A quick reminder for whose who contend there isn’t a pressing U.S. interest in targeting the Houthis, because as the Vice President noted in the infamous Signal chat, “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does.”
Take a moment to guess how many times the Houthis have fired upon U.S. naval ships…
From Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell, March 21: “Houthi terrorists have launched missiles and one-way attack drones at U.S. warships over 170 times and at commercial vessels 145 times since 2023.” In addition, in late February, for the first time, the Houthis fired surface-to-air missiles at a U.S. F-16 fighter jet flying over the coast of Yemen, and a MQ-9 Reaper drone flying over Yemen. U.S. military officials characterized those actions as “a significant escalation” to Fox News. From that article:
Senior military leaders believe that it could be only a matter of time before a Houthi missile hits a U.S. Navy vessel, which could cause devastating injuries and damage to the aircraft carriers and destroyers that have been patrolling the Red Sea since shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks.
So far, the Navy has shot down or intercepted all of the missiles and drones fired at their warships by the Houthis, but sometimes the interceptions have occurred seconds before impact.
So the Houthis are not just a threat to commercial vessels traveling to and from European ports through the Red Sea. They are a threat to U.S. naval vessels. (Although now after those airstrikes, there are fewer Houthis and missile systems, drone bases, etc. around.)
A person identified in Signal as “Joe Kent” (Trump’s nominee to run the National Counterterrorism Center is named Joe Kent) wrote at 8:22, “There is nothing time sensitive driving the time line. We’ll have the exact same options in a month.”
Eh… is he sure? Maybe nothing significant happens in a month, or maybe the Houthis get lucky and one of their missiles or drones gets through and does significant damage. Goldberg continues:
Then, at 8:26 a.m., a message landed in my Signal app from the user “John Ratcliffe.” The message contained information that might be interpreted as related to actual and current intelligence operations.
Maybe whatever Ratcliffe said persuaded the others of the value of hitting the Houthis sooner rather than later. Goldberg continued:
A few minutes later, the “Michael Waltz” account posted a lengthy note about trade figures, and the limited capabilities of European navies. “Whether it’s now or several weeks from now, it will have to be the United States that reopens these shipping lanes. Per the president’s request we are working with DOD and State to determine how to compile the cost associated and levy them on the Europeans.”
The account identified as “JD Vance” addressed a message at 8:45 to @Pete Hegseth: “if you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”
I will completely agree with anyone who argues that our NATO allies ought to be spending more and should have larger navies that can project power far from their shores. But it’s not like the Europeans have been completely absent from the fight against the Houthis.
Since October 2023, U.S. efforts to protect international shipping in the Red Sea has been supported by the French Navy’s frigate Languedoc (which shot down Houthi drones), the French frigate Alsace, the French supply ship Jacques Chevallier, the Danish Navy’s frigate HDMS Iver Huitfeldt, the German Navy’s frigate Hessen, the Greek Navy’s frigate Hydra, the Italian Navy’s destroyer Caio Duilio (which shot down a Houthi missile over the Red Sea), and the Royal Netherlands Navy’s frigate HNLMS Tromp. (How could a ship with that name not get more attention from this administration?) In addition, a French Panther helicopter deployed from the Alsace shot down a Houthi UAV flying towards commercial vessels over the southern Red Sea. In February 2024, U.K. Royal Air Force Typhoons attacked and successfully destroyed a Houthi drone control stations and a missile station.
In addition to our European allies, the Australians took command of the task force in October, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has joined anti-piracy patrols. Separately, the Indian and Pakistani navies have also sent ships, although the Pakistanis insisted it was only for the protection of their own trade routes, not as part of any coalition against the Houthis.
So the perception that Americans have been left to do this job all by ourselves is not quite accurate. As Waltz reportedly noted in the Signal chat, our allies’ naval capabilities are not what we want them to be. But we shouldn’t forget or ignore the contributions they’ve made, and are still making.