[Peace-discuss] 'This Is Historic': US Senate Passes War Powers Resolution to End Complicity in World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis

[David Johnson]

'This Is Historic': US Senate Passes War Powers Resolution to End Complicity
in World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis 

By:  <https://therealnews.com/bios/jake-johnson> Jake Johnson | March 13,
2019 

'This Is Historic': US Senate Passes War Powers Resolution to End Complicity
in World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis

 <https://therealnews.com/#facebook> Facebook
<https://therealnews.com/#twitter> Twitter <https://therealnews.com/#reddit>
Reddit <https://therealnews.com/#email> Email

"This Senate vote moves us one step closer to ending U.S. support for the
catastrophic war in Yemen, a war that makes America complicit in the worst
humanitarian crisis in the world," Paul Kawika Martin, senior director for
policy and political affairs at Peace Action, said in a statement. (Image:
Win Without War)

In a major step toward ending U.S. complicity in the world's worst
humanitarian crisis, the Senate on Wednesday passed a War Powers resolution
to cut off American military support for the Saudi-led coalition's assault
on Yemen.

The final vote count was 54-46.

"This is historic. For the first time in 45 years, Congress is one step
closer to withdrawing U.S. forces from an unauthorized war," Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.), the lead sponsor of the resolution,
<https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1105958163675836416> declared
following the vote. "We must end the war in Yemen."

Kate Gould, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends
Committee on National Legislation, applauded the grassroots activists who
have been working tirelessly to end America's disastrous role in Yemen.

"The Senate has now taken a decisive step in ending the American
facilitation of the Yemen war and the world's largest humanitarian crises,"
Gould said. "Millions of grassroots activists, who helped make this vote a
reality, want their lawmakers to end this unconscionable war."

Passage of the
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/7>
resolution comes as the Saudis continue to launch deadly airstrikes in Yemen
with U.S. backing, worsening a crisis that has already resulted in mass
suffering and
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/21/entirely-preventable-deaths-85
000-yemeni-children-part-what-trump-has-embraced> tens of thousands of
deaths. Earlier this week,  <https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1034491>
dozens of civilians-including women and young children-were killed by Saudi
airstrikes in Yemen's Kushar district.

According to the United Nations,
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/world/middleeast/yemen-famine-children.h
tml> 14 million Yemenis could soon be on the brink of starvation if the
bombing continues. Save the Children, a London-based human rights
organization,
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/21/entirely-preventable-deaths-85
000-yemeni-children-part-what-trump-has-embraced> estimated in a report last
November that 85,000 Yemenis under the age of five have starved to death
since the Saudi-led coalition began bombing the country.

"The fact is that the United States, with little media attention, has been
Saudi Arabia's partner in this horrific war. We have been providing the
bombs the Saudi-led coalition is using, refueling their planes before they
drop those bombs and assisting with intelligence," Sanders said during a
speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote. "The bottom line is the United
States should not be supporting a catastrophic war led by a despotic regime
with a dangerous and irresponsible foreign policy."

Watch the full speech:

"This Senate vote moves us one step closer to ending U.S. support for the
catastrophic war in Yemen, a war that makes America complicit in the worst
humanitarian crisis in the world," Paul Kawika Martin, senior director for
policy and political affairs at Peace Action, said in a
<https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/03/13/senate-votes-again-ending-
us-role-yemen-war> statement.

In addition to putting an end to America's role in the slaughter of Yemeni
civilians, supporters said the resolution also reasserst Congress'
constitutional authority over war.

"Congressional authority over war was designed to avoid the type of
situation that's been unfolding in Yemen, where unauthorized U.S. military
support began without public debate or scrutiny," Martin said. "The Senate's
vote to end the U.S. role in Yemen is also a vote to re-democratize our
nation's foreign policy."

The Yemen War Powers resolution will now head back to the House of
Representatives, the final roadblock before the measure reaches President
Donald Trump's desk.

In a  <https://twitter.com/OMBPress/status/1105831115468738562> statement
before Wednesday's vote, the White House said it "strongly opposes" the
resolution and suggested Trump will veto the measure if it passes the House.
A two-thirds majority vote by both chambers of Congress would be needed to
override a possible Trump veto.

"Ending U.S. support will put even more pressure on Saudi Arabia and the UAE
to change their tactics and finally negotiate an end to the war," Martin
concluded. "Now that the new Senate has passed the resolution, the House
needs to pass the same clean version of the resolution to finally send it to
the president's desk."

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20190316/a1f75b0c/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 370128 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20190316/a1f75b0c/attachment-0001.jpg>