US Senators Launch Bid to End US Support for Saudi in Yemen War

Rasa - US lawmakers submitted a draft resolution calling for an end to US military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's war.

News ID: 436657

Date: 02 March 2018 - 02:41

RNA - The draft resolution, unveiled on Wednesday, is being pushed forward by Senators Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee and Chris Murphy, Al-Jazeera reported.

The bill intends to exploit a powerful but rarely activated provision in a 1973 law - the War Powers Act - that gives Congress the authority to over-rule the President and withdraw troops if the former believes the conflict is not authorised.

"We believe that, as Congress has not declared war or authorised military force in this conflict, the US involvement in Yemen is unconstitutional and unauthorised and US military support of the Saudi coalition must end," Sanders said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Sanders stressed that under the US Constitution, Congress is the only authority that can declcare war, alluding to divisions in the US government between congressional power and the President's role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

A similar bid to end US support for the war in Yemen was launched in November 2017 in a draft resolution sponsored by Congressman Ro Khanna, and while the resolution was passed, it was not implemented.

"Many Americans are unaware that the people of Yemen are suffering today from a devastating civil war with Saudi Arabia and their allies on one side and Houthi rebels on the other," Sanders added.

"Many Americans are also not aware that US forces have been actively involved in support of the Saudis in this war, providing intelligence and aerial refuelling of planes, whose bombs have killed thousands of people and made this crisis far worse," he stressed.

Thousands of people, most of them civilians, have been killed since Saudis launched the aggression in March 2015. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war while hundreds of thousands have also been displaced as a result of the military operation, many of them now in dire humanitarian situation. The United Nations says a record 22.2 million people across Yemen are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

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