As Saudi-Bombed Yemen Faces Famine, a Left-Right Alliance Challenges U.S. Policy

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yemen_saudi_airstrike_rubble_ap_imgSHIREEN AL-ADEIMI, sha980 [at] mail.harvard.edu, @shireen818

Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni-Canadian-American, is a doctoral candidate and instructor at Harvard University.

JAMES CARDEN, jamescarden09 [at] gmail.com
Carden just wrote the piece “America’s Support For Saudi Arabia’s War On Yemen Must End” for The Nation magazine. He writes: “According to a report issued by the United Nations on March 27, Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen has resulted in what is quickly becoming a humanitarian catastrophe with nearly 7 million people at risk of famine and more than 14 million people without access to medical care. According to the World Health Organization, 7,719 people have been killed and 42,922 have been injured since the start of the conflict in March 2015. And yet the savage war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and aided to a significant degree by American weapons and intelligence, shows no sign of letting up.

“Disturbingly, the U.S. has been acting as a de facto co-belligerent since at least October 2015 when President Obama gave the green light to Lockheed Martin to sell the Saudis four ‘multi-mission’ warships totaling about $11.25 billion. This came only a month after the Saudi-led military coalition earned world-wide censure for its bombing of a wedding party in southern Yemen, killing 135 people. At the time, the Obama administration issued a routine and hypocritical ‘expression of concern’ over the incident.

“Last week, the Washington Post reported what many had long suspected: that Trump intends to pick up where Obama left off and scale up America’s involvement in the ongoing catastrophe. …

“Yet some much needed push-back against the rush toward confrontation with Iran, particularly with regard to the administration’s plans in Yemen, is emerging. This week, a bipartisan coalition of House members, including Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan, California Democrat Ted Lieu, Michigan Republican Justin Amash, and North Carolina Republican Walter Jones are circulating a letter to the president that objects to the administration’s escalation in Yemen. The representatives write that they are ‘troubled by news reports indicating that Al Qaeda in Yemen has emerged as a de facto ally of the Saudi-led militaries with whom your administration aims to partner more closely.’”

Note: Activists from several groups including Voices for Creative Nonviolence and New York Catholic Worker community will begin a vigil and fast in front of the United Nations on Monday, April 10, 2017. See news release.