The president’s methodical approach was consistent with his well-known desire to exhaust diplomatic options and avoid dragging the United States into another Middle East war.
President Joe Biden’s decision to strike Houthi rebels followed a familiar playbook: gather allies, act slowly and telegraph widely.
It’s a strategy he has favored time and time again to minimize blowback and seek the support of wary allies for military action. It’s also a strategy that already has critics arguing he took too long.
Ever since the Iran-backed militants first attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea two months ago, Biden has asked his top aides to keep tabs on the situation and lay the groundwork in case retaliatory strikes were ever needed. As the U.S. developed military options, the administration went on a regional diplomatic offensive, trying to calm tensions while garnering support for a defensive mission and the possible use of force. In the end, the strikes in Yemen — conducted by four other countries alongside the U.S. — followed many verbal warnings, the creation of a maritime protection force and passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution.
“It was very thought out,” said a senior administration official, like others granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal thinking.
But that also means it took weeks to execute. The Biden administration’s critics have long said the U.S. needed to retaliate against the Houthis earlier. Only bombings would let militants and their Iranian backers know the U.S. was serious about putting an end to the missile attacks on transiting vessels. After
POLITICO reported in December that Biden and his team were weighing strikes, the chattering class’ unanimous reaction was to stop deliberating and act already. There’s also fear that Thursday night’s attack won’t stop the Houthis.
“It will unlikely deter future Houthis attacks, and we already saw them launch further attacks again today,” said Mick Mulroy, a top Pentagon official for the Middle East during the Trump administration.
