AP reports “House passes measure to pull troops from Yemen war, a rebuke of President Trump’s alliance with Saudi Arabia.”
Ro Khanna tweeted: “My War Powers Resolution passing in the House today is the culmination of over a year and a half of hard work and couldn’t be done without the activists and organizations who pushed every single day for action on Yemen.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders — a lead sponsor of the Senate bill — tweeted: “I applaud my House colleagues for today’s historic passage of HJ Res 37 — ending U.S. support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen. The Senate must quickly pass this resolution and finally reassert Congress’ constitutional authority over war.” A vote in the Senate is expected in the coming weeks.
JEHAN HAKIM, hakimjehan at gmail.com
Hakim is chair of the Yemeni Alliance Committee [see on Facebook], a leading grassroots group on the issue.
HASSAN EL-TAYYAB, eltayyab at justforeignpolicy.org, @justfp
El-Tayyab is co-director of Just Foreign Policy, a leading national group on the issue. He said: “As a tactic in the U.S.-backed war, the Saudi-led coalition has blockaded the ports of Yemen and cut off the flow of food, fuel and medicine, leaving roughly 14 million people on the brink of famine. More than one million people have been infected with cholera, with an alarming 10,000 new cases each week. As a result of the U.S.-Saudi military campaign, Yemen has become the site of the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet, according to the United Nations. Aid agencies have described Yemen as the worst place in the world to be a child — the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 85,000 children through hunger and disease.
“On December 13th, 2018, the U.S. Senate, led by Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee and Chris Murphy, passed an identical measure, S.J.Res. 54, with a 56-member bipartisan majority. That successful legislative push gave UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths greatly needed leverage in peace talks with Hadi and Houthi government officials.”
See prior Institute for Public Accuracy news releases on the issue.
Note: The ACLU has voiced legal objections to exceptions contained in the legislation since the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force is still in effect.
