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The complicity of the United States in the horrific war crimes being committed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against the people of Yemen was put on sharp display today when the Red Cross announced that a US-Saudi coalition airstrike hit a school bus filled with children in the northern province of Saada, killing 43 and injuring 61 people.
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Following an attack this morning on a bus driving children in Dahyan Market, northern Sa’ada, @ICRC_yemen- supported hospital has received dozens of dead and wounded. Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict. pic.twitter.com/x39NVB8G4p
— ICRC Yemen (@ICRC_ye) August 9, 2018
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The majority of the victims were under the age of ten.
The United States is directly complicit in this crime against humanity. We sold them the fighter jets that the Saudis use to drop the bombs, we sold them the bombs, we refuel their fighter planes en route to their massacres, and we provide satellite intelligence and logistical support for their genocidal war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels and anyone that lives in rebel-held territory.
U.S. bombs. U.S. targeting. U.S. mid air support.
And we just bombed a SCHOOL BUS.
The Saudi/UAE/U.S. bombing campaign is getting more reckless, killing more civilians, and strengthening terrorists inside Yemen. We need to end this – NOW. https://t.co/P8V2L6Crgi
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 9, 2018
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But like most of the things that the U.S. military does in its endless overseas wars, our participation has become an afterthought that neither the media and thus the public pay any attention to. MSNBC, the beloved liberal news network, has run 455 stories on former Trump mistress Stormy Daniels in the past year and not one on the U.S.-backed war in Yemen.
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We had a chance to stop this earlier this year, but in a depressing but entirely predictable show of fealty to the insatiable bloodlust of the Pentagon, ten Democrats crossed the aisle to vote with war hawk Republicans against a bipartisan bill that would have ended America’s participation in this brutal war that has killed 13,000 people and put millions of people at risk of death from cholera epidemic or starvation by Saudi blockade.
Our “mission” in Yemen is ostensibly to combat the local al-Qaeda presence in the area and restore the UN-backed government, but new reports indicate that our Saudi allies have made deals with al-Qaeda and even recruited fighters from the group to fight against the Houthis.
On top of that, earlier this week, Saudi Arabia vaguely threatened our close ally Canada with a September 11th-style terrorist attack and literally crucified a man.
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Saudi Arabia propaganda channel just threatened Canada with a 9/11 style terror attack after Canada criticised their human rights record. No expression of solidarity with Canada from Theresa May. Because Britain sells Saudi Arabia weapons, of course pic.twitter.com/tSfpZhKCiy
— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) August 7, 2018
The president’s fondness for Saudi Arabia’s new leader, Mohamed bin Salman, and his utter disinterest in anything resembling human rights or diplomatic protocol has emboldened the authoritarian kingdom and pushed them to new depths of barbarism.
American foreign policy has long stopped pretending to be working towards any kind of overarching goal beyond the defense of American capital interests and those of our client states, no matter how illogical or counter-productive or morally reprehensible it might be.
The Democratic Party’s refusal to articulate any kind of foreign policy challenge to the Pentagon and their Republican backers is an absolute disgrace and must be addressed by the time 2020 rolls around. Enough is enough.
End the wars. Bring the troops home. Stop the cycle of endless death and waste.
