US President Donald Trump didn’t mention it at the United Nations, but America is helping to kill, maim and starve Yemeni children. At least eight million Yemenis are at risk of starvation from an approaching famine caused not by crop failures but by our actions and those of our allies.
The UN has called it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and we own it.
An American bomb made by Lockheed Martin struck a Yemeni school bus last month, killing 51 people. Earlier, American bombs killed 155 mourners at a funeral and 97 people at a market.
The UN has called it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and we own it.
An American bomb made by Lockheed Martin struck a Yemeni school bus last month, killing 51 people. Earlier, American bombs killed 155 mourners at a funeral and 97 people at a market.
Starving Yemeni children are reduced to eating a sour paste made of leaves. Even those who survive will often be stunted for the rest of their lives, physically and mentally.
Many global security issues involve complex trade-offs, but this is different: Our behaviour is just unconscionable.
Many global security issues involve complex trade-offs, but this is different: Our behaviour is just unconscionable.
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Saudi warplane dropping US-made cluster bombs |
“Yemen’s current crisis is man-made,” said David Miliband, the former British foreign secretary and current president of the International Rescue Committee, who recently returned from Yemen. “This is not a case where humanitarian suffering is the price of winning a war. No one is winning, except the extremist groups who thrive on chaos.”
The US is not directly bombing civilians in Yemen, but it is providing arms, intelligence and aerial refuelling to assist Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as they hammer Yemen with airstrikes, destroy its economy and starve its people. The Saudi aim is to crush Houthi rebels who have seized Yemen’s capital and are allied with Iran.
The US is not directly bombing civilians in Yemen, but it is providing arms, intelligence and aerial refuelling to assist Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as they hammer Yemen with airstrikes, destroy its economy and starve its people. The Saudi aim is to crush Houthi rebels who have seized Yemen’s capital and are allied with Iran.
That’s sophisticated realpolitik for you: Because we dislike Iran’s ayatollahs, we are willing to starve Yemeni schoolchildren.
“The Trump administration has made itself complicit in systematic war crimes,” said Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch.
Let’s be clear too: This is a bipartisan moral catastrophe. The policy started under President Barack Obama, with safeguards, and then Trump doubled down and removed the safeguards.
“The war in Yemen has prompted today’s worst humanitarian catastrophe worldwide,” s aid Robert Malley, a former Obama aide who acknowledges missteps by the administration in Yemen — which Trump has aggravated.
Now president of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit working to prevent conflict, Malley added, “By our actions and inaction, we inevitably are complicit in it.”
I know, I know. All eyes are focused on the reality television show that is the Trump White House. But we can’t let Trump suck all the oxygen away from life-or-death issues. Trump drama cannot be allowed to nullify global tragedy.
“The Trump administration has made itself complicit in systematic war crimes,” said Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch.
Let’s be clear too: This is a bipartisan moral catastrophe. The policy started under President Barack Obama, with safeguards, and then Trump doubled down and removed the safeguards.
“The war in Yemen has prompted today’s worst humanitarian catastrophe worldwide,” s aid Robert Malley, a former Obama aide who acknowledges missteps by the administration in Yemen — which Trump has aggravated.
Now president of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit working to prevent conflict, Malley added, “By our actions and inaction, we inevitably are complicit in it.”
I know, I know. All eyes are focused on the reality television show that is the Trump White House. But we can’t let Trump suck all the oxygen away from life-or-death issues. Trump drama cannot be allowed to nullify global tragedy.
The carnage in Yemen hasn’t stirred more outrage because the Saudis use their blockade to keep out journalists. I’ve been trying for two years to go, but the Saudis bar aid groups from taking me on relief flights.
The are no US Bombers or fighters over Yemen, no US Bombs being dropped.
ReplyDeleteWhile we condemn USA, are Saudi Arabia,Iran, UAE and all those Moslem Nations with soldiers aiding and abetting in the war in Yemen faultless?
ReplyDeleteYou just can't blame the shopkeeper selling knives to a murderer solely for the victim being murdered.
It is a proxy war being fought between Saudi Arabia (Sunnis, Wahhabis) against Iran (Shias) all for control and power of influence in the Middle East.
Protecting the religion Islam or Moslems in Yemen is considered secondary and are collateral damages.
Russia is still busy in Syria consolidating power for Basher Al Asad and once that is over, expect Putin to also start meddling in Yemen via Iran by also providing more bombs to continue bombing Yemenis.
Malaysia did the right thing to pull out it's troops stationed in Saudi Arabia rather than be a prostitute to others power game.
I wonder how much Saudi Arabia paid Malaysia for it's services in the war effort in Yemen, and where has the money gone to?