RSS
Why does it seem the Pentagon is far better at spending money than actually putting together a successful operation? The failed “Operation Prosperity Guardian” and the disastrous floating Gaza pier are but two recent examples of enormously expensive initiatives that, though they no-doubt enriched military contractors, were incapable of meeting their stated goals.
To great fanfare, last December the Pentagon announced the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a joint US/UK military operation to halt the Yemeni Houthi disruption of Israel-linked commercial shipping through the Red Sea. The Houthis announced their policy in response to civilian deaths in Israel’s war on Gaza, but when the US and UK military became involved they announced they would target US and UK shipping as well.
The operation was supposed to be quick and easy. After all, the rag-tag Houthi militia was no match for the mighty US and UK navies. But it didn’t work out that way at all. Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal published a devastating article revealing that after spending more than one billion dollars on munitions alone, the operation had failed to deter the Houthis and failed to re-open commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The Journal reported that Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, recently told Congress that “the U.S.-led effort has been insufficient to deter the militant group’s targeting of ships and that the threat will ‘remain active for some time.’”
Meanwhile, the article informed us that a continued US effort to fight the Houthis over Red Sea shipping was “not sustainable.” Perhaps the most revealing part of the article comes from a Washington military expert, Emily Harding of CSIS: “Their supply of weapons from Iran is cheap and highly sustainable, but ours is expensive, our supply chains are crunched, and our logistics tails are long.”
It is reminiscent of a recollection by Col. Harry G. Summers of a discussion he had with North Vietnamese Col. Tu: “You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield,” said Summers. Tu paused for a moment, then replied, “That may be so. But it is also irrelevant.”
Similarly, the US military spent a quarter of a billion dollars building a temporary floating pier to deliver aid to the starving Palestinians even though a land route already existed and would have been far cheaper to use. The project was doomed from the beginning, as days after opening stormy weather broke up the pier and washed part of it up on Israel’s shore. The US military managed to gather the pieces together again, but in total only a few aid trucks managed to use it before, over the weekend, the pier was again disassembled for fear of another weather-related break-up.
The only thing the pier was good for, it seems, was assisting the Israeli military in a Gaza raid on June 8th that killed 270 Palestinian civilians.
As neocons inside the Beltway continue to plot war with China over Taiwan, it seems someone should notice the trouble we have had dealing with Houthis and floating piers. For now, the growth in military spending seems unlimited, but increasing spending bringing diminishing results raises the question of just how much bang are we getting for our bucks?
We have the most expensive military on earth, they say. That may be true, but it is also irrelevant.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Vietnamese
HaHa Hail the Houtis
The Welfare-Warfare State, known as the US, has one function only: Generate profit for its Jewish masters. Israel (world Jewry) is the dog that wags its US tail. Who owns all Western media, central banks (including the US Federal Reserve), most other banks and corporations? Who controls academia, all Western politicians (except a few Muslims) and who ARE the Biden administration? Search the web and prove to yourself this is the TRUTH and not antisemitism!
Whew! When is this guy going to die so we can be spared his illogical POV?
CIA – give him a shot of the heart attack drug. Soon…
Most Americans like being slaves and jew boot licking. Everybody else just complains about the jews on Zero Hedge and on this website – both websites are jew owned. Nobody does anything about shit-caning our government! If you think voting will change anything, you’re nuts.
As it is with the Houthis, so it will be with the entire Axis of Resistance.
Netanyahu has disbanded the war coalition after Gantz and Eisenkot bowed out. Israeli street protests are on the rise once more, demanding a diplomatic end to the genocide, safe return of their hostages, and new elections. They’re tired of seeing this sort of thing on a regular basis:
Who can blame them? Doesn’t look like Hamas is showing any signs of slowing down. Israel makes all sorts of claims about destroying most of its fighters, but in truth, has little to show for it.
Once our own country starts going south, as it soon will, Israel is finished. It has no other country that will be either willing or able to help it.
Good times ahead.
Doesn’t sound like you have a solution either as you recommend NOTHING in your whining post. Would you like to have a Jan 6th redux? That didn’t work so well, did it?
Aside from the pier boondoggle, let’s not forget the story of the U.S. Maritime Administration’s cool roll-on / roll-off supply ship that was dispatched to make deliveries. This Navy ship, Benavidez, was almost brand new (2003), yet in 2022 it was mothballed because it had nothing to do. Benavidez is like the old “Maytag repair Man.” (If you’re old enough, you remember those commercials …the guy had nothing to do, he just sat around.) I’m not that good at metaphors, if I were I would be a famous movie critic, but even I know that this is a good metaphor for most of the military.
Mean Joo Joo writes:
Yes, as a rabid Ashke-Nasty yourself, I can see why you dislike what Ron Paul has to say.
When assessing the worth of any individual, you always ask yourself this question:
‘Is it good for the Jews?’
Well, Dr Ron Paul has advocated for Ending the Fed, for not sending a single dollar to the Apartheid Israeli state in aid each year, for a cessation of these perpetual wars that are all about pursuit of the Judaic hegemonic aspirations.
So, from your perspective, I can see why the abolition of the Fed (thus making it impossible for Malevolent International Jewry to finance all those elaborate and extremely costly False Flags like 9/11), would be upsetting for you.
Military coup d’tat would do everybody just fine. Its better than a civil war. With a coup, we could round up every Zionist jew in the country and tough guys like you, and provide the punishment they most surely deserve. A ass whooping for some, for sure for you – and maybe something a little bit more, and for others a blind fold or a hangman’s noose. That’s the only solution.
Ummmph! and Mean Jew are giving each other handjobs while they comment today.
Wow! Do Jews really?
Just finished watching this:
Lot of sensitive military sites, not to mention this:
Maybe now that the war coalition has collapsed, Netanyahu might prove foolish enough to let Ben-Gvir lead an offensive against Lebanon. That’d probably make 2006 look tame by comparison.
You are meamjojo! How many other names do you have? Your stupid comment reveals yours zio-jewness.
What do you expect when you appoint squawky female lawyers like Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence and your “military experts” are called Emily Harding?
Hanabanania is kooky
While true that Hamas has given Israel a solid ass-kicking both on and since Oct. 7, Israel knows full well the hysteria of it constituting some kind of existential threat is just so much codswallop.
Who’s the one that boxed the other in to that tiny little strip for decades, cutting it off from the rest of the world?
Nobody but an imbecile believes Israel.
Just saw video of Putin and Kim Jong-un after signing an agreement. To mark the occasion, they competently walked down a looooong flight of stairs, literally walking and talking at the same time. Our worst President ever, Joe Biden, has swived this country to death. τετέλεσται.
No wonder you hate him. He probably would have been one of the best US Presidents ever.
The US spent a lot more in Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq, with the same result. It is currently spending more in Ukraine, with the result becoming more and more inevitable with every passing day. From the point of view of the country this spending is a disastrous waste, utter stupidity. But weapons manufacturers are making tidy profits. Now guess what interests are driving the US foreign policy.
Tooth Dilettante –
Did you get permission from the Kremlin to post this?
I see that my comment struck a nerve.
It seems Joker, as many of us have long suspected, that you’re an Ashke-nasty yourself.
We all knew you were a neocon, never failing to seize any opportunity of coming to the defence of all criminal acts of the Anglo Zionist empire.
It’s pretty obvious to extrapolate from your comment that you’re also on the side of the poisonous dwarf Zelensky, leader of the Judeo-Ukrainian regime in the proxy war with Russia.
It stands to reason that you’re also backing the Apartheid Israeli state’s P.M Nutty-yahoo and his genocide of he Palestinians in that conflict – seeing as you always align yourself with ZOG in all foreign misadventures.
Tooth Dilettante –
Another diatribe straight from the Kremlin.
You and your dedicated Bolshevik Poo-Tin have been sitting around in Moscow jacking off looking at a picture of a tractor.