The administration's Middle East foreign policy accelerates it's collapse.

The evacuation of the embassy in Yemen was sudden and a bit disorganized, allowing the Houthi's to drive away with the embassy's vehicles that they apparently left at the airport, and requiring the Marines to destroy all their weapons, apparently because the administration couldn't arrange for them to leave with them.

Isn't all of that public property, paid for with tax dollars?

This headlong retreat represents both a loss of our people's financial investment in the embassy and it's gear, but also our reputation, honor and influence in Yemen and in the Middle East as a whole.  That reputation is of paramount importance in our ability to influence other Middle Eastern governments.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that although the CIA is still in southern Yemen, their practical effectiveness there is at an end.

 "The embassy closure has made close coordination with Yemen’s intelligence service all but impossible, prompting worries among U.S. officials that the intelligence streams that have sustained the drone campaign could soon evaporate."

“The issue would be whether you have the intelligence you need to know what to target,” a senior U.S. official said in an interview before the embassy was closed. “To a large extent, that was a product of the cooperation we got from the Yemenis.”

"Pentagon officials have said that U.S. Special Operations teams are still in Yemen and continuing to work with that country’s counterterrorism units outside the capital. But U.S. officials acknowledged that those operations also have been impaired by the political turmoil and said that any deterioration in intelligence would also affect a parallel drone program in Yemen operated by the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command."

"As recently as September, President Obama described the Yemen arrangements as a model for his administration’s approach to counterterrorism."

So the administration has lost it's ability to know where the bad guys are, and do something about it.  Now, who among the Yemenis would risk cooperation with us?  To be discovered to be a collaborator with the Americans would likely mean the quick separation of your head from your body.  

Not satisfied with their loss of control and reputation in the Middle East, the administration is competing with Baghdad Bob for the title of most shameless  liar. Check out State's Psaki and her efforts to convince the press that they shouldn't believe their own lying eyes:

Hey, losing three out of nine isn't bad, right?

Psaki went on:

Psaki also confirmed reports that Houthi rebels seized all U.S. embassy vehicles that were left at the airport when the Americans flew out of Yemen.

"Upon our departure, our vehicles and equipment were seized, reportedly by the Houthis. We are looking into this. Clearly, it is unacceptable and we would reiterate that in order to return to Sana’a, respect for property, respect for our facilities is an essential component of that. So we certainly are requesting they be returned.

In response to a follow-up question, Psaki said, "We expect the Houthis to respect international conventions that apply to our facilities and to expect – and to be – and we expect to be able to return to the Embassy in the same condition. There were reports also, I think, that some had entered the compound. We don’t have anything to confirm those reports at this time."

Why would the Houthis respect international conventions?

"Well, we certainly hope they would. They’ve made public statements about how they are not – they have no desire to go after our interests, go after our materials. So we expect them to abide by their own statements," Psaki said.

Hope is not a strategy, Jen.  Neither is sincerely wanting to play a role.  The Yemenis, Houthis, and Iranians just as sincerely don't want us to "play a role."  Now, however, they all have nice new American vehicles to drive around in, no doubt shooting out the window in the traditional Arab gesture of triumph.  Our role there is over.

Pathetic.