Last week’s House vote on ending the US involvement in the war in Yemen
saw repeated arguments that the US was no longer providing any direct
support to the Saudi invasion. Maj. Gen. David Hill clarified over the weekend that the US Army is in fact still supporting the Saudis.
While not going into a lot of detail on the matter, the general said
that US support is in particular focused on helping the Saudis target
their airstrikes to “minimize the risk of civilian casualties.”
That’s a risky admission, given the shocking number of civilians that
have been consistently killed in Saudi airstrikes, and those civilian
deaths are a major part of why Congress wants the US out of the war.
Though the House voted to end US involvement in the war, the Senate
still has to pass its own accompanying legislation on the matter. Even
then, President Trump has threatened a veto, and it is unclear that
Congress has enough support to override a veto.
Being da bomb at wedding parties is a hard habit to break even for U.S. war planners; the Saudis would be a totally lost cause.
So is starvation and denying medicine, credit, and infrastructure to an already poor country. All this for a “kingdom” of thugs who are no different than the “elite” here in the states when it comes to protecting their wealth and power.
The worst thing about capitalism is capitalists.
They do tend to cronyism…
“Even
then, President Trump has threatened a veto, and it is unclear that
Congress has enough support to override a veto”
So glad we elected a peace president that is a “great disrupter” and fights tooth and nail against the Neocons that he hires after selling their weapons for them and politically backing their efforts to continue the genocide in the ME.
Ain’t MAGA hope and change great ! If ever there was a derangement syndrome this seems to be a candidate right here.
If we are not supporting the Saudis in the Yemen war why should Trump feel the need to veto a bill that would end the support that we no longer are providing?
If like the US media we assume the intentions of our military are always good and our engagement is always positive, that almost makes sense. However it indirectly acknowledges that we are allied with a loose cannon willing to kill anyone inconvenient with little remorse or fear of consequence. Great tactic, terrible strategy, so much for the sacred ideal of Middle East stability.
The US is helping the Saudis to target the right kind of civilians aka Zaydi Shiites and even this new “peace” bill affords them the ability to continue this practice which can only accurately be described as genocide. Veto or no veto, the slaughter continues with the American stamp of approval.
No doubt there are plenty of holes in this bill. The heart of it, when passed, is the path of orders where the bill is ignored. Iran/contra comes to mind. Part of trump’s campaign promised increased secrecy in US military actions, allegedly, so our enemies wouldn’t know what they were up to. If the bill succeeds, US militants will have to dig deeper into black ops. Not usually mentioned, is the US Navy participating in the naval blockade.
Years ago i read the US Navy blockaded Yemen however i had thought their blockades had ended. So you are saying the US Navy currently continues blockading Yemen?
Google “Yemen blockade” US naval forces joined in with Saudi assets in Oct 2016 (Obama) , then trump added to the assets in 2017. The oddity of modern war, is that if a satellite is obtaining information on a situation, there are people here in the US involved in that effort. If they target something identified in Las Vegas, and they send that information to Saudi forces, are these US troops “in” Yemen ?
Overall, the blockade is more important than the “refueling”, yet it gets no attention in US (even antiwar) media.
The holes in the bill allow for pretty much the status quo. Trump should praise the bill and score points with the anti war types while nothing really changes.
Seems it is more important for trump to show that “congress can’t tell me nothin ” rather than accomplish anything.
Trump is a master of appearances, that’s for sure.
Or he simply won’t veto.
The US Military is sitting, and has sat, side by side with the Saudi military in Riyadh giving the Saudis intelligence to help them target and kill the Houthis. An amendment to the House bill which passed ensures this US Military “help” continues. To establish this intelligence i suppose drones can help surveil the Houthis but i would expect actual targets would mostly likely need on the ground US Special Forces in Yemen to verify those targets and send back that intelligence to US Commanders working with Riyadh. Also in-air refueling stopped last year but how about all the US contractors who maintain the Saudi bought airplanes and munitions? Not sure i understand how this House bill helps.