On Tuesday, the Senate killed a bipartisan effort, led by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian war in Yemen, by blocking a motion to discharge their resolution from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and bring language to the Senate floor.
The resolution was aimed at ending any and all U.S. participation in Saudi and Emirati hostilities towards the Houthi rebels because Congress never authorized it, specifically with this particular conflict.
In a statement, Lee expressed his disappointment about the vote, saying, “The power to declare war belongs to Congress. By tabling this measure today we have chosen yet again to abdicate our constitutional responsibility.”
Sanders and Murphy also shared their dismay on Twitter.
The Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, with U.S. support, has been a humanitarian disaster. Instead of supplying bombs and refueling capabilities, we should be doing everything possible to create a peaceful resolution to that civil war and provide humanitarian help.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 20, 2018
We lost the vote to end U.S. involvement in the Yemen war 55-44.
But I won’t stop. Neither w @BernieSanders or @SenMikeLee. This war is deeply immoral and making America less safe.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 20, 2018
While the U.S. has taken a backseat with respect to this conflict, they’ve become more-or-less a backseat driver. Since war broke out in the region in 2015, the U.S. has refueled Saudi and UAE warplanes mid-air during bombing raids, shared intelligence, and sold them arms and equipment.
What has resulted from U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen has been a humanitarian crisis comparable to the Syrian civil war. As reported before, the Saudi naval and aerial blockade that has stopped the shipments of food, fuel, and medical aid has put more than 7.3 million people on the brink of starvation. Additionally, the United Nations reported in November 2017 that Yemen faced one of the fastest-growing cholera epidemics ever recorded with just under 900,000 cases.
This move by the Senate is a sad rebuke of the Constitution. Despite the fact that the U.S. is involved in a number of military conflicts, like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, they were either authorized by Congress (i.e. Afghanistan and Iraq) or by the United Nations Security Council (i.e. Libya).
In terms of national security, the U.S. has a vested interest in defeating terrorism. However, the Houthi rebels — who are backed by the Iranians — have not attacked the U.S. in any way. The only group that resides in Yemen that has attacked a U.S. ally is AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), which carried out the 2015 terrorist attack at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris.
And as reported less than a year ago, the Saudi war in Yemen has only made AQAP stronger. While the Pentagon believes that our participation in the conflict has limited civilian casualties and Republican leadership is working on a possible authorization vote in April, few have been able to offer a convincing enough answer to justify supporting a war as catastrophic as the one in Yemen.
