Bernie Sanders wants Congress to end US support for Yemen war - Saudi lobbyists fought similar measures last year
A
bipartisan group of senators unveiled legislation on Wednesday
designed to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
The
resolution — introduced by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Chris
Murphy, D-Conn.; and Mike Lee, R-Utah — attempts to use the War
Powers Act of 1973, a Vietnam War-era law that limits the president’s
power to wage war without congressional authorization, to disentangle
the U.S. from a campaign that has claimed thousands of civilian lives
and led to mass starvation.
The U.S.
military currently provides vital support to the Saudi-led incursion
into Yemen. Saudi Arabia began its bombing campaign in March 2015,
aiming to restore Yemen’s former Saudi-backed president, Abdu Rabbu
Mansour Hadi, to power. Hadi was deposed in 2014 by a Zaidi Shiite
rebel group commonly known as the Houthis.
The U.S.
has supported the campaign for almost three years, providing
targeting intelligence, weapons, and mid-air refueling support for
Saudi warplanes. But neither the Obama administration nor the Trump
administration has publicly outlined the legal basis for the U.S.
role in the conflict.
The
Sanders-Lee resolution makes clear that U.S. forces are still
authorized to attack Al Qaeda members in Yemen, but requires the U.S.
to withdraw its support for the Saudi-led intervention.
[...]
Several
lawmakers last year tried to use the National Defense Authorization
Act, which sets the annual Defense Department budget, to bring a halt
to the war. In the House, Reps. Rick Nolan, D-Minn., and Warren
Davidson, R-Ohio, offered amendments to the NDAA to influence the war
on Yemen. The Nolan amendment would have prohibited the deployment of
U.S. troops in the conflict, and the Davidson amendment would have
blocked U.S. involvement not authorized by the 2001 Authorization for
Use of Military Force. The amendments passed but were later stripped
out in conference committee.
Alfred
Mottur, a prominent Democratic lobbyist with Brownstein Hyatt and a
former fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign,
disclosed that he helped Saudi Arabia influence the NDAA amendments.
Other
Saudi lobbyists stepped in as well. Howard “Buck” McKeon, a
former senior GOP representative who retired from Congress to open
his own lobbying shop, the McKeon Group, is also paid by the Saudi
government to help maintain political support for the war in Yemen.
McKeon and his lobbying firm helped his Saudi clients influence the
NDAA amendments to Yemen, as well as the Khanna resolution. McKeon,
notably, also lobbied lawmakers to support the Trump administration
decision to sell so-called precision-guided munitions, or PGMs, to
Saudi Arabia, according to disclosures.
Full
report:
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