[Peace-discuss] Common Dreams: 47 Groups Urge Congress to Avert 'Human Rights Failure' by Blocking Biden's Saudi Arms Sale

[Robert Naiman]

This letter is still open. Why should it only have 47 signers, when the
Gaza letters had more? I thought that ending the Yemen blockade was
supposed to be easier than ending the Gaza blockade.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/30/47-groups-urge-congress-avert-human-rights-failure-blocking-bidens-saudi-arms-sale

47 Groups Urge Congress to Avert 'Human Rights Failure' by Blocking Biden's
Saudi Arms Sale
"The Biden administration in its very first weeks committed both to center
human rights in foreign policy and to end U.S. complicity in the war in
Yemen. Allowing this sale to stand breaks that commitment."

BRETT WILKINS <https://www.commondreams.org/author/brett-wilkins>
November 30, 2021

Slamming the Saudi-led coalition's war crimes in Yemen—which are often
perpetrated with U.S.-supplied weaponry—47 advocacy groups on Monday
published a joint letter
<https://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/government-relations/advocacy/joint-letter-congress-block-biden-saudi-arabia-arms-sale-yemen-human-rights-november21/>to
congressional lawmakers urging them to block the Biden administration's
"wrongful" planned $650 million arms sale to the repressive Middle Eastern
monarchy.

At issue is the proposed sale
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/04/warnings-more-death-and-suffering-yemen-us-moves-sell-saudis-missiles>
 of 280 AIM-120C-7/C-8 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and 596
LAU-128 missile rail launchers in a package that would also include spare
parts, support, and logistical services. The missiles, which would be
fitted to Saudi fighter jets, are manufactured by Raytheon, on whose board
Lloyd Austin sat before becoming U.S. defense secretary this year.

The letter's signatories urge members of Congress to pass resolutions
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/12/ilhan-omar-unveils-resolution-block-unconscionable-saudi-arms-sale>
 by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to block the sale
and end "U.S. complicity in the Saudi-led coalition's gross violations of
international law in Yemen, including its blockade."

"For nearly seven years, U.S.-supported Saudi forces have unlawfully
targeted civilian objects and infrastructure via indiscriminate and
disproportionate attacks that have killed and injured thousands of
civilians in Yemen," the letter's authors write. "These aerial bombardments
include myriad war crimes and have exacerbated the catastrophic
humanitarian crisis."

The signers note the Saudi military's "use of U.S.-manufactured weapons in
airstrikes" that have hit "hospitals, schools, and civilian homes—killing
healthcare providers, teachers, and entire families, including children."

The letter continues:

Despite the claim of "defensive use," the proposed sale of these AIM-120
air-to-air missiles and hundreds of missile launchers are not exclusively
defensive, and can reasonably be used to support offensive operations.
These missiles lend another tool for Saudi-led forces to maintain and
enforce their brutal blockade, particularly by raising their ability to
threaten aircraft that would seek to land. More broadly, continuing to arm
Saudi forces allows their grave rights violations and fueling of one of
world's worst humanitarian crises to evade accountability, and amounts to
support and political cover for the illegal blockade.

Last December, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs estimated
<https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1078972> that the Saudi-led war had
caused 233,000 deaths, "including 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack
of food, health services, and infrastructure" exacerbated by the blockade.
Last week, the United Nations Development Program published
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/23/un-yemen-recovery-possible-in-one-generation-if-war-stops-now>
 a report projecting the war's death toll will reach 377,000 by the end of
the year, with children under the age of five accounting for 70% of the
casualties.

"U.S. involvement should have ended following [President Joe] Biden's
declaration to end U.S. support for the coalition," the authors assert,
referring to the president's February announcement
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/04/day-peace-activists-have-been-waiting-biden-vows-curb-us-support-saudi-led-war-yemen>
 that his administration would stop backing "offensive operations,"
including weapons transfers, in the war.

"The Biden administration in its very first weeks committed both to center
human rights in foreign policy and to end U.S. complicity in the war in
Yemen," the letter concludes. "Allowing this sale to stand breaks that
commitment, and would be a human rights failure."
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