What is really going on with the GWOT?

Rhetoric vs. reality? Poorly consolidated nation-states, some which do not really rise to a minimum definition of a nation-state, where tribal and religious affiliation trumps ANY sense of national identity, and which have unpopular, repressive governments which have been or are being co-opted by "The West" are in danger of becoming governments in name only, especially where opponents of the national state are located in difficult terrain.

Some of the "dissidents" in Yemen have been attacking targets of opportunity in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi have been hitting back, inside Yemen. The Saudi royal family is no less despised and hated by many Yemeni that is their own government. Plus, a lot of Yemeni have a love-hate relationship with Saudi. They can get jobs there but are looked down upon. I recall a joke "rules of the road" by a Brit expat in Saudi in the mid '80s.  One of the rules was: "If you hit a Yemeni, go to the nearest police station to collect your prize!" Hyperbole, but.... Add to that the fact that the Bin Laden family is from Yemen.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Isn't this a bit of an overreaction?

The USA and Britain have to be seen as doing something. Probably almost anything they do to strike back at "the terrorists" will only, on the whole, make their own situation in Sana'a less tenable. And I doubt that their embassies are very "hard" or can be made very "hard". Worst case, were the government to fall, embassy take-overs and hostage situations could arise.

Yemen (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), officially the  Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhuuriyya al-Yamaniyya) is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. It has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the south, and Oman to the east.

Yemen is just under 530,000 km2 in land area. Its territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 kilometres (259 miles) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. Yemen is the only republic on the Arabian Peninsula, and one of eight in the Arab World. Its capital is Sana'a. Between 2000 and 2006, 17.5% of the population lived on less than US$ 1.25 per day.

Note the estimated population of 23 million. The estimated population of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is estimated at 28 million, but many consider that number vastly inflated and includes all the expats, who outnumbered the native Saudis and possibly still do. I recall estimates from the '80s of one to three million native Saudis. This may have as much as tripled, as the Kingdom has encouraged growth of the native population, the size of which was then a sensitive subject. My first hand experience and my reading on the area both date to the mid '80s.  

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."