[Peace] Weisbrot: Pressure on White House Could Help Prevent Mass Starvation in Yemen

Thu Apr 6 18:02:28 UTC 2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58e67892e4b06671a472f0bc

Public Pressure on White House Could Help Prevent Mass Starvation in Yemen
Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
4/06/2017 01:22 pm ET

“Shame on us,” wrote
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/opinion/sunday/that-food-saved-my-life-and-trump-wants-to-cut-it-off.html>
Nicholas
Kristof in* The* *New York Times* last month. “The Saudis have managed to
block coverage of the crimes against humanity they are perpetrating in
Yemen, and the US backs the Saudis.”

He was referring to a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, which now
puts millions
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/hundreds-of-thousands-of-yemeni-children-are-nearing-starvation/2017/02/23/f01ead8a-f850-11e6-aa1e-5f735ee31334_story.html>
of
people at risk of death from famine.

As the new administration approaches its first 100 days, Americans who care
about the future of their country have understandably been preoccupied with
the humanitarian consequences of Trump’s rule at home. These are things
that affect us the most – with “us” including immigrants who live here.
Health insurance, the environment, education, climate change, taxation and
the budget – big battles have been joined, some have been won, and there
are many more ahead.

But there are moments when we can help save millions of lives by taking a
break from our daily struggles to prevent terrible damage that our
government is about to do to people thousands of miles away. This is one of
those moments.

The White House is reported
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-pentagon-war-20170402-story.html>
to
be deciding this week whether to support a planned attack on the port of
Hodeida, in Yemen, by a Saudi-led coalition supporting the deposed
government there in its two-year old war with Houthi rebels, who now
control most of Yemen’s population centers.

This is a port where almost 80 percent
<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-ports-idUSKBN17719O> of
the country’s food enters – Yemen is overwhelmingly dependent
<http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/statement-humanitarian-coordinator-yemen-jamie-mcgoldrick-impact-conflict-and-ongoing>
on
food imports, and was already the poorest country in the region prior to
the US-backed Saudi war. The UN reports that 3.3 million people, including
2.1 million children are already acutely malnourished. Hundreds of
thousands of children could die if this port is further destroyed in the
bombing that will likely ensue if our government gives the green light
and direct
assistance
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-weighs-deeper-involvement-in-yemen-war/2017/03/26/b81eecd8-0e49-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html>
in
the operation.

Here in Washington, dozens of members of the House of Representatives have
signed a bipartisan letter
<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/files/live/sites/almonitor/files/documents/2017/congress_letter_trump_yemen_office_legal_counsel.pdf>
to
the White House put forth by Representatives Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Justin
Amash (R-MI), demanding that Trump seek Congressional approval before a
potentially disastrous escalation of US hostilities in Yemen. The letter
states:

The United States has participated in Saudi-led airstrikes that have been
blamed for most of Yemen’s 10,000 civilian deaths, creating a security
vacuum that Al Qaeda has exploited to expand its base of operations. We
therefore urge you to terminate US refueling for Saudi coalition warplanes
and end, rather than increase, U.S. logistical assistance for the Saudi-led
bombings in Yemen. At minimum, any decision by the administration to engage
in direct U.S. hostilities against Yemen’s Houthis must be subject to a
congressional debate and vote, as the framers of the Constitution intended
and the 1973 War Powers Resolution demands.

One might ask, why should the Trump administration care what members of
Congress think about its military intervention in Yemen? The answer is that
Trump administration officials
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-weighs-deeper-involvement-in-yemen-war/2017/03/26/b81eecd8-0e49-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html>,
as well as Republican Congressional leaders, are reported to be divided as
to whether to pursue this escalation.

Republican Senator Bob Corker, the influential Chair of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, made it clear
<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/congress-raise-alarm-us-confrontation-yemen-houthis.html>
that
he doesn’t believe the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that
Congress passed in 2001 to counter al-Qaeda would apply to Yemen’s Houthis.

The Trump administration has to choose its battles, and this is clearly a
war of choice, with no legal footing, and where many things can go wrong.
If it looks like the White House is going to have a continual and possibly
escalating fight with Congress—which could spill over into the media – the
forces within the Administration that oppose further involvement may
prevail.

It’s not like repealing Obamacare – defeated for now — which was a Trump
campaign promise. In fact, it’s the opposite: Trump campaigned
<https://cpc-grijalva.house.gov/press-releases/congressional-progressive-caucus-criticizes-trumps-potential-picks-for-secretary-of-state/>
on
a pledge not to get involved in wars other than fighting terrorism. But in
this war, Al Qaeda is effectively
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d927fc2962f44a6d8edf6a790b556bbc/pro-government-tribal-leader-among-dead-us-raid-yemen>
on
the side
<https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/saudi-arabias-terrorist-allies-yemen>
of
the Saudis, whereas the Houthis – who are Shia Muslims – are fighting
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-fights-on-same-side-as-saudi-backed-militias-in-yemen-1437087067>
against
Al Qaeda. (Some people still remember that Al Qaeda was behind the attacks
that killed 3000 Americans on 9/11). US support that is essential to Saudi
Arabia’s prosecution of this war – through weapons transfers, mid-flight
refueling for bombing raids, and targeting and logistical assistance – is
not easy to defend in public, if the White House were forced to defend it,
especially when it is starving ordinary Yemenis and radicalizing
<http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/08/16/senator-chris-murphy-on-yemen-saudi-arabia-conflict-the-lead-jake-tapper-interview.cnn>
them
against the United States.
If you have never called your representative in Congress to ask them to
sign a letter, now would be a good time to do it
<https://www.fcnl.org/updates/ask-your-rep-put-the-brakes-on-yemen-war-715>.
You could help save hundreds of thousands of people from starvation.

*Mark Weisbrot <http://cepr.net/about-us/staff/mark-weisbrot> is
Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research
<http://www.cepr.net/> in Washington, DC, and the president of Just Foreign
Policy <http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/>. He is also the author of the
book “Failed: What the ‘Experts’ Got Wrong About the Global Economy
<http://www.cepr.net/publications/failed-what-the-experts-got-wrong-about-the-global-economy>”
(2015, Oxford University Press). You can subscribe to his columns here
<http://org.salsalabs.com/o/967/t/9788/signUp.jsp?key=1013>. *

===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1 <(202)%20448-2898>
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