Despite Congress Bill, Vulture Warmongers Will Circle Above Yemen Prey

Rasa - As people in Yemen are dying and President Donald Trump lashes out at Iran’s virtually non-existent involvement, a new bipartisan bill by Congress directs the president to end all US military participation in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

News ID: 432839

Date: 02 October 2017 - 15:30

RNA - The bill points out that Congress never once authorized such an operation and has sole authority to make such a determination. With the new bill the world wonders if this will be a moment in which the US will just sell every ally off and leave them to their own devices in the failed regime-change campaign.

However, here’s where the US government's response and Trump's response could lead in a completely different direction if we realize that the United States does not in fact see peace as part of the war, does not see people of Yemen as full members of the international community worthy of peace, security and aid, and does not think their lives matter, literally:

- Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in 2015, vowing to remove the popular forces (Ansarullah) from the capital city, and to reinstall former president Hadi, whose term technically expired in 2014, but who they maintain is still in power to this day. As a consequence, Yemen is devastated. The war plunged the poorest nation in the Arab world into darkness and despair. The landscape of ruined buildings and towns resemble Syria after the failed US-led regime-change campaign, and suchlike. The entire nation is on the brink of famine, while millions of people are also desperate for water, electricity and shelter.

- The war has been slow going, and the amount of war crimes has been calamitous. This has raised growing concerns that US participation in it has fueled a backlash against America. The United Nations and numerous human rights groups are deeply critical of Presidents Obama and Trump for their unilateral moves to ensure US involvement in the illegal war, noting that there was no legal basis for US participation in a fight against Yemen, while both the UN and Congress never authorized such measures.

- For the Congress, the bill looks more like kicking a can down the road. This is because the bill does not intend to end all US military involvement in Yemen, and makes no mention of US military options against the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or the local ISIL affiliate. It simply proscribes the end of operations in support of the illegal war and the US-backed, Saudi naval blockade.

- That both President Trump and the neo-conservatives at the Congress will resist such a limited bill is beyond dispute. The War Party will continue to justify the war on Yemen as in some way being done to spite Iran, even though Iran’s involvement in the war is virtually non-existent, and the Ansarullah resistance movement is a completely different type of Shiites than the ones in Iran.

- Past votes to try to dial back massive US arms sales to the Saudis have failed. There is no reason to think this time it will be otherwise, particularly given that the Trump White House has just signed a massive arms deal with the Saudis worth over $300 billion. As President Trump has on several occasions maintained with a mixture of deep ignorance and imperial arrogance, the US will continue to support the Saudi-led war on Yemen because it “creates jobs,” and “it will make America great again.”

- This same dark cloud hangs over the Middle East’s political landscape today. The War Party and terror proxies have destroyed large parts of the region and without a second thought - yet wonder why peoples from these ravaged nations hate the US. In spite of all, US imperial impulse still throbs. The nightmare war on Yemen in which over 15,000 civilians have died for nothing has been largely ignored. And the new Congressional bill notwithstanding, the War Party is more than willing to repeat the same fatal errors again without shame, remorse or understanding.

- Maybe the US does not want the war to end, as leaving Yemen would mean that the Americans are giving up their presence and interests in the Arabian Peninsula. In this war, Saudi Arabia has been used as an American proxy, and after its failure in Syria, the US does not want to face the same humiliation again in Yemen.

Make no mistake; even if the bipartisan resolution succeeds in directing President Trump to end all US military participation in the Saudi-led invasion of Yemen, the new policy will be no more than a facelift. The never-ending dilemma that is Yemen will continue apace – albeit covertly.

It can be seen that the military efforts against the people of Yemen have failed to achieve the desired results, as the situation on the ground favors them. They feel that they are winning, and in this case it is difficult for Washington to step aside. All Washington can do is help bring them to the table for talks.

A political solution is indeed the only way to end the Yemen crisis, as the blockade and air war has so far achieved nothing. The US knows that it cannot win this battle, but to ensure its presence it keeps changing its policies here and there while scapegoating Iran. The new Congressional bill could be the most recent example of this never-ending dilemma.

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