American Arms and Hypocrisy in Yemen

Rasa - Amnesty International has once again accused the United States government of “deadly hypocrisy” for its military aid and massive arms deals with Israel and Saudi Arabia that have carried out war crimes and other violations of international protocols.

News ID: 423249

Date: 05 September 2016 - 23:23

RNA - The international organisation has also called on the US government to do an about-face on its current policy of providing vast arms sales and military aid to repressive client states in the Middle East.

This is because since President Obama took office, the US government has done a staggering $110 billion in arms sales with the Saudi monarchy alone - amounting to an unprecedented increase. Like Israel, Saudi Arabia has long been a close US ally, but the US-Saudi military alliance has grown dramatically since 2015. Throughout the past year, US weapons have kept flowing to Saudi Arabia, even while the United Nations and human rights groups have documented a slew of Saudi war crimes in Yemen.

Here, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also condemned the US and UK governments for providing weapons, military intelligence and support to the Saudi-led coalition that has since March 2015 launched thousands of air strikes in Yemen, warning that they may be complicit in war crimes.

The bottom line is that the US government considers to arm the government of Saudi Arabia with precisely the kinds of weapons that Saudi Arabia and other proxies have used to attack civilian communities in Yemen. That’s the fundamental problem and International Law is clear on that: Nobody should be putting more bombs or weapons in the hands of the Saudi-led coalition.

As is, the US-backed air campaign is designed to help the Saudis and their military re-establish regional position, silence the opposition, and strengthen international prestige. It’s a huge relief for Israel too, because under the pretext of fighting terror and humanitarian intervention, Riyadh has effectively shut down any regional discussions about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Here is the final argument though: Under the fundamental rule of International Law, Saudi Arabia and other US proxies have no right to bomb Yemen. They have no authorization from the UN Security Council and they are not acting in genuine self-defense. They offer no explanation for why their aggression would comport with international protocols. Without UN mandate, they have no right to act as unilateral cop or in alliance with others to strike Yemen.

Into the argument, it is wrong to assume that the airstrikes, supported by the US government, are peripheral. They are central to the balance of power within the Arab world, to tensions within the region, and are at the core of fears in the global oil market.

That said, the campaign has failed to affect regime change in the war-torn country. That’s the nature of any illegal war. Calling it anything even close to a proxy war against Iran is deceitful too, since the Saudis aren’t acting by proxy, and meantime, the popular forces - that are formed of Ansarullah (the military wing of the Houthis) and a dozen other large groups who altogether set up the popular committees - and army of war-ravaged Yemen are no proxy of Tehran. In effect, the Saudi-led warplanes are bombing the civilian infrastructure with little care for civilian life on the ground. They seek to salvage the US imperial policy and maintain the regional status quo.

It is past time for the UN Security Council to stop playing politics and start using the leverage it has to stop this madness. This kind of outdated aggression and barbarity is condemnable by any decent human being. It has no place in the 21st century.

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