There are many similarities between the two conflicts. In both, the U.S. proxies are fighting Iranian proxies. And in both Yemen and Syria, there is no reasonable prospect of installing the kind of regime that would meet all the checkmarks for Western policymakers. In both cases, the U.S. not-so-secretly longs for a stable government that is Sunni-dominated and amenable to our ally, Saudi Arabia, but also has no trace of theocratic radicalism, or embarrassing association with terror groups. Everyone knows this is like asking for an airplane that is also a submarine, and so the U.S. has in both countries intervened just enough to try to avoid worst-case scenarios, like a clean win for the players that are allied with Iran.

And in both the wars in Syria and Yemen, U.S. military forces have joined in the fight without anything like an explicit war authorization from Congress. In 2013, President Obama went to Congress asking for just such an authorization for Syria. Congress punted because it was massively unpopular with the American public. But Obama continued covert and increasingly overt military action there. When pressed, the executive branch argues that military actions in these countries fall under the post 9/11 Authorization of Military Force. This is almost a cosmic joke in that in both Syria and Yemen, official U.S. allies and proxies are themselves increasingly allied with al Qaeda, the target of the very same AUMF. In reality, the U.S. military is conducting these wars under the authority of the American public’s indifference and disinterest. Who could possibly bother educating themselves about Yemen when our own presidential election is turning into a reality-TV show that allows us to indulge in maximal self-hatred?