America's Defeat by God's Partisans: A Post-Mortem
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On May 12th, the New York Times published a forensic autopsy of the failure of the Trump administration’s renewed hostilities against AnsarAllah in the Red Sea. The probe teems with extraordinary disclosures, spelling out in stark detail how the combined air and naval effort - launched with enormous fanfare and much bombastic rhetoric from US officials - was an even greater debacle, and devastating defeat, for the Empire than hitherto thought. The cataclysm’s scale may explain Washington’s sudden determination to reach a negotiated settlement with Iran.
Perhaps the most striking revelation is that Trump’s blitzkrieg against Yemen was initially planned to be a long-term, large-scale engagement, culminating in a ground invasion using proxy forces. General Michael Kurilla, Commander of the Pentagon’s Central Command, which covers Central, South and West Asia, had been in favor of all-out war with AnsarAllah ever since the Resistance group’s righteous anti-genocide Red Sea blockade commenced in late 2023. Reportedly though, Joe Biden was wary that a “forceful campaign” would elevate God’s Partisans “on the global stage.”
With Trump’s re-election, “Kurilla had a new commander in chief”, and an opportunity to up the ante against God’s Partisans significantly. He pitched an eight - 10 month effort, starting with saturation bombing of Yemen’s air defense systems, before a wave of targeted assassinations of AnsarAllah leaders, directly inspired by Israel’s pager attacks on Hezbollah’s senior members in September 2024. Kurilla’s grand operation was eagerly supported by elements of Trump’s administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Saudi officials were also on board, providing Washington with a target list of 12 AnsarAllah leaders “whose deaths, they said, would cripple the movement.” However, the UAE, which had in concert with Riyadh relentlessly bombed Yemen 2015 - 2023 to no tangible result, “was not so sure.” Several members of Trump’s administration were also sceptical of the plan’s prospects, and worried a protracted attack on Sanaa would drain valuable, finite resources - including the President himself.
Yet, after concerted lobbying, Trump “signed off on part of General Kurilla’s plan - airstrikes against Houthi air defense systems and strikes against the group’s leaders.” So it was on March 15th, US fighter jets began battering Yemen anew, while a carrier force led by the USS Harry S. Truman thrust into the Red Sea. White House officials boasted the onslaught would continue “indefinitely”, while Trump bragged that AnsarAllah would be “decimated” via “overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.”
‘Some Degradation’
In reality, The New York Times suggests Trump privately made clear he wanted AnsarAllah bombed “into submission” within just 30 days, and failure in this objective would mean the operation’s termination. By the 31st day of hostilities, the President “demanded a progress report.” As the outlet records, “the results were not there” - which is quite an understatement. The US “had not even established air superiority” over AnsarAllah, while the Resistance group was relentlessly “shooting at vessels and drones, fortifying their bunkers and moving weapons stockpiles underground.”
Moreover, during those first 30 days, God’s Partisans “shot down seven American MQ-9 drones” costing around $30 million each, “hampering Central Command’s ability to track and strike” the Resistance group. Meanwhile, several American F-16s and an F-35 stealth fighter jet “were nearly struck by Houthi air defenses, making real the possibility of American casualties.” All along too, the US “burned through weapons and munitions at a rate of about $1 billion in the first month alone”:
“The cost of the operation was staggering. The Pentagon had deployed two aircraft carriers, additional B-2 bombers and fighter jets, as well as Patriot and THAAD air defenses…So many precision munitions were being used, especially advanced long-range ones, that some Pentagon contingency planners were growing increasingly concerned about overall stocks and the implications for any situation in which the US might have to ward off an attempted invasion of Taiwan by China.”
Concerned, “the White House began pressing Central Command for metrics of success in the campaign.” In a bitter irony, Pentagon officials “responded by providing data showing the number of munitions dropped” to prove they were achieving their goals. They also claimed, without evidence, to have hit over 1,000 military targets, while killing “more than a dozen senior Houthi leaders.” US intelligence was unconvinced, acknowledging there was “some degradation” of God’s Partisans, but “the group could easily reconstitute” regardless.
As a result, “senior national security officials” began investigating “pathways” for either withdrawing from the theatre with minimal embarrassment, or keeping the fiasco going using local proxy forces. One option was to “ramp up operations for up to another month and then conduct ‘freedom of navigation’ exercises in the Red Sea using two carrier groups, the Carl Vinson and the Truman.” If AnsarAllah did not fire on the ships, “the Trump administration would declare victory.”
Another was to extend the campaign, giving forces under the control of the Riyadh-based Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council “time to restart a drive to push the Houthis out of the capital and key ports” in a ground assault. The plan was hatched despite prior Saudi-led invasions of Yemen invariably ending in total disaster. This may account for why talks between Hegseth and Saudi and UAE officials in late April “to come up with a sustainable way forward…they could present to the President” came to nothing.
‘Great Ability’
As luck would have it, right when Hegseth’s last-ditch efforts to breathe life into the collapsing effort were floundering, Trump’s West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff was in Oman, engaged in nuclear talks with Iran. Omani officials separately suggested a “perfect offramp” for Washington in its war with God’s Partisans. The US “would halt the bombing campaign and the militia would no longer target American ships in the Red Sea, but without any agreement to stop disrupting shipping that the group deemed helpful to Israel.”
Well-publicised fiascoes around this time, such as the loss overboard of a F/A-18 Super Hornet, costing $67 million, due to the USS Harry S. Truman conducting evasive manoeuvres to avoid an AnsarAllah drone and missile attack, further depleted White House enthusiasm for the operation. According to The New York Times, “Trump had had enough”. He duly accepted the Omani proposal, and on May 5th, CentCom “received a sudden order…to ‘pause’ offensive operations” in the Red Sea.
That a ballistic missile fired by God’s Partisans evaded the Zionist entity’s air defenses and struck Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport the previous day likely provided further incentive to halt hostilities. So it was on May 6th, Trump declared victory against AnsarAllah, claiming the Resistance group had “capitulated”, and “don’t want to fight any more”. Nonetheless, the President expressed clear admiration for God’s Partisans, indicating he placed a high degree of trust in AnsarAllah’s assurances US ships would no longer be in their redoubtable crosshairs:
“We hit them very hard and they had a great ability to withstand punishment. You could say there was a lot of bravery there. They gave us their word that they wouldn’t be shooting at ships anymore, and we honor that.”
Per The New York Times, Trump’s “sudden declaration of victory…demonstrates how some members of the President’s national security team underestimated a group known for its resilience.” But more deeply, it surely reflects how the bruising, costly experience was a blunt-force education in the glaring deficiencies of US military power, and the Empire’s fatal vulnerability in the event of all-out war against an adversary actually able to defend itself. This could account for the Trump administration’s sudden determination to finalise a nuclear deal with Tehran.
It must not be forgotten that before even taking office, Trump and his cabinet openly planned for a significant escalation of belligerence against the Islamic Republic. Among other things, they boasted of drawing up plans to “bankrupt Iran” via “maximum pressure”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long-called for tightening already devastating sanctions on Tehran, was a key advocate for this approach, and eagerly supported by Mike Waltz, among others.
At an event convened by NATO adjunct the Atlantic Council in October 2024, Waltz bragged about how the President had previously almost destroyed the Islamic Republic’s currency, and looked ahead to inflicting even more severe damage on the country following Trump’s inauguration. Fast forward to today though, and such rhetoric has vanished from mainstream Western discourse. It appears Trump and his team have not only jettisoned their previously stated ambitions towards Iran, but are determined to avoid war.
Moreover, just as the Zionist entity was not consulted before Washington struck a ceasefire with AnsarAllah, Tel Aviv has been completely frozen out of nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran. Should an agreement result at last, it will not take into account Israel’s bellicose position towards the Islamic Republic. Just as the Cuban Missile Crisis transformed Cold Warrior John F. Kennedy into a dove, Trump’s Red Sea drubbing may well have precipitated a seismic shift in his administration’s foreign policy.
Our military has a history of losing. Furthermore our military hasn't defended this nation since 1812. In WW1 and WW2 we showed up late and reaped the profit. That's the purpose of our military, profit to enrich our Oligarch Masters who send our best to die for their portfolios.
By the way, it was the Soviet Union who won WW2 with some Lend-Lease help from us. It was a loan, more profit while the Soviets lost at least 23 MILLION!
America has a fatal overconfidence.
This isn't just a military blunder; it's a case study in how empire crumbles when the balance of power shifts and the illusion of dominance collides with reality. The U.S. didn't back down in Yemen because it suddenly found peace palatable. It backed down because it ran headfirst into a hard geopolitical wall. Ansar Allah didn’t just survive, they outmaneuvered a nuclear superpower at sea, in the air, and on the ground, all while spending a fraction of the cost.
From a realpolitik perspective, the math is brutal: $1 billion a month, elite drones downed like flies, and two carrier groups dodging DIY missiles. Meanwhile, China’s watching, Taiwan’s wondering, and Iran’s now holding more cards than anyone in Washington wants to admit. This wasn’t just about Yemen. It was a flashing red light warning that the U.S. can no longer fight regional wars on autopilot and expect deference.
The takeaway? In an era where resilient, decentralized actors can bleed a superpower dry with $10,000 drones and dug-in resolve, brute force without strategic depth is a liability. That’s why Trump’s team is suddenly all about diplomacy; not because they had a change of heart, but because the cost of escalation started to outweigh the illusion of control.