Tag: Saudi Arabia

Call Congress in Support of the Yemen War Powers Bill

The organization Just Foreign Policy has been advocating for the Yemeni War Powers bill to be passed by Congress in order to stop the genocide now occurring in that country.

Yemen has become the scene of the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.

Leaked! Despite War Crimes in Yemen US Trains Saudi Pilots

See my previous posts here, here, here, here .  We have soldiers and intelligence assets on the ground.  The US also the largest arms supplier to Saudi Arabia, the principle antagonist in Yemen’s civil war.

American money, arms, and soldiers, directed by our president and an acquiescent, do-nothing

congress, have helped Saudi Arabia to turn Yemen into a slaughter house where innocent men, women and children are butchered every day.

Please read the latest call for action from Just Foreign Policy reproduced below and make those three phone calls.  Thank you.

“The House goes out on recess this week. If a Yemen war powers bill is going to be introduced in the House before recess, that decision will be made today. If no bill is introduced, we’ll have no Congressional vehicle in August to respond to the threatened Saudi-UAE escalation of the war. The UN has warned that ten million more Yemenis will be pushed to the brink of starvation if the U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen does not end this year. 

“The actions today of three Representatives will be key:

Ro Khanna: (202) 225-2631

Adam Smith: (202) 225-8901

Ted Lieu: (202) 225-3976

“Please call their offices now, in that order. When you reach a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like: 

“’I urge you to move forward with the introduction of a Yemen war powers bill in the House before recess. This will deter Saudi-UAE from escalating and pressure them to agree to the UN peace deal. If Saudi-UAE escalate, the bill will give grassroots activists a vehicle for response.’

“When you’ve made your call[s], please report so here. 

“The UN and aid groups have warned that if the U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen is not ended this year, another ten million Yemenis will be pushed to the edge of starvation. The UN envoy has said he is close to a deal that would stop the Saudi-UAE assault on Hodeida and return the parties to peace talks. Thus, if the UN envoy is successful in his efforts, it could spare millions of Yemenis from being pushed to the edge of starvation. The crucial thing needed to end the war is more U.S. pressure on Saudi-UAE.

“That is why the question of what Members of Congress do now is so urgent. What Members of Congress do now to increase pressure on the Trump Administration and Saudi-UAE to end the war is the only variable apparent on the scene that appears to have any chance of sparing millions of lives in Yemen. 

“In particular, the introduction of a House war powers bill before the recess would give us a vehicle around which to organize public opinion to pressure Congress. Without such a vehicle and without such organizing, past experience indicates that the worsening of the U.S.-Saudi imposed humanitarian crisis in Yemen is a tree that falls in the forest without making an effective sound in the U.S. The worst developments are occasionally reported in mainstream U.S. press. But the attention is not sustained. The last time the issue received sustained attention in the U.S. was in March, when Senators Sanders, Lee, and Murphy introduced a war powers bill in the Senate and pushed for a vote. That is the kind of attention that we need in the U.S. on Yemen now. 

“Urge Khanna, Smith, and Lieu to act:

Ro Khanna: (202) 225-2631

Adam Smith: (202) 225-8901

Ted Lieu: (202) 225-3976″

Please make the calls.

The Catastrophe in Yemen Continues to Worsen Because of US #yemen

The folks at Just Foreign Policy are sending a petition to Congress and attempting to rally popular support in order to end American support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.

Yemeni children are dying of malnutrition and cholera.

Please take the time to read the excerpt posted below from their appeal.  Check out the embedded sources.  Reread my past blog posts about the tragedy unfolding in Yemen (here, here and here).

And remember…this is not a natural catastrophe.  It is an entirely man-made disaster.  

Recalling the Old Testament story of Nathan the prophet confronting King David:  The prophet today points his finger in the face of America and Saudi Arabia saying, “You are the nation.”  WE are the culprits condemning innocent Yemeni people to starvation and disease.

The guilt and responsibility is ours, America.  And we have the power to end it whenever we choose.  Here is the excerpt:

“The long-feared U.S.-backed Saudi-UAE assault on Hodeida, where four-fifths of Yemen’s food imports enter, has begun. ABC News reports: “Assault on Yemen’s largest port threatens to increase mass starvation.” Aid experts warned that an assault on the city could immediately threaten the lives of 250,000 people and put millions more at risk of starving to death. The U.S.-backed Saudi-UAE war against Yemen’s indigenous Houthi rebels has already created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, leaving 60% of the population – 17.8 million Yemenis – food insecure, and 8.4 million a step away from famine.
 
“ABC noted that the U.S. is providing “vital guidance and supplies” for the Saudi-UAE attack on Hodeida. The Wall Street Journal was more explicit: “The U.S. military is providing its Gulf allies with intelligence to fine-tune their list of airstrike targets in Yemen’s most important port, one sign of the Trump administration’s deepening role in a looming assault that the United Nations says could trigger a massive humanitarian crisis.”
 
“33 Representatives tried to stop the attack by threatening the Trump Administration with a vote invoking the War Powers Resolution to force an end to U.S. participation in the war. They were: Mark Pocan, Justin Amash, Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie, Barbara Lee, Walter Jones, Ted Lieu, James McGovern, Tulsi Gabbard, Yvette Clarke, Pramila Jayapal, Peter DeFazio, Debbie Dingell, Earl Blumenauer, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Gwen Moore, Adriano Espaillat, Judy Chu, Bobby Rush, Keith Ellison, Jan Schakowsky, Raúl Grijalva, Jamie Raskin, Donald Beyer, Karen Bass, Frank Pallone, Beto O’Rourke, Alan Lowenthal, Betty McCollum, Zoe Lofgren, Jared Huffman, Eddie Bernice Johnson, and Hank Johnson.
 
“The Members wrote: “We urge you to use all available means to avert a catastrophic military assault on Yemen’s major port city of Hodeida by the Saudi-led coalition…We remind you that three years into the conflict, active U.S. participation in Saudi-led hostilities against Yemen’s Houthis has never been authorized by Congress, in violation of the Constitution…In light of a possibly disastrous offensive on Hodeida, we remind you that under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress alone has the power to declare and authorize war, and the War Powers Resolution allows any individual member of Congress to force a debate and floor vote to remove U.S. forces from unauthorized hostilities.”
 
“Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the Trump Administration have ignored these warnings. They don’t believe that Members of Congress have the courage to follow through on their threat.

“Help us prove Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the Trump Administration wrong. Press Members of Congress to invoke war powers to force a vote to end unconstitutional U.S. participation in the catastrophic Saudi-UAE assault on Hodeida by signing our petition.”

A Spider’s Web of Corruption

For more on Yemen, here is an excellent summary (from Democracy Now!) on the political machinations and disturbing developments coming out of Washington D.C. over the past few days.

It offers fine interviews from knowledgeable people, a C-SPAN clip of Sen. Sanders on the Senate floor, more about the Saudi crown prince, Trump’s weapons deal, and Yemeni suffering.  It is about 15 minutes long.

I hope you will set aside a few minutes to keep yourself apprised of the many nasty strands that make up the spider’s web of US foreign policy.

Thanks.

Senate Condemns Yemen to Ongoing Slaughter

In a 55-44 vote yesterday, primarily along party lines, the US Senate decided to table the bipartisan S.J.Res.54.  In effect, killing it for the foreseeable future.  The vote was scheduled deliberately to coincide with the state visit of Saudi Arabia’s ruling crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Nora O’Donnell’s groveling interview for “60 Minutes” (see good discussions here and here) offered a Marie Antoinette moment for American viewers. Not only did she not ask a single question about the war in Yemen (something that would have never passed muster in the days of Mike Wallace).

But those of us who knew what was happening on the other side of The Hill, watched a repulsive spectacle. The United States Senate and CBS News, a king-pin in corporate broadcasting, were genuflecting before Saudi royalty while telling the Yemeni victims of our illegal war — “let them eat cake.”

Especially noteworthy was the president’s afternoon press conference with the crown prince.  President Trump chose to focus attention on the tens of billions of dollars in arms sales that the Saudis will continue to buy from US manufacturers (what’s the deal with the big visual aids? I kept expecting Trump to poke the prince in the eye).

Obviously, in the calculus of our capital city, Yemeni lives just aren’t worth very much.  At least not when Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Ratheon and other weapons manufacturers stand to make billions in profits.

But, then, this has always been the American way of war and diplomacy.

If you have never read it before, take a look at Marine General Smedley Butler’s important book “War is a Racket” (1935).

Sadly, it has ever been this way.   As the Greek historian Thucydides (c. 460 – c. 400 BC) wrote, “The rich will do what they can, while the poor will suffer what they must.”

The rich have won another round, for the time being.

The poor in Yemen — and others like them who suffer wherever the American Empire (and our collaborators) places selfish, national, economic interests above the needs of humanity — will continue to die of starvation, disease, bombs and bullets.  Each weapon proudly stamped “made in the USA.”

Yesterday’s political maneuvers were signed in blood, by both the Senate and the White House. America’s cup fills to overflowing, and the inspired warnings of John the Revelator (Revelation 18:23-24) were never more relevant:

“Your merchants were the world’s great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her/you was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.”

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Durer

Their blood, like Abel’s, will cry out from the ground on Judgement Day (Genesis 4:10).  God keeps close accounts. They will be avenged, and America, with all her leaders responsible, will be condemned.

Yet, followers of Jesus are neither shocked nor discouraged when sin shows its ugly public face, as it did yesterday. Justice and mercy will not always triumph in this world, but Christians know that goodness and love  WILL reign supreme on that Last Day.

In the meantime, we have every reason to continue our witness to see Humanity Renewed here and now through Jesus Christ.

Check to see how your senators voted.   If they voted AGAINST tabling the resolution (as did my two!), call or write and express your gratitude and appreciation.  If they voted IN FAVOR of tabling S.J.Res.54, let them know in no uncertain terms that they have not represented your values. If their moral compass does not change, then they may not remain in office much longer.

And Pray.  Pray for the people of Yemen. Pray for the victims who die every day in the multiple American wars raging continuously around the globe.

Pray for the people of God, especially that Christians in the USA will be conformed to the mind of Christ (Romans 12:1-2) even as we are exorcised of the spirit of partisan politics and of Donald Trump.

 

Excellent Yemen Analysis by Lawrence Wilkerson, What Corporate Media Isn’t Saying

Retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson is an honest man of deep integrity, intelligence and straightforwardness.  He was Gen. Colin Powell’s chief of staff in the last Bush administration and is now a Distinguished Professor of Government & Public Policy at William and Mary.  His  recent article in the New York Times, “I Helped Sell the False Choice of War Once. It’s Happening Again” illustrates his depth of conscience.

I always try to read and/or listen whenever I come across anything from  Wilkerson.  So, given my recent posts on the catastrophe unfolding in Yemen (here and here), I am sharing an 18 minute interview with Wilkerson available on the RealNews (an excellent source of information I look at regularly).

Col. Wilkerson discusses vital topics: the Saudi Arabian bloodletting going on; US involvement; the famine; Pentagon malfeasance; Iran and more.

Please take a few minutes to hear a man of conscience discuss American culpability in the poorest Arab-speaking country in the Middle East. (I was hoping to post the video here, but it is too large. So, click the link above.)

The bipartisan bill (SJ Res 54) that will help to end the war in Yemen could come up for a vote as early as today (3/20/10).  Call now if you haven’t already.

Call 1-833- STOP WAR. 

 

US War Machine Puts Profits Above Yemeni Lives

Both White House and Pentagon officials are scrambling in order to defeat the bipartisan bill (SJ Res 54) that wants to end American’s illegal military activity in Yemen.

Recall that the US has helped Saudi Arabia create the largest humanitarian crisis in the world right now. A few weeks ago, I asked you to call your elected officials in support of SJ Res 54, insisting that the US stop arming the Saudis in violation of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

We are the largest weapons supplier to the Saudis government, which means billions in profits for the US military-industrial complex. Not long ago, Pentagon officials openly admitted that THEY HAD NO IDEA exactly how, when or where US bombs and missiles were being deployed!

But US military strategy is not the point.  MONEY — profiting from another war — is the point.

When the Pentagon now warns that withdrawing US support for the Saudi slaughter in Yemen will damage our relations, what they really mean to say is that American weapons manufacturers will make less money than they had otherwise hoped.  After all, Saudi Arabia is one of our “best” customers. President Trump recently announced a $350 billion arms deal with them.

There is a lot of profit to be found in butchering innocent men, women and children in the poorest nation in the Arab world!  A gruesomely devilish calculus when measured against the tens of thousands of innocent Yemenis that continue to suffer death, injury, malnutrition and starvation in yet another illegal, American proxy war.

We cannot allow Trump’s war machine to win this contest.  Innocent lives literally depend upon the outcome of this vote.  If you called previously, THANKS!  Please take a moment to call again, while we still can.

Call 1-833- STOP WAR Today. 

Stop the World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis

Call 1-833- STOP WAR Today. 

Tell your Senators to vote YES on Senate Bill H. Con. Res. 81, a bipartisan bill invoking the War Powers Act (1973) with regard to America’s unlawful military attacks on Yemen video link.

Yemen, the poorest Arab speaking country in the Middle East, is in the midst of the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.  At least 1 million cases of cholera, affecting over 600,000 children, have been reported with no end in sight.

According to the United Nations, 7 million people are on the verge of starvation as the country suffers the largest famine the world has seen in many decades.  One hundred thirty children slowly waste away and die every day from hunger and disease.

Yemeni children suspected of being infected with cholera receive treatment at a makeshift hospital in Sanaa on June 5, 2017.
Yemen is descending into total collapse, its people facing war, famine and a deadly outbreak of cholera, as the world watches, the UN aid chief said. / AFP PHOTO / Mohammed HUWAISMOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images
NYTCREDIT: Mohammed Huwais/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Yemen’s catastrophe is entirely man-made, and the American church ought to be leading the charge in putting an end to this grotesque proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

American hands are covered in Yemeni blood, for our government remains the primary source of military weaponry, (such as bombs, missiles and fighter planes), intelligence, targeting information, ground support and the financial backing that makes Saudi Arabia’s continuing slaughter of innocent men, women and children possible.

After Yemen’s civil war in 2015, Saudi Arabia decided that it did not approve of the winning faction, largely because they had backing from Iran.  The Saudis (who are Sunni Arabs) and the Iranians (who are Shia Persians) have long been regional antagonists, staring each other down over ethnic and religious divides.

Yemen quickly fell victim to Saudi Arabia’s hatred of Iran when the Saudi’s inserted themselves into the country’s internal affairs, choosing to slaughter and destroy anyone and everything that might assist Yemen’s pro-Iranian side of the conflict.

Tragically, Saudi Arabia’s largest ally is the United States. I say “tragically” because America’s longstanding, irrational hostility towards Iran made us the perfect willing accomplice to horrendous Saudi war crimes.

Yemen is hugely dependent on international food imports (link) to feed its people, the very people who are now dying of starvation because the US/Saudi joint military blockade (stopping all air, ground and sea transportation) is strangling the life out of an entire nation.

Yemen’s cholera epidemic is a direct result of Saudi pilots raining down American made bombs and missiles on Yemen’s water treatment plants, waste disposal facilities, pipelines, reservoirs, irrigation systems and electric grids.

Leaked! Despite War Crimes in Yemen UK Trains Saudi Pilots

This US/Saudi criminal collusion is responsible for an estimated 10,000 deaths, at least half of them civilians, including 140 mourners snuffed out at a village funeral.  While fervishly digging for survivors, rescuers uncovered the tail fin of an American-made bomb buried in the rubble – a gruesome American tombstone over one of hundreds of mass graves financed by the US political establishment.

Bodies of Somali migrants, killed in attack by a helicopter while travelling in a boat off the coast of Yemen, lie on the ground at Hodeida city, Yemen, Friday, Mar. 17, 2017. A helicopter gunship attacked a boat packed with Somali migrants off the coast of Yemen overnight Thursday, killing at least 31 people, according to a U.N. agency, Yemeni officials and a survivor who witnessed the attack. (AP Photo/Abdel-Karim Muhammed)

President Obama unilaterally began our blind support for these Saudi war crimes in 2015.  But the death toll has risen 3 times over during Trump’s presidency.  In March 2017 alone there were more bombing strikes in 1 week than during any given year under Obama.  In the first 7 months of Trump’s presidency, there have been more civilian deaths (between 3,000 to 4,500) than there were during the entire Obama administration.

Every American who claims to follow Jesus needs to rise up, filled with Christian moral indignation, and speak out against these horrific war crimes now underway at our expense.