Trump Oversells Success of $200 Million Houthi Airstrikes

Saturday, April 05, 2025

President Trump claimed this week that Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have been "decimated by the relentless strikes" he ordered on March 15. But Pentagon officials are privately offering a more restrained assessment. In recent closed briefings, they acknowledged limited success in destroying the Houthis' vast, mostly underground stockpiles of missiles, drones, and launchers, according to congressional aides and allies. In just three weeks, the strikes have cost $200 million in munitions, not including the high operational and personnel expenses of deploying two aircraft carriers, B-2 bombers, fighter jets, and advanced air defenses to the region.

Posted by reinheitsgebot at 03:32 PM | 11 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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So many precision munitions -- especially advanced long-range ones -- are being used that some Pentagon planners are increasingly concerned about the strain on Navy stockpiles. The depletion is raising alarms about the U.S. military's readiness in the event of a major conflict, such as a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

The total cost of the campaign could exceed $1 billion by next week, and the Pentagon may soon need to request supplemental funding from Congress, according to one U.S. official.

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"The total cost could be well over $1 billion by next week"

Well that's what happens when you got to war.

You remember "war", the thing that Trump was never going to get us into.

And those B-52's now in Diego Garcia.

Iran is where they are going to go.

#1 | Posted by Zed at 2025-04-04 08:43 AM | Reply

What can you say about a man likely to lead us into a major war at the same time tempting an actual depression?

1) What I've always said, that Trump is insane in the purest understanding of the word.

2) Trump is on a conscious mission to destroy this country, likely set him by Putin.

3) Both of the above.

#2 | Posted by Zed at 2025-04-04 08:52 AM | Reply

"Trump is insane"

Probably true of anyone who still supports him today.

#3 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-04-04 09:03 AM | Reply

Probably true of anyone (insanity) who still supports him today.

#3 | Posted by snoofy

if we know anything about MAGA at all, they are now going to go through a period of doubling down on being stupid and crazy.

I mean, it's what Trump is going to do.

#4 | Posted by Zed at 2025-04-04 09:42 AM | Reply

"any situation in which the United States would have to ward off an attempted invasion of Taiwan by China."

The likelihood of Trump honoring that treaty is somewhere south of nil.

#5 | Posted by mattm at 2025-04-04 02:21 PM | Reply

This boondoggle cost the Israeli taxpayer zero shekels and potentially jeopardized one Mossad HUMINT source in Yemen, but cost the hardworking American taxpayer $200m and put US pilots at risk. Meanwhile the Shia Houthis are starving and only too eager to get help from anywhere they can, namely the UN and Shia Iran (which is why they support them against Israel): cdn.openart.ai

#6 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-04-04 04:42 PM | Reply

Go Houthis?

Israel is committing Crimes against Humanity and only AnwarAllah has the Moral High Ground?

Never Again?

The American Psyche of Kill and Steal is Shared by Zionists.

Two Sick Societies tag teaming Indigenous and Stealing Everything they Have. For Fun... And Profit.

Nothing to See Here.

It's an Old Story.

#7 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-04-04 04:54 PM | Reply

USSECDEF Pete Hellsbreath shared this on Signal with the Trumpf national security team which all the NATO countries read: "I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's pathetic."

#8 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-04-04 05:00 PM | Reply

Historically, extermination of indigenous peoples have been self-funded, like Russia's 19th-century eastward expansion against the Turkic people of Central Asia or the US 19th-century westward expansion against the Apaches and the Sioux. Israel's Nakba is a precedent in that the 20th-century ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has been externally funded by the taxpayers of another country, namely the "good ole U.S. of A." media.istockphoto.com

#9 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-04-04 05:08 PM | Reply

Fat Donnie Failure

#10 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-04-04 07:59 PM | Reply

The "savages," as Trumpf calls them, shot down another another US MQ-9 Reaper drone. This is the third such drone the Houthis have shot down since 3 Mar and the second shot down since the US began conducting daily strikes to please Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS). While the US has been carrying out airstrikes daily for 20 straight days, there have been few updates from the Trumpf junta on the status of the operation. The Pentagon has not held a press briefing in weeks and the DoD has been quiet about the ongoing strikes. The average cost of a MQ-9 drone is about $30 million and each costs about $3,500 per flight hour. (Source: Fox News, 4 Apr 2025). The hardworking American taxpayer is simply getting soaked: stljewishlight.org

#11 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-04-05 04:33 AM | Reply