Sorry Tale: Yemen War Is About Murdering Civilians, Criminalizing Democracy

Rasa - A new report by the UN refugee agency says on average some 123 civilians get killed in Yemen per week.

News ID: 442035

Date: 11 December 2018 - 12:26

RNA - This large number of casualties is unsurprising, as the US-backed, Saudi-led invasion forces have been attacking heavily populated areas for four years, while indiscriminate Saudi airstrikes kill civilians several times a week. To be sure, civilian casualties are an ongoing problem throughout the Saudi war on Yemen, and the UN’s report comes with a call for the invaders to “do more” to protect civilians during the fighting.

The latest revelations underscore the need for the US and UK to halt their support for the Saudi-led coalition, which also includes Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Anyone who has been paying attention at all would not fail to note that the undemocratic Saudi regime and its equally repressive allies are inflicting the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties not because they want to introduce democracy and liberty to that country but to actually derail the current political and democratic process. This way they can preserve the regional status quo and prevent similar democratic demands from their own citizens as well.

Civilian casualties from attacks themselves are also dwarfed by the number of civilians starved to death or otherwise killed by the Saudi naval blockade, which is distinct from the UN figure. For those who wonder why President Trump would not bring himself to say a critical word about Saudi Arabia and its devastating war and blockade, we also know the answer: Trump is doing lucrative arms business with Riyadh worth over 100 billion dollars. He says this creates American jobs and for that his administration won’t stop supporting the Saudis in the war.

Here, no serious observer of recent events can honestly believe the mono-narrative US Senate, including Congress outfits, will do otherwise: try to stop US support for the war. After all, the aim of the last four years of illegal invasion has also been to force into the minds of low information public suspicion of Iranian involvement in Yemen, convince them that America must perpetually spend billions on invasions and occupations to contain Iran, sanction Iranian citizens and entities, and build permanent military bases in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

What the world needs to understand is that those who challenge International Law and International Humanitarian Law are the ones that will most likely suffer the consequences in the end. Anti-Iran sanctions and bloated arms sales are the best gifts that war-party Washington can give to corrupt regimes in the region. They can repel and further antagonize nations by ruining their economies for criticizing American-Saudi-Israeli wars and occupations. But they cannot change the fact that their interventionist interests-fantasies and power-struck allies prove too intoxicating for having any credibility among the international community. No matter what lobbyists or TV talking heads say, it is never a winning strategy to destroy a sovereign nation to prove a point.

According to Fars News Agency, we are watching the same strategy that bankrupted the former Soviet Union: A debt-crippled economy is destroying its currency by creating too much of it to finance foreign military adventures and occupations that the bureaucrats and military cronies on the Capitol Hill know cannot win. Whatever the morally-blinded architects of the Iraq War trillion dollar disaster are thinking, they cannot help Saudis to do anything about their predicament in Yemen. They cannot win this war for their cronies, who have one of the worst human rights records in the world.

Regrettably, the Trump administration still wants to keep supporting the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, including training and military assistance, despite international calls for the country to pull out. Trump claims the US will also continue efforts to end Iran’s nonexistence “influence and militancy in Yemen”. This is while he faces increased pressure to end support for Saudi war in light of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's grisly murder in October and reports that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved.

In the prevailing environment, it’s a waste of time to expect the Trump administration hold MBS accountable for Khashoggi's murder, let alone agree to a reduction of military and diplomatic support, or stop the arms sales and end sycophantic support for the Saudi dictatorship. Us arms companies will continue to rake in billions of dollars, while one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes has been inflicted. This war and destruction would not have been possible without the US complicity and support.

Despite widespread international criticism and outrage, including condemnation at the United Nations, Washington will continue to support the Saudi-led coalition in murdering civilians and criminalizing democracy in Yemen. To be sure, at a recent security forum in the United Arab Emirates, Tim Lenderking of the State Department's Near East Bureau defended Washington’s continued support for Saudi Arabia in the war, saying withdrawing would send "a wrong message." This sorry tale will continue.

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