Though largely ineffective, the Houthi attacks have been able to disrupt shipping and keep the U.S. and its allies tied down, frustrating the Navy’s decades-old mission of keeping open the region’s critical sea lanes.
“Though largely ineffective, the attacks have done everything they were supposed to do.”
The article says that “the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt will head to the Middle East to maintain a presence in the region”.
So it looks like it could be a routine ship swap. But if that were the case, I’d expect NPR to emphasize that in the article, and they don’t. They mention the other ship one time and then the rest of the article is talking about how the Houthis are doing lots of attacks.
I’m just confused about this article from a propaganda perspective, I guess. Is it trying to say “the Ike has done good work, it’s time for it to come home and be replaced by another ship, no worries, the US rocks, we have this under control” or is it trying to say “the Houthis are terrifying, they’re an absolute menace and our smol bean navy is trying valiantly to keep the strait safe, but we have to bring home our carrier because the Houthis are just too scary”?
Because this article seems to gesture in both of those directions, and they’re pretty contradictory.