through the use of military force, against
any power with interests inimical to our own.
(1) So while the Democrat regime can claim it is “protecting shipping” that’s a lie, because the reality is the Navy can kill the sea-going sand cockroaches.
(2) Tough talk from Prez Afghan Rout and his regime hacks elicits only raucous laughter from our enemies.
(3) Even without the FUBARed chain of command, the rules of engagement are designed to make us look timid and weak.
The proper ROE is kill all terrorist pirates, destroy their boats/helicopters, and if any survive leave them to drown in the sea. But a Democrat regime won’t do that to their Muslim buddies.
One problem is Biden released (to Iran) upwards of a hundred billions of dollars that had been frozen. Iran now is like a kid in a candy store with regard to taking it to the USA. The source of these attacks was funded by one Joseph Biden.
Robert Gates was correct in his assessment of the corrupt fool.
This article needs a time line!
“raising prices and wrecking economies”
Joe Biden’s theme song, and that’s what you get from the only man with 50 years of experience sitting in the WH, or on the beach, somewhere.
Plus Hunter was paid by a Ukrainian energy company and as soon as the voting machines elected his dad he went o war with Ukraine and the price of energy went through the roof, just like it will with this Yemeni crap.
Biden regime purposefully allowed this to happen. No one who follows the Biden regime would doubt this. Communists.
We are being governed by delusional, weak, and, therefore, dangerous fools. Way, way back in March 2021, just days after Biden removed the terrorist designation from the Iranian cat’s paw, the Houthis, the Houthis engaged in a massive drone and cruise missile attack on Saudi refinery oil shipping terminal at Ras Tanura and Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Jeddah. Biden expressed “concern.” And here we are. We can’t say or do anything to Iran because it might interfere with the Obama/Biden project to get them nuclear weapons. This is insanity, sheer insanity.
I forgot to add to my comment: “And I’m sure China isn’t noticing Biden’s weakness. Not at all.” So weak.
No, no. China has not noticed. They probably say behind closed doors, “that was a good purchase for a relatively small amount of our military budget.’
So isn’t Iran part of t he United Nations? and if so why isn’t the rest of the UN Demanding Iran stop this? Can we say Political Favoritism?
Maybe we could ask for a proportional response from Saudi who have been provided with military equipment for decades, they are the ones at war with Yemen but they do jack as usual it is the west who do the work.
The UN? Now that’s funny 😁 😆
If I were a Houthi commander, I would build a navy base in Cuba.
Thomas Jefferson knew exactly how to handle piracy on the open seas that was seriously hurting our new economy. He sent our Naval fleet to the nirth shores of Africa where the Barbary pirates (moslems) were capturing, and/or destroying our shipping. He hit them hard fast, and continually until they asked for a break. Our Navy eased off to see whether they’d learned their lesson. They had not, as renewed destruction arose. Our response then: Return to the Hard Fast and Continually MO. After sinking quite a few more pirate ships, they cried Uncle and signed the Treaty of Tripoli.
Jefferson was no fool. He had acquired a copy of their “book” and studied it to see hat makes them tick. He realised their ONLY language is brutal and continual infliction of intense pain. So that’s what HE did to them. It worked. No pussyfooting about, making nice, appeasement, Pretty Please with a Cherry on top.
Jefferson was a MAN who understood his responsibility. Sadly the current Resident is none of the above, not to mention he’s got a non-compost mentis.
I too am firmly convinced the Kinyun is ultimately behind this, and has been since he ceased to be the resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And THIS is precisely WHY one of the requirements to hold the office of President is that the candidate be a Natural Born Citizen. The kinyun is not. Nor is the Harris Unit now in second position.
We now have laws more tightly regulating international shipping. But the fact that much of our sea traffic now moves on non-US chartered bottoms (not the case i Jefferson’s day) does not remove our own Navy’s responsibility to protect goods moving to/from the US. those goods are critical to our secrity and prosperity. The dirtbags harassing that traffic in the Red Sea may as well be lurking off the coast of Houston or Long Beach. they should be dealt with accordingly. The issue is not whether they are directly attacking OUR ships, it s whether they are destroying our trade. And since they are, they MUST be dealt with, Hard, Fast, and Continuously, just as Jefferson did, and for the same reason.
“Oil prices will rise sharply and with shipping container capacity falling by a quarter, less goods will be moved around the world”
If oil prices rise AGAIN the Saudis and the Biden’s make more and more and the Saudis therefore will do nothing but sit and let the west do the dirty work for them, typical lazy Arabian muslims.
The problem that Mr Biden will face, is that the Houthis will now enact similar strategies to Hamas, if they haven’t already done so, by using civilians a human shields so that they can claim that the US is committing genocide if it responds to attacks in any meaningful fashion. And it is possible that the electorate will believe them – or at least that there will be enough gullible voters to affect the coming elections.
Literally open piracy on the high seas, and “Brandon” doesn’t have a clue. Can we resurrect Thomas Jefferson and have him give “Brandon” a kick in the arse to get him started? What is WRONG with us! How is it possible we must suffer these little pirate wannabe “Houties” or whatever, and be so excruciatingly afraid of them? The “mighty, invincible” Hootie army? What? Seriously? We’re so afraid of them, we destroy commerce? They have helicopters that land on tankers and freighters, and “take over”? Has it not crossed anyone’s mind that a crewman on these ships with a shoulder fired missile can take down a helicopter and kill the crew of it??? Why is everyone in the World so STUPID???