State Department spokesman Retired Adm. John Kirby spent a substantial amount of time tripping over his words at the last two department briefings when asked about Saudi Arabia’s weekend attack on a funeral home in Yemen, and the ever-growing civilian death toll in that war.
On Tuesday, Kirby was asked pointedly about the difference between the Saudi war in Yemen and the Russian and Syrian war in Aleppo. Kirby insisted there “are some differences” but then rattled off a series of similarities, even catching himself at times and conceding those similarities, like the Syrian government asking for Russian help being similar to Yemen’s “government-in-exile” asking for the Saudis to invade to prop them up.
Ultimately, he concluded that Saudi Arabia has a “pressing requirement for self-defense” in attacking neighboring Yemen, and that the Syrian government had no such requirement in kicking al-Qaeda out of the eastern half of one of their largest cities. He also insisted Saudi promises of investigations and Russian promises of investigations as different because he doesn’t think the Russians mean it.
On Wednesday, Kirby was again pressed on the question of Saudi bombings and US backing for the Saudi war, arguing that the Saudis’ efforts to not kill civilians would be “diminished” if the US wasn’t arming and heavily supporting the conflict.
This confused reporters, who asked him to elaborate, but Kirby would only conclude that “it’s important to remember that not every strike they take hits civilian targets.” Recent studies have suggested that somewhere in the realm of a third of Saudi airstrikes, however, have ended up hitting civilian targets, which isn’t a great ratio.
Kirby’s difficulty in squaring the putative differences between Yemen and Syria, along with his outright failure to make a serious effort to justify US backing for the Yemen War, likely mirrors the growing disquiet within the State Department, where a good number of their lawyers have been warning the US could find itself named a “co-belligerent” in the Saudi war and face legal liability for all the civilians the Saudis are killing. This makes every public statement potentially part of future legal proceedings, and is forcing officials to be very careful in choosing their words, or in Kirby’s case, in stumbling over them.
Kirby is pond scum. This is why no one outside the establishment DC and media folks believes their BS any longer. They have no more credibility and no more are they an honest broker. What Saudi Arabia is doing in Yemen is an absolute war crime for they have invaded Yemen and the former leader of Yemen Hadi was successfully tossed out and he fled the country showing he has no legitimacy at all while Assad has not fled and is in full control of the govt and has legitimacy.
To clarify. It is not just that Hadi fled. He was put in place in an “election” organized by Saudi Arabia and US — being the ONLY candidate. Basically, he did not just flee. He never had a right to rule in the first place. He was the vice president under Abdullah Saleh, a Shia whom we did not like — ever since he tried to declare neutrality in our war against Iraq. Hadi is a Sunni from the South — a country that was annexed to North Yemen, without their consent. So, Hadi was appointed to Saleh’s government just so that they can have a token Sunni. But following the ouster of Saleh, Hadi was just — put there like a placeholder. This was enough. Even those that did not like Saleh, realized that they like even less Saudi US plan for them. And since the thousand year old imamate took up arms, Saleh’s forces joined in. So, now — we are preventing North Yemen, that had the country there for over 1000 years to be free, and at the same time, we are droning Southern Secessionists who would like to recreate back their Hadramoouth Sultanate. Now — both north and south agree: they should part ways, happily. But not Saudi Arabia or US. For some reason, independent Shia perched up in Yemeni mountains is just offensive to their imperial logic. Nothing should be free and without imperial control, that is so unnatural to our imperial heads. Wait will we get Hillary with her limited intelligence and excessive reliance on her “knowledge” — coupled with her tunnel vision of how world should look like!! But I have a feeling that little Yemen will survive. They lived of agriculture there for ever, tilling tiny plots carved out of mountains. And ate good, nutritious food, until we decided they needed imported food and loans. As the loans could not be paid, artificial economy went down, and Zaidi tribes back to the land. I studied their child rearing, midwifery and nutritious for UNICEF between 1972 and 1974. Good people, proud but open. Never judgmental about having a woman come to interview them, never being demanding about how a guest in their country should dress. Open, wise, friendly. And everybody armed to teeth. Let Saudi perfumed princess come up those mountains, I would like to see that!
John Kirby press briefing:
What was our ratio with drone strikes? Isn’t the trick to state that all the killed or at least males between 8 and 80 are assumed to be bad unless proven otherwise. Why don’t the Saudis use the same accounting.
I believe our Obama was more selective than that: all males 14-65 or so were declared terrrists with no right to exist in their own land. Zionist accounting, which ranges age 2 to 90 and includes females, would be more appropriate.
Here is the difference:
Syria: “Destroy Shia Rule, Help Islamist Radicals” (via “covert war”)
Yemen: “Destroy Shia Rule, Help Islamist Radicals” (via “open war”)
Brilliant. This sums it up.
One more interesting detail. In Syria, we are trying to split the country apart, offering various groups their mediaeval fiefdom, which is what majority of Syrians do not want. In Yemen, were the northern Zaidi (Huthi) and southern Hadrami (Hadramauth) WANT to go their separate ways — happily and with kisses, we do not let them!
Its Easy Kirby Aleppo are the ones you fund! You know Al Nusra formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq!
Oct 12, 2016 – Russia test-fires 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles
Russia’s military has test-fired three intercontinental ballistic missiles amid increasing tensions with the US on a range of issues, particularly the Syrian crisis.
http://presstv.com//Detail/2016/10/12/488780/Russia-Sergey-Shoigu
Yemenis hate the Saudi Arabians for their freedom, obviously.