America’s Silent War in Yemen
Americans have grown weary of wars in the Middle East. The trait is understandable, but it is not defensible. There is no excuse for ignorance. According to Google Trends, Americans have searched for terms like “Kardashian,” “Bieber,” and “Trump,” between 10–14x more often than “Yemen.” Even similar country searches, like “Syria,” and “Saudi Arabia,” outweigh interest in this country torn apart by war.
While Syria, ISIS, and Donald Trump continue to make front page headlines across the country, another Middle Eastern war lies uncovered. Since 2015, Yemen has been embroiled in a deadly civil war, made increasingly worse by its neighbors in the Gulf. This week, another terrible humanitarian crisis erupted in the little-known nation. Saudi Arabian airstrikes on a school killed 10 Yemenis and injured 28 more. All of those killed were between the ages of 8–15. In a statement on August 15, Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) decried the indiscriminate killing and placed the blame squarely on the Obama Administration. “By assisting Saudi Arabia, the United States is aiding and abetting what appears to be war crimes in Yemen. The Administration must stop enabling this madness now.” The Congressman’s statement earned little recognition on media outlets.
Yemen suffers quietly in the background. But Congressman Lieu is wrong to lay the blame at the feet of the Obama Administration alone. All of us — from talking heads, to the American citizenry — have ignored the plight of the Yemeni people. Across the spectrum, we have done little to create the political space to stop the madness.
Yemen’s civil war began in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia began bombing areas populated by the Houthis, a Shiite rebel group that took power following the exile of President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Al-Hadi. Since then, 6,500 Yemenis have been killed, 2.5 million displaced, and an estimated $14 billion in damages have ravaged the country. The New York Times, in a vital opinion piece published today, notes that up to 60% of those killed and injured in this fight have been children. It’s estimated that 4 out of 5 Yemenis are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 7.6 million are at risk of starvation.
Saudi Arabia is the active participant in this war, but the United States has clearly remained the country’s premier patron. This week, the Obama Administration proposed a $1.15 billion weapons deal with the Saudi Kingdom. Congress, which is on break until Labor Day, has 30 days to pass legislation to block the deal. There may be bipartisan support to stop the sale — Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) are allies on this issue — but will their alliance be enough political pressure to change the status quo?
Congress has already failed to enact legislation in support of the Yemeni people. As recently as this June, an effort to ban the sale of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia was defeated. One gloating Representative remarked that they are “legitimate weapons with clear military utility.” It’s unclear what military utility the Representative has in mind given that civilians are 92% of casualties from cluster munitions. Half of those are children. These are the same weapons that are universally recognized as “horrific,” “inhumane,” and “noxious.” They are the same weapons that are banned by 108 states under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Two states are conspicuously missing from that list — the United States and Saudi Arabia. Earlier, in April 2016, Senator Murphy and Representative Lieu introduced a joint resolution to limit the sale of weaponry to Saudi Arabia. Those bills have moved nowhere, and GovTrack.us currently predicts a woeful 2% chance of the joint resolution passing.
Weapon sales are not a fringe issue in this conflict. U.S.-supplied weapons are driving the war in a very real and tangible way. “There’s an American imprint on every civilian life lost in Yemen,” Senator Murphy told CNN on August 16. Human Rights Watch agrees, and has continually called upon the U.S. to suspend all weapon sales to Saudi Arabia until further notice.
It is, unfortunately, difficult to foresee a change in the political winds without a dramatic change in political will among Congressional members. Senators Murphy and Ryan, as well as Representative Lieu lack the support of their compatriots to suspend weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. At a deeper level, we have failed to persuade Congress that this issue must be confronted.
Ignoring Yemen today foretells a perilous future. This is a country on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that finds itself in the crosshairs of a Middle Eastern proxy war. Meanwhile, demographic trends suggest that the country could experience beyond 100% population growth by 2050, constituting a new generation of Yemenis who have grown up amidst war, strife, and destruction. These young Yemenis will grow up in a world littered with the detritus of American weaponry. They will be reminded every day of the destruction heaped upon their homes. This type of environment will undoubtedly create ill-will, and could one day turn our moral obligation to stand up and object into a national security imperative.
Get involved
Change.org Petition: https://www.change.org/p/stopbombingyemen
Call Congress: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/sjres32
RootsAction Petition: http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11818
