Why the U.S. Cares About Yemen

Ever wonder why we here in the U.S. should care about Yemen?

You know, Yemen? Yeah, me too...never would have thought about the place until recently.

But here are three things to consider in order to get to the answer of why our country cares about Yemen and uses our military to intervene there...

• First, think about how dependent on oil our economy is, and how much of that oil comes from the Middle East.
• Second, think about how that oil gets from the middle east (by ship) and where it has to go to get to us.
• Then third, look at this map...

That's right. Yemen sits there at the opening of the Red Sea...a major waterway up to the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean and onto the Atlantic. Or, going the other direction, it sits there right at the gap leading from the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean and Pacific. Either way you are shipping oil by ship, you're more than likely to need to go through that gap. Control that gap, you control the flow of oil shipping. You don't control that gap because of a rouge regime or anarchy? Well, could be problems gassing up you Escalade.