Secretary of State John Kerry this week waved off concerns about U.S.-supported Saudi coalition airstrikes in Yemen that have indiscriminately bombed civilians and rescuers, and instead blamed the Shiite Houthi rebels for the bulk of the civilian casualties.
“There have been a lot of civilian casualties, and clearly, civilian casualties are a concern,” Kerry told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. “I think the Saudis have expressed in the last weeks their desire to make certain that they’re acting responsibly and not endangering civilians.”
Kerry instead faulted the Shiite Houthis, who are on the receiving end of the airstrikes, saying they “have a pretty good, practiced way of putting civilians into danger.”
According to a report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, 60 percent of the more than 3,200 people killed and 5,700 wounded in the conflict through September 2015 were killed in coalition airstrikes. The Saudi coalition has also intentionally targeted civilian areas, destroying hospitals, schools, factories, markets, and homes.
The Saudi coalition announced last week that they have “fully complied with international … law,” and that “coalition forces have a robust process to ensure all targets are genuinely military.” The announcement also promised that “avoidable collateral damage” will be referred to an “internal accident investigation team,” and that “compensation for the victims … is pledged.”
But the only public investigation Saudi Arabia has conducted on its military took place in October, after Saudi Arabia bombed an MSF (Doctors without Borders) hospital in Yemen. The kingdom’s ambassador to the U.N. admitted that the strike was a “mistake,” but blamed the incident on MSF providing incorrect coordinates.
In January, coalition aircraft fired a rocket at another MSF-supported facility, in Saada, near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia, killing six people. MSF personnel could not confirm the identity of the attackers, but said that “planes were seen flying over the facility at the time.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has tried to dismiss and discredit the work of human rights monitors on the ground in Yemen.
In an interview with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly last month, the spokesperson for the Saudi coalition asserted, “There is no team from Human Rights Watch on the ground. We hope that Human Rights Watch and the other NGOs come to the coalition and ask permission and we will send them down to investigate.”
Belkis Wille, Human Rights Watch’s Yemen and Kuwait researcher, has made four trips to Yemen for Human Rights Watch since the beginning of the campaign. She posted a video in response, showing her standing in the remains of a destroyed market in Matstaba, in northern Yemen:
Human rights groups have documented repeated uses in Yemen of cluster bombs: shell casings that, when they open, scatter thousands of miniature explosives over a huge area. Some of the bomblets invariably fail to detonate on impact, leaving mine-like explosives that kill civilians and destroy farmland long after a conflict ends.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied using cluster bombs, but in January, for example, one 13-year-old boy from Noug’a, a small village 20 miles from the Saudi border in Yemen, discovered cluster bomblets near the village spring, according to an interview with Amnesty International. The boy said that the miniature explosives were green and “shaped like a small ball you could play with.” When the boy picked one up and threw it out of the way, it exploded. He was hospitalized for two months.
The U.N. adopted a treaty banning cluster bombs in 2008, which 119 nations have signed.
Last week, The Intercept asked State Department spokesperson Mark Toner at a press briefing whether the Saudis should stop using cluster bombs. He replied, “I’d have to refer you to the Saudis to speak to the types of strikes that they did carry out in Yemen.”
But while refusing to publicly condemn Saudi Arabia for using cluster weapons, the White House quietly blocked a transfer of U.S.-made CBU-105 cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia last week.
Top photo: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on January 23, 2016, in Riyadh.
The depressingly sad part is Kerry is still a better Secretary of State than Clinton ever was.
Kerry is still the partner of Hanoi Jane! The two of them are the biggest mistake either of their parents ever made. Kerry is a hater of the military and the government and the way things were accomplished and he and Hanoi jane were the caise of our loss in the Vietnam conflict. Now this not so bright is a war monger, he wants to creat more war and unrest. it needs to be fired and put in prison but soince he married the ketchup fortune he appears to be the greatest authority on the government and it’s war efforts.
“Kerry is a hater of the military and the government and the way things were accomplished and he and Hanoi jane were the caise of our loss in the Vietnam conflict.”
Is this parody? Or just some crackpot idea cooked up down at the VFW when the most bitter of the handful of vets who actually believed in tat war get really, really drunk?
Ha.
Now I must thank you in return for saving me the effort.
Of course, now that Obama is selling US weapons to Vietnam, I expect them to start claiming that we actually won the war in the end…
… despite the damage it will do to their Kerry and Jane routine.
Kerry is a two faced murdering liar. typical of the democratic party
Thousands took to the streets to protest the Saudi Aggression.
Yet the millions that are left welcomed it and called it an intervention
The government itself asked for Saudi’s help…
Confusing…isn’t it?
I think “government” would be more accurate.
Can you share your source for the numbers?
Murderers within the Halls of Power. Scum scum scum scum scum.
Just look at the eyes of these guys…
So, which will come next, the US government swearing ‘eternal alliance’ and an ‘unbreakable bond’ with the Saud regime, or branding it a ‘democracy’?
Yes.
And by that I mean both simultaneously.
Kerry this Kerry that! The Saudis are doing the dirty work of the Americans that the Americans supplied the weaponry to do.
America is evil and it’s public are a waste of precious life. They are cowards.
Kerry is a total administration lap dog, though he’s not as much of a war monger as Clinton was in that position. He’s certainly come a long way down from his anti-Vietnam war days. Just as everywhere else in the world including the U.S., there are no good guys here, but the Houthis are by far the least objectionable, and the Saudis absolute scum.
No offense to JeffD, because the myth of anti-war Kerry has become so ingrained in the American mind, but it’s just bullshit.
From the earliest days of his youth, Kerry has always acted and either believed or pretended to believe in whatever would best serve his ambitions of the moment and for the future.
When it was useful to be a gung ho killer in ‘nam, John Forbes Kerry was gung ho plus:
When he came home and saw advantage in becoming a prominent “war resister,” it was time for John Kerry, VVAW spokesman and his famous Winter Soldier testimony.
And at every moment and in every circumstance since, Kerry has been on whichever side of whichever military adventure the wind blew fairest for his advantage and ambition.
He is an evil opportunist.
Wow, someone is obsessed with Kerry! Launching into a long diatribe in response to a meaningless side comment is a rather extreme reaction. My post was not about whether Kerry’s opposition to the Vietnam war was based on high moral authority or integrity.
Maybe you should re-read what you wrote, Bubba.
And then re-read what I wrote.
In both cases, work harder on comprehension.
I wonder if Kerry will put ketchup on those a**holes he is licking? We already know Bush’s and Clinton’s have been there and done that. Sell you country out and you will get what’s coming. The people WILL TAKE our country back and the Nuemburge trials will resume.
Eventually the world will UNITE to destroy the US WEAPONS INDUSTRY and the war will “come home” to the USA. They know it. That’s why they started Homeland Security.
We gave South Africa Apartheid a pass for as long as we could, we gave Israel an Apartheid and a nuclear pass, and now are giving the Saudi’s a blow them up like we do pass. Disgusting as it is, it is not surprising but expected, and certainly needed to be reported, so good job.
I listened previously to the Saudi Ambassador state that human rights groups were not even capable of getting to or reporting on what they ”did” in fact find. It only showed that the Saudi’s have faithfully studied US deny, deny, deny war zone atrocity propaganda tactics.
didnt just study it, HIRED IT
The Podesta Group has a $140K per month contract to represent Saudi Arabia.
https://theintercept.com/2016/06/03/heather-podesta/?comments=1#comment-238139
Yes “Hired it” definitely more accurate.
The Saudis are new to this precision bombing so more experience will improve their targeting and they can join Russia in claiming to never ‘accidentally’ bomb civilians, the Russians are often using this claim in Syria.
Criticizing the Saudi’s for their sloppy work and possible use of cluster bombs is fine but inferring that Ansar Allah is somehow the victim of this war is a stretch.
What are you trying to say?
And, I’m assuming you used the Russians as an example because you know the US bombs civilians intentionally so the “accidentally” thing wouldn’t be believable?
As far as I fan tell all aerial war making in urban areas targets and accidentally strikes civilians and the US war making certainly does and they grudgingly sometimes admit to the accidents while the Russians simply dismiss or discount any report of their atrocities, it is simpler and the media don’t seem to follow up on those reports.
The UN report stated that Ansar Allah is also responsible for many of the civilian deaths and injuries but they are not a recognized government and didn’t rate the same condemnation.
i was schooled a bit in “whataboutery” and that seems to be the template you’re pushing. It wont fly here. Rationing evil like most is bad and some is tolerable is not the way to go, if you have a soul and a conscience that matters.
ps.. the revolutionaries in 1775 were what?
“. . . inferring that Ansar Allah is somehow the victim of this war is a stretch.”
Whom are you implying is inferring that? ;^)
I may have read more meaning into the statement that the Houthis are on the receiving end of the airstrikes than is actually there but the general theme at this and many other sites is that the Saudis are the only forces misbehaving in this conflict and others. I certainly don’t condone their actions but this is war and they have taken over the ME intervention portfolio from the US and have valid reasons for their involvement.
The Houthis/Ansar Allah had valid reasons for their initial uprising but they moved on after their initial success and began to conquer much of the western part of the country and the Saudi response was unavoidable under those conditions.
The only way to avoid these crimes occurring seems to be by ending these conflicts quickly but that doesn’t seem possible with outside influence and in this case a minority Islamist faction seeking control of the country.
Oh, please do expand on the “valid reasons” the Saudis have for their regime change war.
And, while you’re at it, explain how the Saudis aren’t “Islamists seeking control of the country”.
Thanks.
Couldn’t have done it nearly as succinctly, altohone. Thanks for saving me a bunch of words.
Of course, Saudis are “Stategic” in survival of the US!
Mother Jones:
The Obama Years Have Been Very Good to America’s Weapons Makers
“The Obama years have been a boom time for America’s weapons makers. Since 2009, the United States has approved arms deals worth some $200 billion—more than under any other presidency. The deals include sending Apache helicopters to Qatar, “bunker buster” bombs and cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia, and Hellfire missiles all over the place.”
Please see Woodrow Wilson for largest expansion of American Arms industry. USA has been at this game for literally, a 100 years.
Not that I have issues with the UN actions, but this-
“The Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen in March last year with the aim of preventing Iran-allied Houthi rebels”
from Michelle Nichols of Reuters is, as usual, factually challenged.
The term “allied” conveys a meaning to most people which the facts on the ground do not support.
The presentation in such a manner is purposely meant to sway opinion in favor of the US/Saudi regime change war in Yemen.
Love ya DS, but there must be better sources reporting the UN action.
I’m sure there are better sources, but how relevant is that to the reporting of the UN action, which is, in this case substantially accurate?
Oh, I think the term “allied” has a wide enough range and degrees of meaning that most knowledgeable readers can distinguish a reasonable interpretation of the reality here. Certainly Iran and the Houthis are allied in the quest for certain outcomes in Yemen and WRT certain positions with respect to KSA.
The much more objectionable and dangerous claim is the oft-repeated one by John Kerry and Co. that the Houthis are “proxies” of Iran.
Well, if it is so intended, it’s a pretty lame effort, IMHO, and is very unlikely to have that effect.
The salient point is the UN action itself, not the (unconscious”) biases of the Reuters reporter who wrote the piece.
Mmmm… I think “allied” suggests support or cooperation or an official agreement to most people, and none of those things have been documented.
But I agree it is slightly better than the usual “proxies” or “Iranian backed” assertions they spew.
I also think you’re downplaying the effect the mention of Iran has to the propagandized US public… i.e. if the Houthis are “allied” with Iran they must be bad and can’t be victims or worthy of our concerns.
I would hope the average TI reader would not have that reaction, but Reuters…
Oh, and yes… I did go off on a tangent completely unrelated to the point you were making.
Sorry about that.
But it irks the hell out of me that Reuters and AP can’t mention the Houthis without snaking Iran into the sentence.
And the numerous publications and websites that pick up their stories have readerships that generally do not qualify as “knowledgeable” on this subject at least.
It’s a pet peeve, and somehow seems worse when it appears here… higher expectations I guess.
Totally understand.
For the record: The Houthis are their own people and culture with their own perfectly understandable (and often perfectly valid) reasons for opposing other forces inside Yemen and, particularly, for opposing the Saudi intervention.
The fact that Houthis and Iran share some goals and positions is no more than that and, although it may be seen as an “alliance” of sorts, it certainly isn’t an Alliance such as, e.g., the one that prevailed between the US and USSR during WWII.
And the endless effort to demonize the Houthis by emaphasizing and overstating their relationship with Iran — and to further demonize Iran in the process — is despicable and, when engaged in by “journalists,” the behavior of mere stenographers for Western powers.
john kerry, now just another war criminal
The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is an international treaty that prohibits the use, transfer and stockpile of cluster bombs, a type of explosive weapon which scatters submunitions (“bomblets”) over an area.
You will never hear hillary speak out against cluster bombs and call for BDS against saudis and prefer charges against Obama and Kerry or Dumya and Cheney. Of course not – she is an elitist who wants to rid the world of lots of people. All she does is critisize Donald. She has nothing to offer.
Political persons generally suck the life out of everything.
Hillary Clinton is not very political, she’s just a sycophant. Real politically active people have things they care about beyond obtaining personal wealth and fostering relationships within a clique. If this is a democracy then everyone needs to be political.
She doesn’t have the charisma of sociopath Obama her evil can be sensed.
“her evil can be sensed” You put your finger on it there.
Has anyone checked with MSF to verify Saudi claim that it was the victims fault for false coordinates?
Secondly since cluster bombs are illegal, it would be good to know what Country were they manufactured in. Surely not one of the US military supply industries providing illegal weapons?
Well, MSF says the Saudis had previously bombed near the hospital on four occasions last summer, and that they had alerted the “coalition” on each occasion, with nor response:
Yemen: Denial of hospital bombing by Saudi-led coalition contradicts all facts
Yemen: MSF hospital destroyed by airstrikes
Yemen: Saudis Using US Cluster Munitions
Grrr. I just posted a response, forgetting that multiple links will send a post to TI limbo for an unknown period of time. Trying again:
MSF says that Saudi forces had bombed the area near the hospital four times in the months preceding the strike that destroyed it and that there had been no response from “the coalition.”
Yemen: Denial of hospital bombing by Saudi-led coalition contradicts all facts
“Surely not one of the US military supply industries providing illegal weapons?”
Yemen: Saudis Using US Cluster Munitions
Well, bin Laden Family is Yemeni, so US told its good friend House of Saud to start bombing the perpetuators of 9/11 or we will let our lawyers attack you instead.
No. Factually incorrect.
Actually, the US backed Saudi coalition has enabled al Qaida in Yemen to prosper and control large areas of territory by bombing the people who are fighting them.
The US and SA are aiding al Qaida in Yemen, just like both have been doing in Syria.
It was sarcasm.
Uh, ok.
If you say so.
United States is the country most discredited in history. There is no doubt in my mind. The US Untold History produced by Oliver Stone worth looking at and study it objectively.
Here you go, John Kerry, have your Vietnam war medals back, you sleazy war pig. It’s not just the U.S. backing the sadistic dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, either:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/01/20/uk-sold-1bn-of-arms-to-saudi-arabia-despite-human-rights-violations-in-yemen/
That’s what cluster munitions look like; they were originally developed as a means of dispersing chemical and biological weapons in the 1930s and 1940s (the little bomblets would be filled with chemical agents or anthrax) but now are used to disperse explosives and land mines indiscriminately across wide areas. They are anti-personnel weapons, now being deployed against markets and villages by the Saudis with U.S. assistance. Henry Kissinger bombed Cambodia illegally, now Obama is aiding the Saudis to bomb Yemen illegally – and John Kerry, by going along with it, has proven himself to be one of the slimiest hypocrites in the U.S. government.
If the whole truth was known about how Obama, Clinton and Kerry coordinated with the Saudis, Qatar, and Turkey to finance and arm and supply ISIS from 2011 onwards, as an anti-Assad proxy force, and if the rule of law were adhered to, the Obama Administration would likely be impeached, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Turkey would end up on the state sponsors of terrorism list, i.e. all arms sales and transfers to them would be banned and all their assets in the United States would be frozen, as was done with Iran.
Not that MSNBC or the New York Times would ever bring that issue up, the craven bootlicking tools that they are.
Henry Kissinger bombed Cambodia illegally,
heinrich kissinger is a genocidal mania and a war criminal and a good friend of Hillary ‘sfb’ Clinton.
young? know this – the US has been run by predatory corporatists since the 1800’s. These types are the vermin species of the planet and are an asocial sociopathic lot who gather political losers to help them prey upon and feed upon populations. There basis is greed and selfishness and they lie all the time except when their lies happen to be co-incidentally true.
photosymbiosis is as true and honest a historian as i have ever encountered. Listen to him, know the truth.