House declares U.S. military role in Yemen's civil war unauthorized

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico




By GREGORY HELLMAN 11/13/2017 09:40 PM EST Updated 11/13/2017 09:29 PM EST

In a rare exercise of its war-making role, the House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly passed a resolution explicitly stating that U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen is not authorized under legislation passed by Congress to fight terrorism or invade Iraq.

The nonbinding resolution adopted 366-30, does not call for a halt to the American support but publicly acknowledges the Pentagon has been sharing targeting information and refueling warplanes that Saudi Arabia and other allies are using to attack Houthi rebels in a conflict that is widely considered a proxy war with Iran — and a humanitarian disaster.

It states, in part, that U.S. military operations are authorized to fight only Al Qaeda and other allied terrorist groups in Yemen, not Shiite Muslim rebels.

"To date," the resolution says, "Congress has not enacted specific legislation authorizing the use of military force against parties participating in the Yemeni civil war that are not otherwise subject to" the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force or the 2003 AUMF in Iraq.


Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/13/house-yemen-civil-war-authorization-244868

[Angry Dragon]

1. Does that make Trump a war criminal??

[Aristus]

2. Yes, but this is just Congress wagging its finger.

They're not going to do anything of substance.

[karynnj]

7. No, it makes any help that his administration has given directly to the effort illegal going forward

Where helping the Saudi led coalition was somewhat ambiguous before under both agreements with allies like Saudi Arabia and the resolution passed nearly unanimously before Afghanistan. What this resolution does is to EXPLICITLY say that that resolution does NOT and can NOT be used to justify US involvement in the war in Yemen.

The US role in the Obama administration was far more complicated, where the Pentagon helped refuel SA coalition airplanes involved in attacking Yemen. Meanwhile, Secretary Kerry worked with Zarif to get the Shiite rebels to agree to various ceasefires and to begin diplomacy in Kuwait. It was the Saudi backed Hadi, possibly pushed by the UAE, who refused both the ceasefires and diplomacy. (To make things more complicated, Hadi, the deposed former President of Yemen who has been in Saudi Arabia for most of the war, is currently under house arrest in Saudi Arabia) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/yemen-president-hadi-house-arrest-riyadh-171107082638642.html This article shows the complexity of the proxy war going on here.

As to war crimes, the UN and criminal court, not our Congress determine that. There have been calls to consider at least some of the SA coalition attacks to be war crimes. Various groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have made the case that war crimes were committed and the UN has a resolution to send a team to investigate - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41446342 Even in the Obama years, there was a question as to whether Americans could risk being accused of war crimes. What is clear is that Yemen, always a poor country, is now a catastrophe.

[malthaussen]

3. Washing their hands.

It's not like they'll actually do anything about it.

-- Mal

[emmett grogan]

4. They'll have to do something (a first for this House) ....

otherwise why bring it up?


marble falls

[malthaussen]

5. To go on record.

They can argue to their constituents that finger-wagging denotes action.
It could, conceivably, be used later, when it is determined politically expedient to do so.

-- Mal

[emmett grogan]

6. Hopefully they'll paint themselves into a corner and do something ....

constructive about our war machine - intentionally or not.

marble falls

[sinkingfeeling]

8. It's okay, in another few months, most people in Yemen will be dead from

disease, starvation, or bombs.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. They keep saying they want to update that authorization

but then I think the "they" is mostly "Democrats" where the GOP refuses to do any meaningful work (their idea of "work" is eliminating healthcare for the proles and shoveling money to the wealthy).