According to a new report from Amnesty International, the August 25 Saudi airstrike against a residential area in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, which killed 16 civilians, seven of them children, was conducted with a US-made bomb.
This was already an unusual incident, as Saudi Arabia issued a statement blaming the incident on a “technical error.” Amnesty noted remnants of the bomb bore clear markings showing it to be a common variety of laser-guided air-dropped bomb made by the US.
Saudi airstrikes have been killing a massive number of civilians across Yemen in recent years, and given their massive arms purchases from the US this doubtless is often the case. Still, there is some hope that confirmation a US-made bomb killed a number of civilians will serve as something of a wake-up call.
Congress has shown itself increasingly split on the question of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, with fear of blowback over the war crimes in Yemen looming large in that debate. Still, the Trump Administration has been all-in for increasing sales to the Saudis, and so far there’s no sign of enough people in Congress to stop them.
Obviously “technical error” makes a good epitaph for a tombstone.
Imagine how disappointed the dead would have been had they known ?