For more than two years, Congress has remained quiet as the United States backed a brutal war in Yemen, supporting a coalition that has killed thousands and starved the country into one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century.
But a growing number of progressive members of Congress have come forward to challenge the consensus that arming Saudi Arabia is in America’s interest. Earlier this year, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told The Intercept that Saudi Arabia “is not an ally of the United States,” and that the United States should rethink its relationship with the Gulf kingdom.
One of these representatives is Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who went a step further in an interview with Jeremy Scahill for the podcast, Intercepted.
“I know this would never pass probably either house of Congress, but do you believe that the United States should stop entirely selling weapons to and giving military assistance to Saudi Arabia?” Scahill asked.
“Yes, I do,” Khanna said. “I don’t think the Saudis’ human rights record or their record in military conflicts are consistent with our values. I don’t think that we should be engaged in interventionism in the Middle East. … We have this record of interventionism that has not made us any safer. And I view our pragmatic, or expedient, alliance with Saudi Arabia in the same way.”
Earlier this year, Khanna introduced a resolution that condemned the war and would have used a provision of the War Powers Act to halt U.S. support for Saudi Arabia.
Khanna’s resolution was fervently opposed by House leadership – both Republicans and Democrats. Even though the resolution would cause legal complications for the Trump administration, one of the key figures pushing back against the resolution was Democratic whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Khanna eventually worked out a compromise resolution with leadership, which allowed for debate on the House floor but would not force a vote. Khanna nonetheless described that as a breakthrough.
“We had a huge breakthrough in the House, where the military briefed the leadership staff. And, for the first time, the leadership staff on both parties is acknowledging in a compromise resolution that the United States is involved in refueling Saudi planes and in providing assistance in targeting.”
The architect of the war, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, recently launched a purge of the royal family and the country’s ruling class, followed by bellicose language toward Iran and Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia began bombing Yemen in March 2015, months after Houthi rebels stormed the capital and deposed the Saudi-backed ruler, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Saudi Arabia has since waged a brutal war of collective punishment trying to reinstall Hadi – blockading the desert country and bombing food sources, water infrastructure, schools, and hospitals.
The United States has stood by the Saudis every step of the way – flying refueling missions to help Saudi planes, providing them with targeting intelligence, and sending U.S. warships in the region to help reinforce the blockade. All of this has taken place with no congressional authorization and very little debate in Congress or the national media.
The United States has also helped to replenish Saudi weapons stockpiles. Even under former President Barack Obama, the United States sold more than $100 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia, and President Donald Trump is set to continue the policy. During his visit to Riyadh, Trump signed a deal promising nearly $110 billion in future weapons sales to the kingdom.
Listen to the full interview with Khanna here:
Top photo: Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks with Roll Call in his office on Thursday, June, 29, 2017.
“During his visit to Riyadh, Trump signed a deal promising nearly $110 billion in future weapons sales to the kingdom.” This is the crux of the problem.We have an economy that sells death, and the the “rich” cons get richer by investing in it. So why stop?
Even though I’m about a half mile out of Ro’s district, I still wouldn’t call him a “progressive “ ; since he beat out a 76yo, 3 time incumbent Mike Honda, who had been in Congress 16 years. I would argue Honda beat himself more than Ro did.
The campaign devolved into your typical political circus, infamously remembered for Honda’s feable attempt at being progressive in 2015, by exploiting his “9yo granddaughter’s choice “ to be transgender..uh-hunh
Ro ain’t no progressive..
Remember..bullshit makes the world go round..Money Talks..Bullshit walks
Khanna challenged Honda from the right. Whatever you think of Honda, he was more progressive or less conservative than Khanna.
BTW, you raised a really important issue, though I don’t think you know it. The idea that kids are allowed to make decisions like whether to have sex change operations shows that parents have totally abdicated their responsibilities as parents. The end result of this abdication is people getting ever more self-centered, because their parents never taught them proper respect for others or that the world doesn’t revolve around them. Because 80% of adults are parents, no one wants to talk about parenting issues like this, but they’re really important.
Well said..the sensationalized “bullying” media blitz is also another issue about parenting, and self-centeredness..
Learned behavior perhaps?..hmm..How many moms or dads have you seen that walk their kids as they look at their phones or talk on their phones , or wear ear plugs?..check out the kid’s expressions..
I’ve actually seen strollers with video screens..yes..scary
I agree that the Borg devolution is really bad, but the bad parenting issues I’m talking about started before that. I noticed it about 30-40 years ago when people started bringing crying & screaming babies to restaurants; again, total lack of consideration for others. When I was a kid, parents didn’t bring their kids to restaurants until the kids were old enough to behave well enough to not disturb other people. At some point, people got the attitude that only their kids and babies mattered.
Forgot to mention: while Khanna is not generally progressive, he certainly is on this issue. He’s way better than the vast majority of Democrats and all Republicans except for the anti-war Libertarian faction of the party. And war being a big issue, Khanna’s position on Yemen and his advocating that the U.S. stop funding Saudi Arabia’s military makes him very progressive on a really important issue.
With Lebanon & Qatar on deck and in the hole – Saudi Arabia’s poised to replace the U.S. as the region’s pro-Israel disrupter/destabilizer. What a drag for empire being mostly relegated to just supplying weapons and mid-air fuel there, but bonus anyway because it’ll allow better focus on those New America territories in Africa. :(
Steny Hoyer works tirelessly for the country be loves and serves …. but it isn’t the US.
This is simply not true, though many liberals and progressives have your attitude. The fact is that the U.S. has ALWAYS been an imperialist murderous nation, starting with virtual genocide of natives & theft of their land and kidnapping people from Africa and enslaving them, to the Imperialist wars that started in the 19th Century and continue today in places like Yemen (proxy wars) and Afghanistan (direct wars).
Steny Hoyer IS working “tirelessly for the country be loves and serves” and it IS the U.S.
Weapons is one of the few things the US produces. Compared to China.
The US is in financial hurts— it is hollowing out.
The plan is to invade/“advise” the Yemenis so we can establish a foothold there.
Human Rights? Laughable!
Given the redacted, dark, untold, REAL HISTORY of our intelligence agencies, Mr Sanders would be well advised to not run for President on this platform. They will NOT let him win. And if he somehow does, I pray for him.
Whereas I agree we have a parallel government being controlled by a criminal pathocracy, I have no reason to believe Bernie wouldn’t hazard his life to stop this Saudi-led slaughter. I’m not very brave, but I would give my life in a heartbeat to prevent millions from dying of hunger and cholera.