Why Are We Helping Saudi Arabia Destroy Yemen?
By Ron Paul
November 21, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- It’s remarkable that whenever you read an
article about Yemen in the mainstream media,
the central role of Saudi Arabia and the
United States in the tragedy is glossed over
or completely ignored. A recent Washington
Post article purporting to tell us “how
things got so bad” explains to us that,
“it's a complicated story” involving
“warring regional superpowers, terrorism,
oil, and an impending climate catastrophe.”
No, Washington Post, it’s simpler than that.
The tragedy in Yemen is the result of
foreign military intervention in the
internal affairs of that country. It started
with the “Arab Spring” which had all the
fingerprints of State Department meddling,
and it escalated with 2015’s unprovoked
Saudi attack on the country to re-install
Riyadh’s preferred leader. Thousands of
innocent civilians have been killed and
millions more are at risk as starvation and
cholera rage.
We are told that US foreign policy should
reflect American values. So how can
Washington support Saudi Arabia – a
tyrannical state with one of the worst human
rights record on earth – as it commits by
what any measure is a genocide against the
Yemeni people? The UN undersecretary-general
for humanitarian affairs warned just last
week that Yemen faces "the largest famine
the world has seen for many decades with
millions of victims." The Red Cross has just
estimated that a million people are
vulnerable in the cholera epidemic that
rages through Yemen.
And why is there a cholera epidemic? Because
the Saudi government – with US support – has
blocked every port of entry to prevent
critical medicine from reaching suffering
Yemenis. This is not a war. It is cruel
murder.
The United States is backing Saudi
aggression against Yemen by cooperating in
every way with the Saudi military.
Targeting, intelligence, weapons sales, and
more. The US is a partner in Saudi Arabia’s
Yemen crimes.
Does holding hands with Saudi Arabia as it
slaughters Yemeni children really reflect
American values? Is anyone even paying
attention?
The claim that we are fighting al-Qaeda in
Yemen and thus our involvement is covered
under the post-9/11 authorization for the
use of force is without merit. In fact it
has been reported numerous times in the
mainstream media that US intervention on
behalf of the Saudis in Yemen is actually a
boost to al-Qaeda in the country. Al-Qaeda
is at war with the Houthis who had taken
control of much of the country because the
Houthis practice a form of Shi’a Islam they
claim is tied to Iran. We are fighting on
the same side as al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Adding insult to injury, the US Congress
can’t be bothered to even question how we
got so involved in a war that has nothing to
do with us. A few conscientious Members of
Congress got together recently to introduce
a special motion under the 1973 War Powers
Act that would have required a vote on our
continued military involvement in the Yemen
genocide. The leadership of both parties
joined together to destroy this attempt to
at least get a vote on US aggression against
Yemen. As it turns out, the only Members to
vote against this shamefully gutted
resolution were the original Members who
introduced it. This is bipartisanship at its
worst.
US involvement in Saudi Arabia’s crimes
against Yemen is a national disgrace. That
the mainstream media fails to accurately
cover this genocide is shameful. Let us join
our voices now to demand that our US
Representatives end US involvement in Yemen
immediately!
Copyright © 2017 by RonPaul Institute.
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