AS PRESIDENT OBAMA meets with Gulf state leaders in Riyadh, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is questioning the Saudi commitment to fighting al Qaeda and ISIS, warning that the war in Yemen is distracting Saudi Arabia from operations against extremists.
The White House has defended Saudi Arabia as an “effective national security partner.” Responding to a question about Yemen on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the “United States and Saudi Arabia have worked together to apply pressure to al Qaeda plotters in Yemen.”
But at a Brookings Institution discussion about the U.S.-Saudi relationship on Thursday, Murphy questioned the kingdom’s commitment to combating al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS, in light of the war in Yemen.
“The result of this conflict … has been the creation of enormous space for the growth of AQAP … which grows uncontested in Yemen today, because of the refusal of the coalition to go after [them],” he said.
Murphy introduced a bill last week, along with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would block arms transfers to Saudi Arabia unless the State Department certifies that the kingdom is “taking all necessary measures” to target AQAP and ISIS, and is minimizing civilian casualties.
Saudi Arabia launched its U.S.-backed air campaign in Yemen last March after Houthi rebels threatened the rule of the Saudi-backed president. Throughout the campaign, the Saudi air force has largely refrained from engaging AQAP, who are also fighting the Houthis.
AQAP is an offshoot of al Qaeda that has attempted multiple attacks on American soil, including by the Christmas Day “underwear bomber.” The United States has been using drones to hunt AQAP members since 2002, and has controversially killed several U.S. citizens in the process. Last month, according to a Pentagon press release, a U.S. airstrike killed “dozens” of “fighters” in AQAP territory.
As Saudi Arabia ignores the rise of al Qaeda’s expansion, AQAP has grown into a powerhouse in Yemen — controlling extensive territory in the country’s south, including the rich port city of Mukalla. AQAP makes between $2 million and $5 million a day from duties on imported goods, according to an investigation by Reuters, and they made $100 million from seizing the central banks with “ISIS-like techniques.”
“We have never seen AQAP have as much territory and income as they do now, and there is not a lot of conversation about why we allow that to persist,” Murphy said.
The Saudi-led bombing campaign has also diverted resources away from efforts against ISIS.
The New York Times noted last fall that most Saudi aircraft had shifted from the air war in Syria — where they were ostensibly bombing ISIS — to combat in Yemen. “They’ve all been busy doing other things, Yemen being the primary draw,” Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Southwest Asia, told the paper.
The Obama administration has steadily provided arms and support to the Saudi-led coalition as it waged war in Yemen, even as thousands of civilians have perished in the fighting, and the country’s infrastructure and architectural history have been devastated.
Murphy said he worries that the U.S. support may be in exchange for Saudi acquiescence to the Iranian nuclear deal.
He also said that U.S. support for the war has inflamed lasting hostility toward the U.S. among the Yemeni people.
“Our participation in the war is only silent in the United States Congress and in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “In the region, it’s not silent at all. Yemenis will tell you that this isn’t a Saudi bombing campaign, this is a U.S.-Saudi bombing campaign.”
A poll released earlier this month showed that 82 percent of Yemenis between the ages of 18 and 24 now view America as an enemy.
Top photo: Yemenis visiting the gravesite of relatives killed during Saudi-led airstrikes on March 25, 2016.
Related:
- The NSA’s New Partner in Spying: Saudi Arabia’s Brutal State Police
- One Map That Explains the Dangerous Saudi-Iranian Conflict
- The Agony of Saada: U.S. and Saudi Bombs Target Yemen’s Ancient Heritage
- Inside Saudi Arabia’s Campaign to Charm American Policymakers and Journalists
- Obama Went From Condemning Saudis for Abuses to Arming Them to the Teeth
As long as resources are available for weapon production and it remains profitable, this nonsense in the ME will remain in play. I’m past caring; this is all a nightmare perpetrated by insane men just to make more worthless money they don’t need. People around the world are just a resource to be expended as needed to make even more money that becomes worth less every day. Things have been moving in this direction in ever increasing intensity for quite a while and now it makes sense…in the fucking twilight zone.
Don’t worry or be so skeptical, this humanitarian intervention will improve their lives. Soon, those left alive will be able to benefit from an invasion of great American corporations, mass modernization and developments. JUst imagine their delight, and how quick they will forget the war when they can enjoy a Big Mac, and grab a Starbucks coffee on every rebuilt street.
This is a US led bombing campaign, and the US, UK and France are all guilty of supplying Saudi Arabia with arms including planes and bombs that are being used to kill civilians. The slaughter of civilians and war crimes being committed, are fueling hatred for the US and its coalition members, and aiding terrorist groups in recruitment. The US and UK participation in this war is diverting resources away from fighting Isis, and is actually creating hostility towards the US and UK. This is yet another dirty war for profit, and it is disgraceful and disgusting that the US and UK have engaged in this war with a despot regime that has no respect for human rights and humitatian laws.
With exception to The Intercept no other media source or US politicians are questioning why the War on Terror has not been won, or when it will be one? Why does it appear to be self perpetuated, and constantly being expanded into new killing fields with no containment ? Why has the US which has the most powerful and technologically advanced military not been able to defeat ISIS? What have the achievements been other than increasing sales and profits for arms and weapons manufacturers ? It is time to start asking serious questions and for a public debate. TIme to question the militarist foreign policy, and to explore other non military options. The sheer cost of the seemingly never ending war on terror in terms of tax payers money, and in human lives is totally unacceptable.
Killing civilians, bombing hospitals, schools and markets should not be proving a distraction, as the Saudis are being assisted in the control room by the British and the USA. They are there apparently to ensure best practice targeting, and to make sure that the campaign respects humanitarian laws !
One can almost be certain that the Saudis will be able to hit a few terrorists soon even if it is by luck, based on probability. With over 6000 civilians killed so far they have to hit a terrorist or two one day. The rest can just be excused as collateral damage.
Wow…. I CAN’T believe this has been going on since last year in March…..
My heart goes out to Yemen. I feel HORRIBLE that my country is making the world such a dangerous place. These people have to run from our bomb and from the bombs of crazies…. It’s horrific. And there’s NO point to any of it. No point, no hope, no goal, no end, no accomplishment…
Just corpses and war crimes. And big men feeling bigger.
Don’t be so skeptical Rachael, this great humanitarian effort will improve the quality of life for those civilians not killed, and left with limbs intact. Just imagine their sheer delight, and how quick they will forget the war when the invasion of American corporations begins. When they are able to visit fast food joints and US coffee shops on every street, they will soon forget and forgive the war. ITs a small price to pay for such progress and modernization.
Fractal wrongness, demonstrating once again that the US Congress is for the most part a repository for lunatics.
And in support thereof, today’s New York Times carries an editorial “Don’t let Americans sue Saudi Arabia”, because “Doing so would imperil our foreign aid and the war on terrorism. ” Honestly. I’m not making this up.
Our problems with terrorism come not despite our alliances in the Middle East, but rather BECAUSE of them.
The Saudis are committed to a policy of buying the loyalty of ISIS and AQAP. However, they risk pushing this policy too far. For now, those groups are happy to take the money and follow Saudi dictates. But one day, the scorpion they have raised is likely to turn and strike them. It’s the scorpion’s nature.
Obama knows that if AQAP is to survive, as has been ordained, the Yemeni people must be pulverized. And who better to do the latter than God’ s messengers, the Saudi royal dynasty .
Whatever you do,
Do NOT see the obvious.
It is beyond ridiculous that senator Murphy
(and the rest of the fake government of the U$A)
would think that Saudi Arabia is fighting against what it
has promoted through its corrupting schools and
by promoting more warmongering
with the help of the fake U$A and NATO.
The bill which was “introduced” is just part of the lousy game
and will be used (if it goes anywhere at all) as a way to
supply more weapons when the game is further distorted
by misrepresentations of the Saudis and the fake U$A
as if they are trying to reduce the horrors
which they are feeding.
Hee-hee. After 15 years two Senators are actually asking why it is that we are content to see al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the actual organization that launched the September 11th attacks, stably administer territory in Yemen, even as Iraq and Afghanistan and even Syria and Egypt and Libya have been utterly torn apart under the color of reprisals against al-Qaida! I honestly thought none of them would ever notice!
didn’t you mean ‘distracting Saudi’s from funding terror’?
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are not at all interested in ‘fighting ISIS’ because they see ISIS and Al Qaeda as useful tools who are more likely to attack Iranian and Syrian forces than anyone else. Their attack on Yemen is not distracting them from giving more support to ISIS.
This is a view shared by Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon as well:
“In Syria, if the choice is between Iran and the Islamic State, I choose the Islamic State.” – Jan 2016
Obama’s view may be more nuanced – or schizophrenic? Consider the reports of CIA-backed Islamic State rebels fighting Pentagon-backed largely Kurdish forces in Syria:
“The CIA, meanwhile, has its own operations center inside Turkey from which it has been directing aid to rebel groups in Syria, providing them with TOW antitank missiles from Saudi Arabian weapons stockpiles.”
“While the Pentagon’s actions are part of an overt effort by the U.S. and its allies against Islamic State, the CIA’s backing of militias is part of a separate covert U.S. effort aimed at keeping pressure on the Assad government in hopes of prodding the Syrian leader to the negotiating table.”
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-cia-pentagon-isis-20160327-story.html
However, there are multiple reports of those TOW missiles being captured from ISIS forces in Iraq, so is there really much difference between the CIA’s Islamic rebels and ISIS? Clearly there is some kind of conduit between the groups. Likewise, wasn’t it Turkey who was buying oil from ISIS – with U.S. knowledge – until Russia started bombing the oil convoys?
When Obama talks about how he can’t bring up human rights issues with the Saudis because they cooperate with the US on terrorism, what exactly is he talking about? Cooperation on financing and arming ISIS in Syria as part of the ongoing covert Syrian regime change effort?
You’re making this unnecessarily complicated. The US goal is simple – arm everyone in sight. This is bringing freedom, US Second Amendment style, to the Middle East. It will be unfortunate if they decide to kill each other, but at least it will have been their free choice.
As Donald Rumsfeld said: “Freedom’s untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things”.
Know however, that our free people would never do those bad things he mentioned. He was exaggerating, to help us save ourselves.
“Consider the reports of CIA-backed Islamic State rebels fighting Pentagon-backed largely Kurdish forces in Syria:”
What would be truly wonderful is if we could repatriate this war, and have the CIA fighting the Pentagon on US soil.
“What would be truly wonderful is if we could repatriate this war, and have the CIA fighting the Pentagon on US soil.”
I agree, drone wars over Washington run by rival government agencies, fistfights in Congress between the State Department-backing and Pentagon-backing Congressmembers, the CIA and FBI selling their covert ops services to whichever side bids more – that would make for great reality TV. Maybe Erik Prince could make a sneak attack with his crop duster armada at a critical moment?
He’s talking about
b’baukk baukk baukk cluck baukk b’baukk baukk cluck scritch scritch
but he’s phrasing it in the ancestral tyrannosaur language, the one in which honorifics of the Kissinger Peace Prize were written.