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Arms Dealers & Yemen's War Dead
By maudeaster on 2016-10-13 11:58:22
PROMiSe THESE
58 WONT Be
USED AGAINST CiViLIANS P
[caption id="attachment_8733" align="alignright" width="300"] i == -<a Global arms
bazaar, from Compliance Campaign[/caption] Last Saturday weapons from the US and Great Britain fueled the bombing of
a Yemeni funeral gathering, killing 140 mourners and injuring hundreds more. Will this latest horrific tragedy be the tipping
point finally forcing Washington and London policy makers to stiffen their backbones against their lobbying weapons
contractors? Will they finally say, “The profits of the arms contractors are no longer worth continuing to support war crimes
in Yemen”? [caption id="attachment_8920" align="alignright" width="300"]
USS Mason cruise missile firing[/caption] And will they say it in time, before the US and Britain are drawn even more
deeply into this conflict? The funeral bombing has heightened anger at US involvement, and missiles have been fired at a
US naval vessel in the area. In response, the US yesterday fired cruise missiles into Yemen, the first time it has directly
attacked the Yemeni rebels, dangerously escalating its involvement. Arming, fueling, advising and sharing intelligence with
the Saudi attackers is bad enough — this is even worse. [caption id="attachment_8921" align="alignright" width="212"]
din Senator Chris Murphy[/caption] The White House did respond to the disastrous funeral
bombing by announcing ‘“‘an immediate review” of US support for the Saudi-led military campaign. Senator Chris Murphy
of Connecticut, who led a bi-partisan effort in September to stop US arms sales to the Saudis, supported by 26 Senators,
called for an end to US support for the Saudi-led campaign: "If the U.S. is serious when it says our support for Saudi Arabia
isn't a blank check, then it's time to prove it -- because it's clear the Saudi-led coalition isn't listening. The administration
should pull U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen because it's harming America's national security, enabling terrorist
groups to thrive, and killing innocent civilians.” Murphy said: “Saudi airstrikes, with support from the United States, have
killed thousands of civilians in Yemen. Yesterday's attack on large funeral party follows months of attacks on schools,
homes, and hospitals.” On Tuesday a New York Times editorial called for a change in US policy: “Airstrikes by a Saudi-led
coalition that devastated a funeral in Yemen on Saturday make it clear that the United States must end its complicity in a
civil war that has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in one of the world’s poorest countries and fueled extremism. It is
within President Obama’s power to do so. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf state allies depend on Washington for aircraft,
munitions, training and in-flight refueling. The United States also helps Saudi Arabia guard its borders.” The New York
Times described the $110 billion dollars’ worth of arms the US has sold to the Saudis, including a $1.15 billion recent order
for tanks and other heavy weapons, pointing out “the tank sale went forward even though some administration officials have
been worried that it could implicate the United States in war crimes.” [caption id="attachment_8922" align="alignright"
width="300"] ! wim British Parliament in session[/caption] I just returned from 10
weeks in Great Britain where arms sales to the Saudis are also deeply criticized. The courts are examining whether British
arms sales to Saudi Arabia, used in indiscriminate air strikes i in Yemen, are causing human rights abuses illegal under British
Arabia until there is an independent i inquiry into alleged breaches of international law. So what can we here in the US do?
e Learn more about the role of arms sales in fueling conflict: Fortunately for our understanding of this issue,
William Hartung, the foremost expert on the US weapons industry, its lobbying to promote arms sales abroad
and military [caption id="attachment_8923" align="alignright" width="201"] William
Hartung, arms control expert.[/caption] build-up at home, is speaking this Friday, October 14th i in Albany, at the
annual Peace Action dinner at 5:30 PM, St Andrews Episcopal Church, 10 North Main Street in Albany. Hartung,
director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, will speak on Stopping the Spread of
War and Weapons: A Citizens’ Agenda.
e Join me in signing Code Pink’s good petition telling US Secretary of State John Kerry that the time to end US
weapons sales to Saudi Arabia is now.
