Statement of the United National Antiwar Coalition
The massive month-long bombardment of Yemen conducted by Saudi Arabia is in reality yet another U.S. war in the region. Not one Saudi bombing mission is possible without U.S. logistical and intelligence support.
It is critical that the U.S. antiwar movement understand and focus on the U.S. role and its military, political and diplomatic support of the brutal Saudi devastation of Yemen, the poorest country in the region. More than 1,000 Yemenis have been murdered to date, 8,000 wounded and 150,000 displaced from their homes.
Saudi Arabia’s F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, Blackhawk helicopters, satellite and surveillance drones all operate with U.S. support, whether it be direct U.S. military “advisors” or paid U.S. “contractors.”
The Saudi Arabian bombing of Yemen must be denounced by all progressive forces as a war crime. The intensive bombings of civilian infrastructure in densely populated areas, destruction of Yemen’s electrical grid and precious water supplies, the bombing of a U.N. medical warehouses and a civilian refugee camp as well as the naval blockade of food and medical supplies are all violations of the U.N. Charter and the Geneva and Nuremberg Conventions.
But the United Nations, under enormous U.S. pressure, remains silent on the Saudi atrocities despite their condemnations by U.N. aid workers and other international relief agencies that have been compelled to flee Yemen to escape the indiscriminate Saudi and allied bombings. We find it incomprehensible that the United Nations remains silent regarding the horrors perpetrated by the Saudis while demanding that the Houthis stand down before the Saudi onslaught.
The United States, Saudi Arabia and their oil monarch allies in the Gulf Coordination Council have long feared any mass, popular insurgency, regardless of its program. Need we recall the Saudi Arabian government’s massive support to the General Sisi dictatorship in Egypt in its 2013 overthrow of the elected government of Mohamed Morsi? Today Egyptian warships help enforce the blockade of Yemen.
Saudi Arabia spends billions of its oil revenue on weapons purchases. It is the Number One U.S. weapons client. U.S.-funded Saudi arms purchases are nothing less a multibillion-dollar contribution to the U.S. and British military-industrial complex and associated banks. This military equipment is inseparable from the U.S. handlers, technicians and advisors required for its operation. Not one bombing mission could take off without direct U.S. assistance and technical coordination. The Pentagon has just rushed additional deadly weaponry to the Saudis.
There also are U.S. destroyers, aircraft carriers and submarines in the Gulf today directly patrolling Yemen’s coastline. They are not only monitoring but directly boarding ships and enforcing the blockade, preventing even food and medical supplies from reaching war-ravished Yemen.
The Houthis, as they are called in the U.S. media, or more correctly Ansar Allah, is a movement of the poorest and most disenfranchised sectors of the Yemeni population, one that preached tolerance and has long called for a representative government in Yemen. Their military equipment comes from the disintegration of the Yemeni army following the fleeing of the Saudi-imposed Hadi dictatorship. Despite Saudi claims to the contrary, no evidence has been produced that the Houthis receive arms from any other source.
Further, it is critical to note that the Obama administration and the Bush administration before it have been and are using Yemini bases to launch drone strikes – an estimated 90 to 198 since 2002 – against the forces of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, indiscriminate attacks that have taken a terrible toll on the broad Yemeni civilian population.
Prior to the Saudi bombing, the Houthis were successfully challenging Al Qaeda on the ground. It is more than ironic that Al Qaeda today aims its fire at the Houthi rebels and, concurrent with the Saudi bombing of the Houthis, has gained ground in the context of the U.S.-backed war.
The U.S.-backed Saudi bombing has once again created the same massive dislocation, destabilization and wreckage that U.S. wars have wrecked on Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.
The United National Antiwar Coalition demands:
U.S. / Saudi Hands Off Yemen Now!
Stop the U.S.-backed Bombardment!
Self-determination for the Yemeni People!