Those Who Destroyed Yemen Must be Prosecuted for War Crimes
In a report written by political analyst Doug Bandow on September 24, 2020.stated that Saudi Arabia recently announced that it was providing $204 million in aid for the impoverished and war‐ravaged country of Yemen. That sounds generous, but it’s the Saudi royals themselves who are responsible for most of the death, destruction, starvation, and disease in Yemen, in which 80 percent of the population, some 24 million, need outside assistance.
Riyadh has spent more than five years conducting a brutal air campaign intended to restore a pliant regime to power. The claim that the Kingdom is generously helping the needy is a bit like a man murdering his parents only to throw himself on the court’s mercy since he is an orphan. If Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wanted to help the Yemeni people, he would simply end the war. But he won’t, at least in part because the Trump administration is underwriting the Saudi government’s murderous campaign. Why is the president forcing Americans to assist the Saudi royals, who respect no political or religious liberty and kidnap, imprison, and murder their critics? President Donald Trump appears to be almost bewitched by the licentious and corrupt Saudis.
Washington sold Saudi Arabia planes and munitions used to kill thousands of Yemeni civilians. American personnel serviced and refueled the same planes, as well as providing intelligence to assist in targeting Saudi strikes. That makes U.S. officials complicit in war crimes committed day in and day out for more than five years.
The Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the Governments of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Southern Transitional Council, to the extent they exercise jurisdiction, and as applicable to each party, are responsible for human rights violations including arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, gender‐based violence, including sexual violence, torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the recruitment and use in hostilities of children, the denial of fair trial rights, violations of fundamental freedoms, and economic, social and cultural rights.
In his report, the writer stressed the need to prosecute all perpetrators, as the Obama and Trump administrations are complicit in committing war crimes directly, as this will help atone for Washington’s atrocious behavior and restore global credibility.
He said The war in Yemen represents an embarrassment to America, and an act of outright aggression by brutal dictatorships that pretend to be close allies of the United States.
The report concluded by saying: The Saudi-Emirati aggression on Yemen is an ongoing war crime, and the perpetrators must be prosecuted. Immunity time out. It is time to take responsibility.
Source: The American Conservative