There
are numerous indications besides the federal procurement request that
Mattis’ statements of caution to the Saudis were merely public
theater aimed at reducing outrage over one of the Saudi-led
coalition’s latest atrocities.
by
Whitney Webb
Despite
U.S. government efforts to publicly backtrack from its support of the
Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, federal procurement documents have
shown that U.S. support for the coalition may instead soon deepen at
a time when the coalition’s targeting of Yemeni civilians has
attracted widespread attention and outrage.
On
Tuesday, Secretary of Defense James Mattis had called U.S. support
for the coalition “not unconditional” and urged it to “do
everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life”
— after the coalition used a U.S.-made bomb to attack a school bus
full of children, killing 40 children and 11 adult civilians. The
attack, which the coalition defended as a “legitimate military
operation,” occurred soon after the U.S State Department had voiced
support for coalition bombings of Yemeni towns as “legitimate”
and “justified.”
Though
recent statements made by Mattis and others have sought to downplay
U.S. involvement and support for the Saudi-led coalition, federal
documents first reported on by TYT show that the U.S. Air Force is
actively searching for private contractors to train 41 Royal Saudi
Air Force (RSAF) personnel “in the U.S. at the contractor’s
facility,” which will include training with the F-15 fighter jet
currently used by the coalition in Yemen.
In
addition, the solicitation was posted on August 23, just two weeks
after the coalition’s bombing of the school bus, and has a
September deadline, meaning that the training of Saudi pilots on U.S.
soil could begin as soon as next month.
The
request appears to be the first of its kind since the conflict in
Yemen began, as U.S. support for the coalition has thus far been only
regional in scope, with the U.S. military aiding the coalition by
refueling jets and rendering logistical assistance, and the U.S.
government approving billions in weapon sales. In addition, the U.S.
does have an unspecified number of ground troops active in Yemen,
some of whom are involved with “intelligence sharing” and
interrogations at UAE-run “black-site” prisons.
Pentagon
damage control
Despite
the fact that Mattis recently warned that the U.S. would withhold
military and intelligence support for the coalition if it doesn’t
reduce civilian casualties in Yemen, there are plenty of other
indications besides the federal procurement request that Mattis’
statements were merely public theater aimed at reducing outrage over
one of the Saudi-led coalition’s latest atrocities.
For one
thing, since June the U.S. has been intimately involved in
“fine-tuning” the coalition’s strike list, which has since
included residential homes, school buses and other civilian sites
among its targets. Despite the documented targeting of civilians
since the U.S. deepened its involvement in the conflict and openly
began helping choose strike locations, the Pentagon only chose to
voice concern after the school bus bombing generated international
outrage.
Notably,
the Pentagon did not make any “warnings” to the Saudi-led
coalition after two airstrikes targeting fleeing civilians left 24
children dead. Furthermore, the U.S. government’s silence on the
coalition’s de facto blockade of Yemen — which will bring an
estimated 18.4 million Yemenis to the brink of starvation by year’s
end and has caused 66,000 Yemeni children to die annually from
preventable diseases — further illustrates that the U.S. military
only feigns concern over civilian casualties when the specter of
accountability — such as prosecuting U.S. officials for war crimes
in the Yemen conflict or harsh criticism from Congress — rears its
head.
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