In vetoing the Congressional bill demanding
the US withdraw from the Yemen War, President Trump may have thought he
had the final word on the matter. It is unlikely, after all, that there
will be enough votes in the Senate to override the veto.
But the debate isn’t over. The Yemen War remains as unauthorized and as
unpopular as ever, and with lawmakers still salty about Trump’s
do-nothing attitude toward the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi, there
are likely to be myriad new resolutions aiming to limit US involvement
int he war, and also US military backing of the Saudi kingdom.
The veto itself only added to the controversy, as it directly amounted
to a US president overruling Congress on a matter of war-making,
something the constitution clearly puts in Congress’s hands.
Even many Conservatives who would generally back Trump are saying the Yemen War is plainly unconstitutional. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) took things a step further, saying Trump is turning the US into the “prostitute of Saudi Arabia” with the veto.
In the end, Trump vetoed the bill because he could, and because Saudi
Arabia wanted it vetoed. Throughout months of debate on the War Powers
challenge, his administration never offered any credible defense of the
war, mostly trying to sell it as being small enough that it didn’t
matter, and adding that since Saudis bought US warplanes they were
entitled to mid-air refueling as customer service. They were bad
arguments then, and now, and one veto isn’t going to make everything
else go away.
Trump’s Veto Won’t End Debate on US Role in Yemen War
Unauthorized, unpopular war remains a sore spot in Congress
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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