[Peace] JFP alert: Back UN Call for Saudi-Yemen Cease-fire to Stop Cholera & Famine

[Robert Naiman]

We especially need to spread this where folks close to the following people
will see it:

Raskin
Pocan
Conyers
McGovern
Lee
Lieu
Khanna
Capuano
Welch
Gabbard

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Just Foreign Policy <info at justforeignpolicy.org>
Date: Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 12:54 PM
Subject: Back UN Call for Saudi-Yemen Cease-fire to Stop Cholera & Famine
To: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org


[image: Just Foreign Policy]
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Dear Robert,

*Urge your Rep. to use WPR to force a House vote on the Saudi war in Yemen.*

Take Action
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wYCTO7w64qqnaZAeDtb%2BZfg0kbL3vgWk>
.

On June 15, the *United Nations Security Council unanimously called for a
cease-fire* in the conflict between the Saudi-UAE coalition and the
Houthi-Saleh forces in Yemen. "The U.N. Security Council urged the warring
parties in Yemen on Thursday to immediately agree on a cease-fire and keep
all ports open for humanitarian aid to confront the threat of famine and
the rapid spread of cholera," *AP* reported. [1]

*Urge your Rep. to force a House vote to back the UN call for ceasefire.
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=mEC8Vc9o%2FpPz5gisiRHOBvg0kbL3vgWk>*

On June 13, using the Arms Export Control Act to force a floor vote, the
U.S. Senate narrowly failed to block an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
Senators opposed to the deal stressed the need to end the humanitarian
crisis in Yemen rather than escalate it. [2]

"The Saudi-led war in Yemen has created a humanitarian disaster,"
Senator *Bernie
Sanders* said. "Millions are at the risk of starvation...the chaos in Yemen
has also been strategically disastrous for the United States, providing
fertile ground for the extremist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS...it is long
past time that we begin to take a very hard look at our relationship with
Saudi Arabia...it is important that we begin to discuss...the decades long
effort by Saudi Arabia to export an ultra-reactionary form of Islam
throughout the world." [3]

"The human rights and humanitarian concerns have been well documented and
are important,” Senate Democratic leader *Chuck Schumer* said. “Of equal
concern to me is that the Saudi government continues to aid and abet
terrorism via its relationship with Wahhabism and the funding of schools
that spread extremist propaganda throughout the world." [4]

Yet the *New York Times* reported on June 14 that *the Trump Administration
plans to escalate* U.S. participation in the Saudi bombing of Yemen, with
U.S. military advisers in the Saudi air operations control center in
Riyadh. [5]

*U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen has never been authorized by
Congress.* [6] Under the Vietnam Era War Powers Resolution of 1973, *a
single Member of Congress* can force a debate and vote on withdrawing U.S.
participation from the Saudi war in Yemen - the conflict that *the UN
Security Council has just unanimously said should stop immediately to save
Yemen from cholera and famine*.

Under the Arms Export Control Act, any Senator could force a vote on the
Saudi arms deal, allowing the Senate to vote on U.S. participation in Saudi
Arabia's war and blockade in Yemen. But *the only way for House Members to
force a vote on the war is to invoke the War Powers Resolution*. The last
time the House voted on any aspect of U.S. participation in the Saudi war
was *June 2016*, when the House narrowly failed to prohibit the transfer of
cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. [7]

*Urge your Representative to use WPR to force a House vote on backing the
UN cease-fire call to save Yemen from cholera and famine by signing our
petition
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=imBbZ3AgMq7l72wvGMIMA%2Fg0kbL3vgWk>.*

Thanks for all you do to help make U.S. foreign policy more just,

Robert Naiman, Avram Reisman, and Sarah Burns
Just Foreign Policy

*If you think our work is important, support us with a $17 donation.*
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate
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References:
1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/un-urges-
yemen-cease-fire-and-open-ports-to-confront-cholera/
2017/06/15/ec92b4b8-5219-11e7-b74e-0d2785d3083d_story.html
2. https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/saudi-yemen-war-famine?r_by=1135580
3. Senator Bernie Sanders, "We Must Reevaluate Our Relationship With Saudi
Arabia," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqbebpDHCnE
4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chuck-schumer-trump-saud
i-arabia_us_593ec911e4b02402687bae98
5. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/world/middleeast/saudi-ar
abia-arms-training-yemen.html
6. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/
02/alarm-grows-in-washington-as-saudi-coalition-attack-on-
yemen-port-appears-imminent/; https://www.washingtonpost.com
/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/05/19/trump-may-be-helping-to-
create-a-famine-in-yemen-congress-could-stop-him/
7. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/obama-heeding-cl
ose-house_b_10516480.html

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