Check for web archive captures
What I Hope Obama Said
By maudeaster on 2016-04-22 11:41:38
When President Obama visited Saudi Arabia this week, there was f only
minimal public mention of the war in Yemen, where sadly the US has been fueling, literally, the Saudi-led military
campaign. But my hope is that Obama used his private discussions to signal an end to US support for the air strikes and sea
embargo which are directly and indirectly decimating the civilian population. The UN estimates that over 6,000 people have
been killed and more than 80% of Yemenis need humanitarian assistance. Here’s the off-camera message I hope President
Obama delivered: “Your Saudi-led coalition has broken its promises to observe the UN-brokered truce in Yemen. You have
continued your disastrous attacks on civilians. The US is ending its partnership in this military campaign. There will be no
more US weapons shipments like [caption id="attachment_8271" align="alignright" width="300"]
Mastaba market after Saudi arirstrike[/caption] those you used to bomb the
Mastaba village marketplace on March 15th killing at least 97 civilians, including 25 children. We are withdrawing our 45-
person American military planning group which has been feeding you intelligence and helping you pick targets, making us
complicit in UN-charged violations of the laws of war. We will no longer refuel your airplanes. We are calling on other
nations to join us in an immediate arms embargo.” I’m sure President Obama knows that Human Rights Watch
investigators at the scene of the March 15th bombing (the 12‘ civilian marketplace bombed by the Saudi coalition)
found unmistakable evidence of US complicity in the civilian deaths. Joe Gould wrote in Defense News: “The
organization reported finding the remnants of a GBU-31 satellite-guided bomb; which consists of a US-supplied MK-84
2000-pound bomb mated with a JDAM satellite [caption id="attachment_8273" align="alignright" width="260"]
“a Remnant of US-made Paveway found at bomb site[/caption] guidance kit, also US-
supplied; ITV, a British news channel, reported finding remnants of an MK-84 bomb paired with a Paveway laser guidance
kit.” (US corporations General Dynamics makes the MK-84, Raytheon makes the Paveway and Rockwell Collins makes the
JDAM satellite kit.) It’s no wonder that US weapons were found. William Hartung describes in The New York Times the
incredible magnitude of US arms contractors’ sales to the Saudis: “In the first 6 years of the Obama administration, the US
entered into agreements to transfer nearly $500 billion in weaponry to Saudi Arabia...” President Obama needs to put the US
interest in a stabilized, peaceful middle east ahead of pressure for more profits for Raytheon, General Dynamics and
Rockwell Collins. He needs to stop the sale of Textron Industries’ cluster bombs to the Saudis, internationally banned
weapons which Human Rights Watch has documented as wounding [caption id="attachment_8274" align="alignright"
width="300"] Yemen cluster bomb site[/caption] and killing civilians in at
least 15 attacks. President Obama also knows that members of Congress from both parties are increasingly demanding
changes in the US-Saudi alliance, calling attention to Riyadh’s regional belligerence, support for extremists and terrible
human rights record. US Senators Chris Murphy (D) and Ron Paul(R) have responded to the death toll of Yemeni civilians
from US-supplied munitions by introducing legislation to limit US arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Senator Murphy explained
why he is calling on the Senate to stop [caption id="attachment_8275" align="alignright" width="205"]
Senator Murphy[/caption] these civilian-killing arms shipments: “I have yet to see evidence
that the civil war we’re supplying and supporting in Yemen advances our national security. The more it drags on, the clearer
it becomes that our military involvement on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition is prolonging human suffering in Yemen and
aiding the very groups that are intent on attacking us. As the humanitarian crisis continues to deteriorate, anti-American
sentiment is spiraling as the local population blames the U.S. for the thousands of civilian deaths resulting from the Saudis’
bombing campaign. This will come back to haunt us.” In President Obama’s quite candid interview with Jeffrey Goldberg
in The Atlantic, he clearly called for a change in Saudi behavior: "The competition between the Saudis and the Iranians —
which has helped to feed proxy wars and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Yemen — requires us to say to our friends as well as to
the Iranians that they need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace." What
can we do to ensure that US policy actually encourages a “cold peace” between Saudi Arabia and Iran, stabilizing the
region? Let Senators Gillibrand and Schumer and Congressmen Tonko and Gibson know we want their support for
an arms embargo to the Saudis. Call the Congressional switchboard today 202-224-3121.
