Action Alert: end the U.S. role in the war in Yemen
In Yemen, the U.S. has been supporting a vicious bombing campaign carried out by a Saudi-led military coalition. The coalition’s airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians by indiscriminately bombing schools, hospitals, marketplaces, and other vital infrastructure. Congress has yet to debate or vote on authorization of U.S. involvement in Yemen.
That is now set to change, as representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), Walter Jones (R-NC-3), Thomas Massie (R-KY-4) and Mark Pocan (D-WI-2) have introduced H.Con.Res.81, a bipartisan bill invoking the War Powers Act to force a debate and a floor vote on ending U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia’s disastrous intervention. It’s imperative that Congress takes back its responsibility to debate and vote on authorizing war. A vote on this bill could happen within weeks. Today, we need you to email your representative to urge them to co-sponsor this crucial resolution.
Besides the thousands of civilian deaths caused directly by military strikes, widespread destruction of Yemen’s infrastructure, including roads and hospitals, along with an aerial and naval blockade have pushed Yemen into a major humanitarian crisis. Today, Yemen sits on the brink of famine, and is suffering the world’s worst cholera outbreak on record, with a million malnourished children at risk from the disease. Every 10 minutes a child in Yemen dies of preventable causes like malnutrition and diarrhea. When the director of UNICEF was asked how to end Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe, he pointedly said: “Stop the war.”
It’s imperative that this resolution gets strong support in the House. That’s why we need you to email your representative today and ask them to co-sponsor this resolution.
The U.S. was wrong from the start to offer support for Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen back in March 2015. Since then, with arms sales, and logistical and political support, the Saudi-led military coalition has brought the people of Yemen to their knees. In addition to arming the Saudi-led coalition, the U.S. refuels Saudi and United Arab Emirates (UAE) warplanes bombing Yemen. In fact, Saudi-UAE warplanes would be unable to conduct their bombing of Yemen without U.S. refuelings. The U.S. is literally fueling this war, and therefore bears part of the responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe.
With Yemen’s population on the brink of starvation, the U.S. should stop facilitating this ill-advised intervention and focus on feeding people and facilitating a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
