Bill Introduced in the House to End the War in Yemen: The Bipartisan War Powers Resolution is similar to a bill vetoed by President Trump in 2019
Dave DeCamp / AntiWar.com
(November 20, 2020) — A resolution was introduced in the House on Thursday that calls for an end to US involvement in the war in Yemen. The bill was introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and co-sponsored by seven other members of the House, including three Republicans, making the legislation a bipartisan rebuke to the war, similar to a measure President Trump vetoed in 2019.
The legislation invokes the 1973 War Powers Resolution and calls for the president “to remove United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Republic of Yemen.”
Since 2015, the US has supported Saudi Arabia and its allies in a war against Yemen’s Houthis. While US troops are not fighting on the ground against the Houthis, the support the US military gives the coalition is covered under the War Powers Resolution.
Section 8(c) of the War Powers Resolution defines the introduction of US Armed Forces to include “the assignment of members of such armed forces to command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany the regular or irregular military forces of any foreign country or government when such military forces are engaged, or there exists an imminent threat that such forces will become engaged, in hostilities.”
The bill says that the “activities that the United States has conducted in support of the Saudi-led coalition fall within” the above definition. US support for the coalition includes training Saudi pilots, providing spare parts for airplanes, logistical assistance, and intelligence sharing. Experts agree, if the US cuts off support for the coalition, the war in Yemen would quickly come to an end.
The US-backed Saudi-led war has had a devastating impact on Yemen’s civilian population due to the coalition’s tactics and regular targeting of infrastructure.
“Unauthorized United States military participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen has contributed to producing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 20 million people dependent on food aid and two million children under five years of age requiring treatment for malnutrition,” the bill reads.
“Over five years of military conflict, 50 percent of Yemen’s healthcare infrastructure has closed, and Saudi-led bombings have destroyed over 70 hospitals. COVID-19 is now spreading largely undetected across Yemen’s immuno-compromised population.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
President Trump has vetoed previous efforts to end the war in Yemen, including bills banning arms sales to Saudi Arabia, but the incoming administration could support the measure. Joe Biden has said he plans to end US support for the Saudi’s war in Yemen.
Joint Statement: World Says No to War on Yemen; رفض الحرب على اليمن; No a la Guerra en Yemen
Stop the War Coalition.org
CALL TO PROTEST INTERNATIONALLY ON 25 JANUARY 2020
Arabic, Spanish, French and German translations here. Please add your organization below.
(November 20, 2020) — Since 2015, the Saudi-led bombing and blockade of Yemen have killed tens of thousands of people and devastated the country. The U.N. calls this the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth. Half the country’s people are on the brink of famine, the country has the world’s worst cholera outbreak in modern history, and now Yemen has one of the very worst COVID death rates in the world: It kills 1 in 4 people who test positive. The pandemic, along with withdrawal of aid, is pushing more people into acute hunger.
And yet Saudi Arabia is escalating its war and tightening its blockade.
The war is only possible because Western countries — and the United States and Britain in particular — continue to arm Saudi Arabia and provide military, political and logistical support for the war. The Western powers are active participants and have the power to stop the world’s most acute human crisis.
The disaster in Yemen is man-made. It is caused by the war and blockade. It can be ended.
People and organisations from the US, UK, Yemen, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and across the world, are coming together to call for an end to the war in Yemen and solidarity with the people of Yemen. We demand that right now our governments:
• Stop foreign aggression on Yemen.
• Stop weapons and war support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• Lift the blockade on Yemen and open all land and sea ports.
• Restore and expand humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen.
We call on people around the world to protest the war on January 25, 2021, just days after the U.S. presidential inauguration and the day before Saudi Arabia’s “Davos in the Desert: Future Investment Initiative.
We ask individuals and organizations everywhere to call for protests — with masks and other safety precautions — in their towns and cities on that day and make clear that the WORLD SAYS NO TO WAR ON YEMEN.
SIGNATORIES AS OF 20 NOVEMBER 2020
1. Stop the War Coalition (UK)
2. Action Corps (US)
3. Yemeni Alliance Committee (US)
4. Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation (US)
5. CODEPINK (US)
6. Just Foreign Policy (US)
7. Peace Action (US)
8. Voices for Creative Nonviolence (UK and US)
9. Freedom Forward (US)
10. Massachusetts Peace Action (US)
11. Peace Action New York State (US)
12. London Students for Yemen (UK)
13. Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK
14. Nonviolence International (Global)
15. Mobilization Against War and Occupation (Canada)
16. Rete No War Roma (Italy)
17. The Lady Fatemah Charitable Trust (UK)
18. Union of Arab American Women (US)
19. RootsAction.org (US)
20. Labour Against the Arms Trade (Canada)
21. Yemeni Community in Canada
22. Iraqi Democrats (UK)
23. Raytheon Anti-War Campaign, Mass. (US)
24. World BEYOND War
25. Campaign Against Arms Trade (UK)
26. Western New York Peace Center (US)
27. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK)
28. White Rabbit Grove RDNA (US)
29. New Jersey Peace Action (US)
30. Students for Yemen (US)
31. Islamophobia Studies Center (US)
32. Arabian Rights Watch Association (US)
33. Veterans For Peace – Santa Fe Chapter (US)
34. Baltimore, MD Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter Veterans For Peace (US)
35. Veterans For Peace – NYC Chapter 34 (US)
36. Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (US)
37. Granny Peace Brigade (US)
38. Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition
39. NYC Metro Raging Grannies (US)
40. The New York Catholic Worker (US)
41. United National Antiwar Coalition (US)
42. Pax Christi USA
43. Maine WTR Resource Center (US)
44. Banyan Tree (India)
45. No to War – No to NATO (International)
46. Dwight Hall Peace Initiative (US)
47. Demilitarise Education Ltd. (UK)
48. Stop the WAR in Yemen (Germany)
49. Veterans For Peace (US)
50. Insan for Human Rights and Peace (Germany)
51. Grup Antimilitarista Tortuga (Spain)
52. Pax Christi Whatcom (US)
53. Pax Christi Illinois (US)
54. St. Camillus/Pax Christi Los Angeles (US)
55. Pax Christi Lansing (US)
56. Pax Christi Dallas (US)
57. Holy Spirit Catholic Community (US)
58. Pax Christi Little Rock (US)
59. Marymount-Pax Christi (US)
60. American Friends Service Committee (US)
61. Pax Christi El Paso (US)
62. Colectivo Noviolencia (Spain)
63. Human Rights for Yemen Charity (UK: England & Wales)
64. Frente Antiimperialista Internacionalista (Spain)
65. Catholics for Peace and Justice (US)
66. Peace Action of WI (US)
67. Laughton Greenwood (UK)
68. Rodmell Food Forest (UK)
69. Center for International Policy
70. Pax Christi Northern CA (US)
71. Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center (US)
72. Canadian Defenders For Human Rights
73. United for Peace and Justice (US)
74. The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society (US)
75. Social and Cultural Association of Polish Palestinians (Poland)
76. University Network for Human Rights (US)
77. New Internationalism Project, Institute for Policy Studies (US)
78. Peace by Peace (US)
79. La France insoumise (France)
80. Ain Sohaota Kendra Foundation (Bangladesh)
81. Just Peace Advocates (Canada)
82. Peace in Kurdistan (UK)
83. Movimiento por un mundo sin guerras y sin violencia (Chile)
84. Veterans For Peace Chapter 61-St Louis MO (US)
85. NW/1400/5 Branch Unite the Union (UK)
86. East Lancashire CND (UK)
87. Nasmo Foundation for Rights & Freedom Supporting the Social Peace (Yemen)
88. Entesaf for Woman and Child Rights (Yemen)
89. CAPA DePaul (US)
90. Collectif Échec à la guerre (Canada)
91. Tower Hamlets CND (UK)
92. Amnesty Thetford (UK)
93. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Cymru (UK)
94. London Campaign Against Arms Trade (UK)
95. Midland PeaceWorks (Canada)
96. Cymdeithas y Cymod, the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales
97. Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
98. Vancouver Peace Poppies (Canada)
99. Aktion Aufschrei – Stoppt den Waffenhandel! (Germany)
100. Peace & Neutrality Alliance Ireland
101. Human Rights Sentinel (Ireland)
102. War Resisters League (US)
103. Canadian Peace Congress
104. Lebenshaus Schwäbische Alb e.V. (Germany)
105. Migrant Solidarity Network (Switzerland)
106. The Nuclear Resister (US)
107. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom US
108. Canadian BDS Coalition
109. Forum Peace Ethics within the Evangelical Church of Baden, Germany
110. Chicago Area Peace Action (US)
111. Chicago Committee Against War and Racism (US)
112. Black Lives Matter (UK)
113. Pax Christi Western Massachusetts (US)
114. Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (US)
115. Science for Peace Canada
116. Disarm Oxford (UK)
117. Bund fuer Soziale Verteidigung (Federation for Social Defence) (Germany)
118. Kooperation für den Frieden / Cooperation for Peace (Germany)
119. Revolutionary United Front (US)
120. East lancashire CND (UK)
121. Centre for the Study of Gender, Culture and Social Processes (India)
122. UK Democratic Socialists of America
123. Nación Andaluza (Spain)
124. Health Alliance International (US)
125. North Country Peace Group, Setauket, NY (US)
126. Peace Pledge Union (UK)
127. United Against Inhumanity
128. Salam For Yemen (France)
129. Asociación de Militares y Reservistas de Especial Disponibilidad 45+ (Spain)
130. Association Coopérative d’Économie familiale de Québec (Canada)
131. Solidarios sin Fronteras (Spain and Yemen)
132. La Guerra Empieza Aquí (Spain)
133. GERNIKA GOGORATUZ Peace Research Center (Spain)
134. Alternativa antimilitarista. Moc Las Palmas (Spain)
135. Karabana Mugak Zabaldu (Spain)
136. Gernikatik Mundura ONGD (Spain)
137. rete antirazzista catanese e Comitato NoMuos//NoSigonella-Ct (Italy)
138. Information Centre on Militarisation (IMI) (Germany)
139. Jungsozialist*innen Kanton Zürich (Switzerland)
140. Réseau du Forum Social de Québec-Chaudière-Appalaches (Canada)
141. Le Mouvement de la Paix – France
142. Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center (US)
143. KRA VISIONARY PROJECT PARTNERS (Ireland)
144. Rehumanize International (US)
145. Environmentalists Against War (US)
