[Peace] FAIR: US Media Downplaying US Contribution to Potential Yemen Famine

Wed Mar 1 15:29:28 UTC 2017

http://fair.org/home/downplaying-us-contribution-to-potential-yemen-famine/

Downplaying US Contribution to Potential Yemen Famine
By Adam Johnson
Feb 27 2017

For almost two years, the United States has backed—with weapons, logistics
and political support—a Saudi-led war in Yemen that has left
<http://www.alternet.org/world/one-nastiest-wars-recent-history-raging-yemen-and-us-heavily-involved-it>
over
10,000 dead, 40,000 wounded, 2.5 million internally displaced, 2.2 million
children suffering from malnutrition and over 90 percent of civilians in
need of humanitarian aid.

A recent UN report <https://www.unicef.org/media/media_94893.html> on the
humanitarian crisis and near-famine conditions in Yemen (that encompassed
South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia as well) has led to a rare instance of
Western media taking notice of the war and its catastrophic effect. But
missing from most of these reports is the role of the United States and its
ally Saudi Arabia—whose two-year-long siege and bombing have left the
country in ruins.

A* Daily News* editorial (“USA for Africa (and Yemen),” 2/27/17
<http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/u-s-africa-yemen-article-1.2981829>)
called on readers to give to aid organizations helping to alleviate the
crisis, but neglected to mention the US/Saudi role in the humanitarian
disaster the* Daily News* itself insisted was “caused by acts of man rather
than God.” Which men were those? The* Daily News *doesn’t say.
[image: AP: Almost 1.4 million children face 'imminent death:' UN agency]
<http://fair.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/APFamine.png>

*This AP report (2/21/17
<http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/02/21/almost-14-million-children-face-imminent-death-un-agency.html>)
notes that “in Yemen’s conflict, nearly half a million children have
‘severe acute malnutrition'”–but it doesn’t mention the US government’s
contribution to that conflict.*

Similarly, reports on the near-famine in Yemen in the* Guardian *(2/12/17
<https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/12/famine-looms-four-countries-aid-system-struggles-yemen-south-sudan-nigeria-somalia>
), *AP* (2/21/17
<http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/02/21/almost-14-million-children-face-imminent-death-un-agency.html>
), *CBS News* (2/22/17
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/un-needs-billions-to-prevent-catastrophe-of-hunger-famine/>)
and *Reuters* (2/22/17
<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-famine-idUSKBN1612QB>) neglected to
mention the US-backed, Saudi-led bombing and siege that caused the hunger
crisis in the first place.

To the extent these stories cover the war in Yemen, they typically do so in
a “cycle of violence” framing that gives the reader the impression the
crisis is entirely domestic in origin. As FAIR has previously noted (
10/14/16
<http://fair.org/home/hiding-us-role-in-yemen-slaughter-so-bombing-can-be-sold-as-self-defense/>),
while it’s common for American media to describe the Houthi-led provisional
government as “Iranian-backed,” the role of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf
allies is less often highlighted, while the role of the United States (and
Britain) in supporting the Saudi-led assault is frequently omitted entirely.
[image: The Guardian view on famine: sitting by as disaster unfolds]
<http://fair.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/GuardianFamine.png>

*Like the US, the UK has not been “sitting by” but actively contributing to
famine in Yemen.*

A separate *Guardian* editorial (2/23/17
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/23/the-guardian-view-on-famine-sitting-by-as-disaster-unfolds?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet>),
while briefly mentioning the war was “fueled in part by British and US
bombs” in the text of the article, insisted in the headline the UK was
“sitting by” as “disaster unfolded.” The UK is, of course, not “sitting
by.” The British government has provided £3.3 billion in arms sales—as well
as logistical support, surveillance assistance and political cover
<https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/29/uk-and-saudi-arabia-in-secret-deal-over-human-rights-council-place>—to
the Saudi regime primarily responsible for the disaster in question.

A UN report from last year
<http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security-un-idUKKBN15D0S9> found
there had “been widespread and systematic violations of international
humanitarian law, international human rights law and human rights norms” by
the Saudi government and its allies. The US role in the humanitarian
disaster was so significant, *Reuters* revealed last year
<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-yemen-idUSKCN12A0BQ>, the
State Department was sending internal emails warning of possible US
exposure to war crimes prosecution.

One notable exception was the *New York Times *(2/22/17
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/world/africa/why-20-million-people-are-on-brink-of-famine-in-a-world-of-plenty.html>),
which expressly mentioned the US and Saudi role in the war in its report on
the UN’s findings.

Over the past six months, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen—to say nothing
of the US’s role in it—has been virtually nonexistent on cable and
broadcast news. *NBC News*, *Fox News* and *MSNBC *have all neglected to
cover the story. When it was covered on TV news, as with *CNN *(10/7/16
<http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/27/middleeast/yemen-world-food-program/>) and* ABC
News* (10/28/16
<http://abcnews.go.com/International/graffiti-artist-portrays-horrors-war-yemen/story?id=43103611>)
last October, the role of the United States in fueling the crisis was
omitted altogether.

The US’s role in the war in Yemen is even more urgent of late, with
President Donald Trump ramping up support
<https://theintercept.com/2017/02/10/trump-intends-to-follow-up-botched-yemen-military-raid-by-helping-saudis-target-civilians/>
for
Saudi Arabia’s harsh tactics, including possibly cutting off access to the
critical port of Hodeidah on Yemen’s west coast—an act that the* Huffington
Post *(2/22/17
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-hodeidah-yemen-famine_us_58a88970e4b037d17d28610b>)
insists could “spark a full-blown famine in Yemen.”

A first step to putting political pressure on Trump to mitigate the
suffering in Yemen is for the US public to speak out about their
government’s role—a condition unlikely to be met if corporate media never
bother to mention it.
------------------------------

*Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst for FAIR.org. You can f**ind him
on Twitter at @AdamJohnsonNYC <https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonnyc>.*

===

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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