WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on news the United States is closing our embassy in Yemen and evacuating diplomats from the country.

Graham is the Chairman of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee which has oversight over State Department operations.

Graham said:

"It's long been clear Yemen was not the ‘success story' that President Obama once claimed it to be. Today's news is an unfortunate, yet totally predictable, development which confirms that fact. Given the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the State Department was left with no alternative but to withdraw American diplomats from the country and close our embassy.

"Yemen has been of strategic importance to the United States, and I fear these latest developments will create a vacuum that will ultimately benefit al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). AQAP is a committed enemy of the United States and is believed to have been responsible for the recent terror attacks in Paris. AQAP continues to harbor a burning desire to attack the United States, and we must remain vigilant in protecting ourselves from them.

"Finally, our nation continues to be weakened by the Obama Administration's lack of an overall strategy to deal with the threat posed by radical Islam. Yemen is but the latest, yet I fear probably not the last, example of President Obama's failing foreign policy.

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