<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>"We're getting the band back together." - Jake Blues</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/lawmakers-seek-to-end-saudi-bombing-campaign-in-yemen/2019/09/02/c28e123a-6204-4315-8598-9fc66f0c8b70_story.html" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/lawmakers-seek-to-end-saudi-bombing-campaign-in-yemen/2019/09/02/c28e123a-6204-4315-8598-9fc66f0c8b70_story.html</a><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><br></span></b></div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class="m_-2684332694059520647m_-8420834582822411777m_-5395118083824416807WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Lawmakers make new push to end Saudi bombing campaign in Yemen</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">By John Hudson and<u> </u></span><span style="font-size:11pt">Missy Ryan</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="m_-2684332694059520647m_-8420834582822411777m_-5395118083824416807author-timestamp"><span style="font-family:"Apple SD Gothic Neo";color:#666666;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">September 2 at 8:41 PM</span></span><span style="font-family:"Apple SD Gothic Neo";color:#666666"><u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="m_-2684332694059520647m_-8420834582822411777m_-5395118083824416807author-timestamp"><span style="font-family:"Apple SD Gothic Neo";color:#666666;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><br></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">A group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers is making a new push to end the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen amid intensifying criticism of the air war following an attack on a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/saudi-coalition-airstrike-kills-dozens-in-yemen-red-cross-to-investigate/2019/09/01/19e376f6-ccab-11e9-9031-519885a08a86_story.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#2c6cb4">rebel-run
 prison</span></a> that may have killed more than 100 people Sunday.</span><span style="color:rgb(17,17,17);font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13.5pt"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">The lawmakers’ goal is to prohibit U.S. logistical support for the coalition’s airstrikes through an amendment to the annual defense policy bill, a move that they hope would effectively
 ground the air campaign by banning the U.S. provision of spare parts that Saudi Arabia needs to maintain its planes. The measure would also restrict certain forms of intelligence-sharing.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">The amendment, first presented by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, already passed in the House’s version of the defense authorization, and now members of both chambers are pressing
 their colleagues not to remove it during conference negotiations with the Senate.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">“We strongly urge you to include the House provision that prohibits military support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war” against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the lawmakers said in a letter
 obtained by The Washington Post that was signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah), and Reps. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and
 dozens of others.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">“Inclusion of this amendment would ensure that our men and women in uniform are not involved in a war which has never been authorized by Congress, and continues to undermine rather than
 advance U.S. national security interests,” the lawmakers wrote.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">The letter is addressed to the top Republicans and Democrats on the armed services committees, who will negotiate a range of disparities between the House and Senate versions of the bill,
 including other Democratic amendments to reverse President Trump’s ban on transgender troops and prohibit spending military money on military parades and Trump’s properties.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">The lawmakers’ appeal comes as the Yemen conflict drags on in its fifth year, with the civilian death toll rising and feuding among factions allied with key U.S. partners complicating
 prospects for peace.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">The Trump administration has urged a swift halt to clashes in southern Yemen between forces affiliated with the internationally recognized government, which is closely linked to Saudi
 Arabia, and forces backed by the kingdom’s chief partner in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">U.S. officials have long called for a political solution to end the war, but the Trump administration also has increasingly framed the conflict in terms of a larger regional standoff with
 Iran.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">Mounting congressional frustration with Saudi Arabia — fueled partly by the killing of journalist <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/10/06/read-jamal-khashoggis-columns-for-the-washington-post/" title="www.washingtonpost.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#2c6cb4">Jamal
 Khashoggi</span></a> at the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/un-investigator-calls-for-probing-saudi-officials-in-khashoggi-killing/2019/06/19/cf5ee594-91f3-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#2c6cb4">Saudi
 Consulate in Istanbul last year</span></a> — has resulted in a series of bipartisan legislative steps over the past year but has failed to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia in the war.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">Pentagon officials argue that a decision last year to halt aerial refueling of Saudi jets has limited military support. But the United States continues to share certain intelligence on
 Yemen with Saudi Arabia, even as it moves ahead with massive arms sales to the kingdom.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">The House-passed version would also restrict U.S. maintenance of Saudi flight operations.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">Saudi officials have said they would prefer to press ahead with Washington as its primary military partner but that they can rely on other nations if needed.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">Pentagon officials see Saudi Arabia as an important regional partner and a counterweight to Iran. But the stalemated conflict in Yemen, which has killed tens of thousands of people and
 thrust millions into near-famine conditions, has prompted widespread humanitarian criticism of the United States and Saudi Arabia.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">On Monday, Yemeni medical workers pulled bodies from the bombed-out detention center run by the rebels that was hit Sunday. Dozens of people were wounded and more than 100 people were
 “presumed killed” in the attack, <a href="https://twitter.com/icrc_ye/status/1168086056132055040?s=11" title="twitter.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#2c6cb4">the International Committee of the Red Cross</span></a> said.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">Saudi officials said the facility was being used as an arms deport, and a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Col. Turki al-Maliki, called it a “legitimate military target.”<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#111111">“Now we must use Congress’s power of the purse to block every nickel of taxpayer money from going to assist the Saudi dictatorship as it bombs and starves civilians in Yemen,” Sanders
 said in a statement.</span></p></div></div></div></div>
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