<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><span class=""><p class="MsoNormal">Please spread this all around. </p></span><p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congresss-war-powers-must-be-made-a-reality/2017/10/03/096d8b74-a7c1-11e7-b3aa-c0e2e1d41e38_story.html" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com<wbr>/opinions/congresss-war-powers<wbr>-must-be-made-a-reality/2017/<wbr>10/03/096d8b74-a7c1-11e7-b3aa-<wbr>c0e2e1d41e38_story.html</a><span></span></p><span class="">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:24pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(42,42,42)">Congress’s war powers must be made a reality</span></b><span style="font-size:24pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.2pt"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;color:rgb(17,17,17)"><br>
By <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/katrina-vanden-heuvel/" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165);text-decoration-line:none">Katrina vanden
Heuvel</span></a></span><span style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:rgb(17,17,17)"> </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:rgb(170,170,170)">October
3 at 8:21 AM<br><br></span><span style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:rgb(17,17,17)"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.6pt"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia">What does it take
to get Congress to act on vital questions of war and peace? The catastrophe in
Yemen may test whether Congress is finally prepared to exercise its
constitutional responsibility. Four legislators — two House Democrats and two
Republicans — have <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/81/text?r=3" title="www.congress.gov" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165);text-decoration-line:none">introduced a resolution</span></a> under the War
Powers Act demanding a vote in 15 days to end U.S. involvement in Saudi
Arabia’s devastation of Yemen.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:13.5pt;line-height:21.6pt"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)">The resolution, co-sponsored by Democrats Ro Khanna and Mark
Pocan (the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus) and by Republicans
Thomas Massie and Walter Jones, requires the “removal” of U.S. forces from the
war in Yemen unless Congress votes to authorize American involvement. Beginning
under President Barack Obama, the U.S. military has assisted the Saudi campaign
in Yemen, providing tankers for aerial refueling and targeting intelligence
against the Houthi rebels said to be backed by Iran. U.S. support was
reportedly part of a deal to get Saudi Arabia to be more supportive of the war
against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.<span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:21.6pt"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)">The Saudi-led
campaign in Yemen has been central to creating what U.N. officials call the
world’s largest humanitarian crisis. The carpet-bombing of civilian areas has
helped produce <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1013329/icode/" title="www.fao.org" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">borderline famine for 7 million</span></a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/more-than-20-million-people-are-at-risk-of-starving-to-death-will-the-world-step-up/2017/07/17/c7d7703c-6b14-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html?utm_term=.712ad5bda528" title="www.washingtonpost.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">20 million in need of
humanitarian aid</span></a> and a spreading cholera epidemic that has <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41446342" title="www.bbc.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">already reached 700,000 cases</span></a> and killed
more than <a href="http://www.emro.who.int/yem/yemeninfocus/situation-reports.html" title="www.emro.who.int" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">2,000</span></a>.<span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:21.6pt"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)"><br>Saudi Arabia has
faced growing global protests over the bombing of civilian areas and other
alleged violations of international law. Most recently, the Saudis have barred
relief flights from access to Yemen’s airport and blocked delivery of four
cranes financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that
are vital to unloading medicine and food at Port Hodeida. Saudi influence
managed to quash efforts by the Netherlands to force an international
inspection of war crimes two years ago. Finally last month, the U.N. Human
Rights Council <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/middleeast/yemen-saudi-rights-abuse.html?_r=1" title="www.nytimes.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">passed a compromise resolution</span></a>calling
for the appointment of independent international experts to investigate
humanitarian abuses and identify those responsible.<span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:21.6pt"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)"><br>
During his campaign, Donald Trump expressed skepticism of failed U.S.
interventions across the Middle East. Since coming to office, however, he has
ratcheted up U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. The pace of U.S.
bombing and interventions by special forces aimed at al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) has increased dramatically. Trump made no mention of Saudi
Arabia’s brutal attacks on Yemen in celebrating its cooperation in the war on
terrorism at the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-and-gulf-nations-agree-to-crack-down-on-terror-financing/2017/05/21/e1222b34-3dfd-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.b5b1317f0b5a" title="www.washingtonpost.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">Arab Islamic American
Summit </span></a>in Riyadh. In spite of generally opposing all things
Obama, Trump appears to be doubling down on his predecessor’s policy toward Saudi
Arabia and Yemen.<span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:21.6pt;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:100%"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)"><br>
Although a reactionary monarchy, Saudi Arabia has long enjoyed a special
relationship with the United States. A blind eye has been turned toward its
support for spreading extreme fundamentalist Wahhabi doctrine and its extensive
financial ties to extremist organizations. The fact that the 15 of the 19 9/11
hijackers were Saudi citizens has been virtually ignored. A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/congress-releases-long-classified-28-pages-on-alleged-saudi-ties-to-911/2016/07/15/e8671fde-4ab1-11e6-bdb9-701687974517_story.html?utm_term=.1f90c1d0ecff" title="www.washingtonpost.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">document on Saudi
connections to the attackers</span></a> (from a larger congressional
inquiry into the attacks) was released only last year.<span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:21.6pt"><br>
<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)">Now that
impunity is starting to wear thin. In his foreign policy speech at Westminster
College, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) courageously <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/9/21/16345600/bernie-sanders-full-text-transcript-foreign-policy-speech-westminster" title="www.vox.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">called out</span></a> our support for
Saudi Arabia’s “destructive intervention in Yemen,” arguing that “such policies
dramatically undermine America’s ability to advance a human rights agenda
across the world.”<br><br><span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:21.6pt"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)">Later, in an
interview with the Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan, Sanders <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/09/22/bernie-sanders-interview-foreign-policy/" title="theintercept.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">elaborated</span></a>, arguing
that Saudi Arabia shouldn’t be considered “an ally,” because “it is an
undemocratic country that has supported terrorism across the world.”<br><br><span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:13.5pt;line-height:21.6pt;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:100%"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)">The
congressional resolution cites the State Department 2016 Country Reports on
Terrorism’s conclusion that the Yemen conflict is “counterproductive to ongoing
efforts . . . to pursue Al Qaeda and its associated forces.” The Saudi
intervention is creating yet another failed state in which terrorists can take
root.<span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:21.6pt;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:100%"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)">As lead
co-sponsor Khanna (D-Calif.) <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/28/lawmakers-demand-u-s-withdrawal-from-saudi-led-war-in-yemen/" title="foreignpolicy.com" shape="rect" style="box-sizing:border-box;zoom:1;font-size:inherit" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(25,85,165)">argues</span></a>, the war
powers resolution is long overdue: “Congress and the American people know too
little about the role we are playing in a war that is causing suffering for
millions of people and is a genuine threat to our national security.”<span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:13.5pt;line-height:21.6pt"><br>
<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(17,17,17)">The resolution
will force Congress to debate this truly deplorable policy that has implicated
the United States in Saudi war crimes while fueling the spread of terrorism.
The establishment default about the endless wars without victory or sense in
the Middle East must end. Indeed, the bipartisan nature of the co-sponsor list
for the resolution indicates interest on both sides of the aisle in
revitalizing Congress as an effective constitutional check on a long-out-of-control
executive branch. Khanna is hopeful that the debate on our support of the Saudi
coalition in Yemen will serve as a belated but necessary first step,
demonstrating growing bipartisan concern about continued foreign intervention.</span></p>
</span></div><span class=""><div><br></div>===<div><br clear="all"><div><div class="m_-4177910307847812593m_-2890637810319265505gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><div><span style="text-align:left"><a href="tel:(202)%20448-2898" value="+12024482898" target="_blank">(202) 448-2898 x1</a></span></div><div><br></div><div><div>Co-Sponsor Khanna-Massie to #StopSaudiFamineInYemen<br><a href="https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/force-vote-on-saudi-war?r_by=1135580" style="font-size:12.8px;color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">https://petitions.moveon.org/s<wbr>ign/force-vote-on-saudi-war?r_<wbr>by=1135580</a><br></div></div><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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