Now, just remember how the headline from the WP Editorial Board reads
8 million teeter on the brink of famine. America is complicit.
America is complicit
WHILE THE world was focused on the U.S.-North Korea summit, two U.S. allies in the Middle East launched a reckless and potentially catastrophic military offensive in Yemen, a country already enduring the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Troops led by the United Arab Emirates and backed by Saudi Arabian warplanes are attempting to seize the port city of Hodeida, which is held by the Houthi forces who make up one side in Yemen’s civil war. Because 70 percent of Yemen’s food and aid shipments come though the port, the United Nations and every major humanitarian agency have warned of dire consequences for the 22 million Yemenis who already depend on outside assistance, including 8 million on the brink of famine. They pleaded with the Saudis and Emiratis to hold off and allow more time for a diplomatic solution.
So, this is also about deflecting from what Trump has so far accomplished and may further accomplish with North Korea.
The attack nevertheless went ahead early Wednesday after receiving what amounted to passive assent from the Trump administration. That means the United States, which already has been supplying its two allies with intelligence, refueling and munitions, will be complicit if the result is what aid officials say it could be: starvation, epidemics and other human suffering surpassing anything the world has seen in decades.
See? Blame Trump for “passive assent”.
Though Yemen has always been a poor country, this crisis is man-made. It was triggered by the intervention of the Saudis and Emiratis in Yemen’s war three years ago. Promising quick action to drive the Houthis out of the capital, Sanaa, and other cities they had captured, the two countries carried out bombing campaigns that killed thousands of civilians but failed to recapture much of the country.
Guess who’s name doesn’t appear anywhere? And was a big supporter of the actions against Yemen? Who launched strikes himself? Wouldn’t this have been termed an “inherited problem” back in 2009 and 2010?
The Trump administration could have prevented the assault on Hodeida; instead, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo equivocated, thereby allowing it to go forward. Congress, which has long been uneasy with U.S. support for the Yemen war, must now act. All funding for U.S. support for the intervention should be halted and further arms sales put on hold until the offensive ends, humanitarian assistance flows freely and peace talks are underway.
That cited article shows that the Trump admin “had asked the Emirates to hold off on an operation until after U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths presented a new plan for jump-starting peace talks.”
It’s funny how the same WPEB forgot to criticize Obama and demand the same things of Congress.
