OMNI
YEMEN WATCH
#3, FEBRUARY 3, 2024
Compiled by
Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
What’s at Stake:
The most heinous crime is by those who perpetrate a war followed closely by those
who do not try to stop it. This Anthology
of essays opposes the US/Saudi invasion of Yemen and any
historical model that sustains and deepens US warmaking sciolism. (What’s at stake in regard to technology: Smart phone reading requires brief texts and
prioritizes snippets, when the subject of this anthology requires analysis. Substantial texts make it impossible to
employ small, hand-held screens.).
CONTENTS
Code Pink. “Yemen
Explained.”
Johnstone.
Biden’s “absurd justification.”
Olluri.
Yemeni “Peace Process Sham.”
Abt. “Double Standards.”
DeCamp. Yemen War Powers Resolution.
Conley. “Thousands of Children Killed by Saudi/US coalition.
. . .”
UN Brief. Expand Yemen Truce.
Kelly. “No Starvation for Oil.”
Frame. Missiles to Saudi Arabia, Biden
Breaks Promise.
Prashad. Nightmare War.
Baron and Evans-Frantz. Grassroots
Pressure Biden.
UN Wire. “…Child Malnutrition in Yemen.” “Airstrike
in Yemen….”
NADG. “Drone Strikes Set Fire to Saudi
Arabian oil Hub.”
Prashad. “How Can Sweden Be a Peace Broker….?”
UN Wire. US, UK, France Complicit in “Yemen War
Crimes.”
Just Foreign Policy. “…Bernie and Avaaz
on Ending the Yemen War!”
TEXTS
While
the US & Israel flagrantly violate the UN Genocide Convention to
commit mass murder and starve 2.3 million people in Gaza, the Ansar
Alla movement in Yemen blockades Red Sea shipments to
Israel to uphold its treaty obligation to prevent further genocide. For this, the Biden administration–in an
illegal circumvention of Congress-has bombed over 60 targets
in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, sending two aircraft carrier battle
groups, guided missile destroyers, submarines and warplanes to the region.
Despite
the US strikes, Yemenis say the blockade will continue in solidarity with
the Palestinian people.
Join CODEPINK
Congress for Yemen Explained as we learn about
Yemen, one of the most impoverished countries in the world under constant US
assault. Chat with peacemakers and
experts Tuesday, February 6 at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET:
Shireen
Al-Adeimi is an assistant professor of education at Michigan State
University. Since 2015, she has played an active role in raising awareness
about the Saudi-led war on her country of birth, Yemen, and works to encourage
political action to end U.S. support. She is a non-resident fellow at Quincy
Institute.
Aisha Jumaan, Founder and President, Yemen Relief and Reconstruction
Foundation. Dr. Jumaan earned her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC., her Masters in Public Health
from Emory University, Atlanta, GA, and her BA in Biology from Mills College,
Oakland, CA. Dr Jumaan has over 30 years of experience in public health,
including work in Yemen with UN agencies.
“The Biden
administration’s absurd justification for its Yemen war.” Caitlin A. Johnstone. Mronline.org (1-28-24).
By Caitlin
A. Johnstone (Posted Jan 27, 2024)
Originally published: Caitlin A Johnstone
Blog on January 22, 2024 (more
by Caitlin A Johnstone Blog) |
Imperialism, Inequality,
State Repression, WarAmericas,
Gaza,
Israel,
Middle
East, Palestine, United
States, YemenNewswire“Operation Poseidon Archer”, Biden
administration, President
Joe Biden
On Monday the U.S.
launched its eighth wave of airstrikes in its new war against Yemeni forces, which it has now
formally titled “Operation Poseidon Archer”. The strikes are aimed at
breaking a Red Sea shipping blockade which the de facto authorities in
Yemen have implemented to pressure Israel and its allies
into ceasing the genocidal onslaught in Gaza.
Andi Olluri. “The Yemeni ‘Peace Process’ is a Sham Though You
Wouldn’t Know That From Watching U.S. News or Reading Foreign Affairs.” CovertAction
Magazine (4-17-23).
Media and intellectual elites continue to add spin to dignify a criminal
war of aggression that has resulted in unconscionable suffering among the
Yemeni people. READ MORE →
US HUMAN RIGHTS DOUBLE STANDARDS
Felix Abt. Yemen War
Continues Beyond Media Spotlight.
CovertAction on Jan 11, 2023
04:17 pm
The Washington Post even
gives positive spin by suggesting that the war has improved gender equality in
devastated country.
“An unexpected result of Yemen’s war: More men
are cooking and cleaning,” The Washington Post reported in 2016 on the social and
cultural impact of the war in Yemen. The seemingly good side of this
U.S.-sponsored genocide: gender equality!
The fact that Yemeni men, provided they have
not yet been blown to pieces by American and European bombs, are taking the
housework off their wives should please German Foreign Minister Annalena
Baerbock, who pursues a “feminist foreign policy.”
Like her good acquaintance, billionaire
speculator George Soros, she vehemently advocates human rights and democracy in
all those countries that do not want to submit to American “security interests.”
The lack of democracy and
the serious human rights violations in Ukraine,
Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which are part of the U.S. sphere of influence, are
therefore not part of their vigorous moral offensive.
Surprisingly, on December 16, 2022, U.S.
mainstream media outlet MSNBC reported
rather lonely from the dreary, uniform Western media desert: “Few people
noticed, but the United States Senate came very close to ending America’s complicity in Saudi Arabia’s war in
Yemen earlier this week. But the very same person who had vowed
to end that war intervened and stopped the Senate from taking action—President
Joe Biden. . . .” Read in browser »
Dave DeCamp. “Sanders withdraws Yemen War Powers Resolution vote
over Biden opposition.” Editor. Mronline.org (12-17-22).
Antiwar.com (December 13, 2022). (Posted Dec 16, 2022).
Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Tuesday night withdrew his request to vote on the
Yemen War Powers Resolution that would end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war
and blockade on Yemen, citing White House opposition to the bill.
Sanders said on the Senate floor that
he was informed ahead of the scheduled vote of the administration’s opposition
to the legislation, meaning President Biden would veto the resolution. The
Intercept reported earlier in the
day that The White House was pressuring senators to vote
against the bill, and Democrats came out in opposition to Sanders’ resolution
earlier on Tuesday, including Sen. Alex
Padilla (D-CA).
Sanders’
justification for not holding the vote was that the administration claimed it
would work with Congress on ending the war in Yemen. He said the White House
wanted to “work with us on crafting language that would be mutually acceptable”
and insisted if that didn’t happen, he would resume his efforts to end the war
through a resolution.
But even
if the White House really wants to engage with Congress on the issue, or if
Sanders chooses to reintroduce the resolution, the plan will take time, which
Yemenis don’t have. There has been a cessation in violence in Yemen, with no
Saudi airstrikes since March, but there has been a recent uptick in fighting on
the ground.
A ceasefire expired in October, and
without a real peace deal, the war could flare up again at any time. The
resolution could have ended U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition, including
maintenance of its warplanes, which would effectively ground the Saudi air
force. Even if Biden vetoed the resolution, its passage through Congress would
have sent a message to the White House and Riyadh to work faster on a real end
to the war.
While Democrats started to fold in their support for the resolution, Republican Senators Rand Paul (R-KY)
and Mike Lee (R-UT) both
came out in favor of the legislation. In the House, a version of the resolution
was also introduced that has gained 118 cosponsors,
including 10 Republicans.
The U.S. first intervened
to back the Saudi/UAE-led coalition in Yemen against the Houthis in 2015. A few months earlier, the Obama administration
was sharing intelligence with the Houthis as part of the effort
against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. After the Obama administration
switched sides against the Houthis, the U.S.-backed coalition recruited al-Qaeda
fighters, and U.S. arms ended up in the hands of
the terror group.
According to UN estimates,
by the end of 2021, at least 377,000 people had been killed in
the war. MORE
Julia Conley. “UN Report Shows 11,000 Children Killed Or Maimed In This US-Backed War.” Thousands of children have been killed by
Saudi/US coalition, hundreds of thousands more remain at risk from preventable
causes. Common Dreams. Popular
Resistance.org (12-15-22). After
launching an urgent appeal for humanitarian aid for children in war-torn
Yemen, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund on Monday
released a report showing that more than 11,000 young people have been killed
or injured in the U.S.-backed conflict, where a Saudi-led coalition has been
carrying out attacks since 2015. The true death toll of children is likely far
higher, said the agency, commonly known as UNICEF, as millions face
hunger and disease. "Thousands of children have lost their lives, hundreds
of thousands more remain at risk of death from preventable... -more-
“Envoy pushes to expand Yemen truce as crisis escalates.” UN GLOBAL AFFAIRS, SMART BRIEF. August 17, 2022.
Hans Grundberg, United Nations envoy for Yemen, says he is ramping
up efforts to expand a truce that has brought relative calm to the country
since April 2, while Ghada Mudawi, acting director of operations and advocacy
with the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warns that civilian
deaths and alarming economic conditions still persist. This week, UNICEF
reported the number of displaced people
in the country had reached 4.3 million, nearly half of whom are
children.
Full
Story: The Associated Press (8/16), Middle East Monitor (London) (8/15)
Kathy Kelly. “No Starvation for Oil.”
The Progressive Magazine. TRANSCEND
Media Service. 11 Jul 2022. As President Joe Biden embarks on his trip to the Middle East,
those of us back home must acknowledge the suffering the United States has
caused in places like Yemen. Read more...
[BREAKING:
U.S. to sell Saudi Arabia 280 Raytheon missiles. Biden breaks his promise, Bernie and Ro try
to stop the sale. –Dick]
Amy Frame. Win Without
War. Nov 6, 2021.
Dick:
UNICEF recently reported a grim milestone in Yemen: 10,000 children have been
killed or maimed as a result of the Saudi and Emirati-led war. And yet President Biden — who ran
on a commitment to END U.S. complicity in Yemen — just
announced a $650 MILLION dollar sale of Raytheon-made missiles to Saudi
Arabia. With this sale, Biden is breaking his promise to us and doing
the exact OPPOSITE of what the UN and other experts tell us would avoid further
devastation: fueling this war with more weapons.
For over *six* years now, the United States has given the green
light to human rights abuses and suffering in Yemen by fueling fighter jets,
providing intelligence and logistical support, and approving arms sales just
like this one.
Luckily, there’s a silver lining that can help us turn the tide. Rep.
Ro Khanna and Senator Bernie Sanders have introduced an amendment to the
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would prohibit U.S. military
support for the coalition’s war. It already passed the House and when the final
NDAA makes it to President Biden, he’s all but guaranteed to sign it. That
means just ONE thing is between us and the beginning of the end of U.S. complicity
in Yemen: the Senate. And we’re hearing that they’ll vote in the coming days —
leaving a tiny but critical window for us to ensure the Khanna-Sanders
amendment makes it into the final bill that lands on President Biden’s
desk. It’ll be an uphill battle, and we need you with us.
We REFUSE to let hawks in the
Senate blow up a bipartisan effort to end U.S. complicity in Yemen when we are
so close. A donation of $15 ensures we have the cash on hand that we need to
keep the lights on and the pressure up. Not everyone reading will give, and if
you can, please consider donating now.
Vijay
Prashad. “Being a child in Yemen is the
stuff of nightmares.” The Forty-Third Newsletter (2021). .
Mronline.org (10-30-21)
Originally published: Tricontinental: Institute
for Social Research on October 28, 2021 (more
by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research) |
Culture, Human
Rights, Inequality, WarYemenNewswireTricontinental Newsletter
Dear
friends,
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates–along with other
members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)–began to bomb Yemen. These
countries entered a conflict that had been ongoing for at least a year as a
civil war escalated between the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi,
the Ansar Allah movement of the Zaidi Shia, and al-Qaeda. The GCC–led by the
Saudi monarchy–wanted to prevent any Shia political project, whether aligned
with Iran or not, from taking power along Saudi Arabia’s border. The attack on
Yemen can be described, therefore, as an attack by the Sunni monarchs against
the possibility of what they feared would be a Shia political project coming to
power on the Arabian Peninsula. . . .
Brian Garvey “Ending the War
in Yemen Means Overcoming Political Cowardice. “ CovertAction Magazine. Jun 28, 2021.
UN World Food Program says that “400,000 children may die
in Yemen this year without urgent intervention”
The struggle to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen has run into another
obstacle. This time it’s partisanship. But it isn’t Republican opposition
blocking Joe Biden’s promise to end U.S. participation in the world’s worst
humanitarian catastrophe. It’s the president’s own hesitancy to keep his word
paired with the unwillingness of Democrats in Congress to cross a president
from their own party. […]
Ellie Baron and Isaac Evans-Frantz. “War in Yemen: Grassroots
Mobilization Pressured Biden Administration to Pledge End of U.S. Involvement.” Covert Action Magazine. Mar 26,
2021. Grassroots mobilization
has led the Biden administration to pledge to end the war in Yemen; further
activism is needed to make him follow through on his promise and to pressure
Saudi Arabia to end its blockade.
Six years ago, in the early hours of March 26, 2015, a military coalition led
by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States began a bombing campaign in
Yemen...
The post War in Yemen: Grassroots
Mobilization Pressured Biden Administration to Pledge End of U.S. Involvement appeared
first on CovertAction Magazine.
UN WIRE
(10-28-20)
OCHA sounds alarm over child
malnutrition in Yemen
Approximately
98,000 children in Yemen are facing life-threatening malnutrition and over
500,000 more are seriously malnourished, a report from the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says. "If the war
doesn't end now, we are nearing an irreversible situation and risk losing an
entire generation of Yemen's young children," says UN Humanitarian
Coordinator for Yemen Lise Grande. Full Story: Reuters (10/27)
Airstrike in Yemen leaves 9 children
dead, more wounded. UN WIRE (8-10-20)
Another
round of airstrikes in Yemen left as many as nine children dead and wounded
seven children and two women, the United Nations reports. The attack is the
third in a month with a significant number of child casualties.
Full Story: Deccan Herald (India)/The Associated Press (8/8)
Drone
strikes set fire to Saudi oil hub, field.
NADG (9-15-19).
https://www.arkansasonline.com
› news › sep › drone-strikes-set-fire-to-sa...
15 hours ago - Drone
attacks claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck the world's
largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and
a major oil field Saturday, ...
|
|
|
Vijay Prashad. “How can Sweden be a peace broker for the war in Yemen if it’s also
selling the arms that make it possible?” Globetrotter (9-4-19). Sweden
might have some credibility if it banned weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and
the UAE. It is not enough to be moved
by the tragedy in Yemen. Action is
necessary. Source. Democracy, WarSweden, YemenCommentary, NewsFeatured, Globetrotter, Independent Media Institute.
Globetrotter,
a project of the Independent Media Institute. |
PEACEKEEPING AND SECURITY UN Wire (9-4-19)
Report cites US, UK, France for complicity in Yemen war
crimes
Efforts by the US, the United Kingdom and
France to arm and support a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen could make those countries
complicit in war crimes since the coalition has used civilian starvation as a
tactic of war, according to a report by a panel of United Nations experts.
Investigators have compiled a list of potential war criminals on both sides of
the conflict. The Guardian (London) (9/3), Reuters (9/3)
“Good news from Bernie &
Avaaz on ending the Yemen war!” Just Foreign Policy info@justforeignpolicy.org via mail.salsalabs.net
9-2-19 Spread some good news about ending the Yemen war.
Dear
Dick,
In deference to the Labor Day holiday, I’m only going to
share good news with you today about our campaign to
end the Yemen war on the Pentagon contractor funding bill [the so-called
“National Defense Authorization Act,” or “NDAA”.]
First of all, the campaign group Avaaz – which claims 51
million members worldwide – sent out a call alert targeting
Democratic leaders Jack Reed, Nancy Pelosi, and Adam Smith, demanding
that ALL amendments to end the Yemen war that passed
the House are included in the “veto proof” NDAA that is sent to Trump, ending
Saudi-UAE arms deals AND getting the Pentagon out of
unconstitutional direct participation in the war – a reference to the
Smith-Khanna-Schiff-Jayapal Yemen War Powers Amendment.
Second: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – which is very influential
among Congressional Republicans - sent a letter Friday to Inhofe, Reed, Smith, and
Thornberry on the NDAA conference negotiations, urging them to "reject
partisan provisions that would reduce the ability of the Department of Defense
to support U.S. national security interests while remaining competitive at home
and abroad." The good news for ending the Yemen war on NDAA is that the
Chamber letter did NOT mention the House-passed
amendments to end the Yemen war, thereby conceding that the House-passed
amendments to end the Yemen war are NOT “partisan
provisions that would reduce the ability of the Department of Defense to
support U.S. national security interests while remaining competitive at home
and abroad."
Third: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, sponsor of
the Sanders-Lee-Murphy Yemen War Powers Resolution to end the war that Congress
passed with every Democrat in Congress voting yes, tweeted:
“U.S.
bombs, logistical support, and intelligence for the Saudi
dictatorship's airstrikes make us complicit in this
nightmare. Congress has declared this war unconstitutional. We
must now stand up to Trump and defund all U.S. involvement in
these horrors.”
It could be claimed that I just reneged
on the “only good news” promise because Bernie’s tweet references an AP article in the New York
Times about the latest spectacular Saudi
regime atrocity in Yemen. But here’s the Viktor Frankl half-full way of
looking at it: these U.S.-backed Saudi regime atrocities in Yemen have been
commonplace since Obama & Biden unconstitutionally started the war in March
2015. If we prevail in ending the Saudi regime’s war in Yemen on
NDAA, this could be the last such U.S.-backed Saudi regime atrocity in
Yemen.
Here’s four easy things you can do to help:
1. Share Bernie’s tweet.
2. Vote in the poll. 3. Share this post.
4. Urge Nancy Pelosi to end the
Yemen war on NDAA by
signing our petition at MoveOn. [Instead, contact Bernie and or any compassionate
politician. –D]
Thanks for all you do to help U.S. foreign policy become more just,
Robert Naiman, \Just Foreign
Policy If you think our work is
important, please make a donation to support it. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate
OMNI YEMEN WATCH #1, November 18,
2018 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2018/11/yemen-watch-omni-center.html
https://omnicenter.org/donate/
TABLE
of CONTENTS
Introduction
The anthology is arranged in 2 Parts with 4 Topics
Part I Forces of Aggression
Saudi/US War Against Yemen
US Mainstream Media in support
Part II Opposition to the Invasion
Resistance to the War
Is Our Policy Changing?
OMNI YEMEN WATCH #2, MAY 25, 2019
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2019/08/yemen-newsletter-may-25-2019.html
Contents
War Makers: War Profiteers, Kane
Related:
Stop War with Iran, Chomsky
War Power USA Gov: Congress v. Executive,
Miles, WWW
Bernie Sanders v. Trump’s Yemen Veto
[What can you do?]
MSNBC Underreports Yemen War
Examples of Public Struggle to End the
War
Genocide Scholars, Sam Totten
WWW and Letters to Congress
Revelation 3:16:
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