No evidence shows that Washington is innocent of Yemeni bloodshed: Congress

Once again, the humanitarian crisis that Yemenis are experiencing as a result of the war imposed on them is raising a wave of loud criticism between the two wings of government, the Democratic and the Republican. Although the previous US administration, which was dominated by Republican President Donald Trump, increased the Yemeni tragedy by continuing to support Saudi Arabia with weapons, representatives from the same party are today criticizing President Joe Biden, against the US support through selling weapons that have been proven used to commit war massacres. This cannot be explained, except that both parties are using the Yemeni crisis with its human tragedy whenever there are elections coming up, especially as the midterm elections are drawing near.

In the details of the last Senate session, a group of bipartisan US senators urged the Biden administration to do more to ensure that US military support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE does not contribute to harming civilians in Yemen, after an internal oversight report said that the United States had done so.

According to the report issued last June, the Pentagon oversaw $54.6 billion in military aid to the Kingdom and the UAE from 2015 to 2021. It stressed the failure of senior security officials to collect sufficient data and evidence on civilian casualties or monitor the use of US-made weapons.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, R-Vermont, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, describe in letters to the State Department and the Pentagon the administration’s failure to determine the extent to which US military support has harmed civilians in Yemen is an “unacceptable failure”.

“We urge you to review whether the Saudi and Emirati governments are taking the necessary precautions to prevent harm to civilians in Yemen,” the senators wrote. “If either of them is found to be in violation, we urge the country to halt all arms sales to either country until it can verify that it is taking steps to protect civilians.”

The letter, which arrived last Wednesday, indicated that concerns about Capitol Hill have resurfaced, as Biden seeks to rebuild relations with the kingdom and Mohammed bin Salman after the Russian military operation in Ukraine, which affected oil prices.

The Washington Post says there are growing concerns about how the US government is trying to reduce civilian casualties in Congress amid mounting evidence of repeated episodes in multiple administrations in which civilian bystanders were killed during drone strikes.

Separate investigations, which drew on classified military assessments of more than 1,300 reports of civilian casualties obtained by the Times, showed that the air campaign against ISIS was marked by flawed intelligence and little accountability.

“The United States should not in any way contribute to the suffering of the millions of innocent Yemenis caught up in the devastating Saudi-led war,” Warren said. “The US government has a moral and legal obligation to ensure that its actions do not exacerbate an acute humanitarian crisis, and there is strong bipartisan support for thorough investigations into possible US complicity in harming civilians in Yemen.”