The Hill: Time for Congress to hold Riyadh accountable for Yemen
3 Min Read
Sanders has postponed a bill that would block the US from supporting the aggression on Yemen.
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A Saudi Arabian soldier stands near a tank in Yemen. (AFP)
A mix of disapproval and lack of votes from the Biden administration killed a Yemen War Powers Resolution last week by convincing Senator Bernie Sanders to postpone a bill until a Saudi-friendly, Republican House takes power in January 2023.
According to an article in The Hill, Democrat-controlled Congress have had many opportunities to hold Saudi Arabia accountable - however, there is a contradiction for the political party that spent the second half of Trump's reign criticizing his relationship with Saudi Arabia.
According to the report, "For Biden, this means broken campaign trail promises to stand up for human rights and rightfully treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah state.”'
While Trump's administration was under scrutiny for using US weapons to target Yemenis, Biden's administration has left almost 20 million Yemenis in need of food assistance.
According to the Cato Institute’s annual Arms Sales Risk Index, Saudi Arabia is one of the 30 riskiest countries to sell weapons to - the paper argues that Riyadh uses these weapons to abuse human rights. Adding another reason to hold Riyadh accountable, there are high levels of corruption in Saudi Arabia.
Reports, in addition, suggest that weapons sold to Riyadh ended up on the black market and are sold to extremist groups; this comes with the fact that Saudi Arabia is America's No.1 arms purchaser for 13 years in a row.
Sanders' resolution would only force the Biden administration to end US support for the war in Yemen without Congress' approval - however, the bill won't end all arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Read next: Whitewashing Saudi Arabia's image by US firm worth $10mln: Guardian
Earlier this month, The Intercept reported that Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders will be putting forward a resolution to block the United States from supporting the Saudi-led coalition of aggression's war on Yemen.
The move comes as supporters of the War Powers Act, a 1973 resolution that limits a US president's ability to initiate or escalate military actions abroad, argue that such a resolution passing the Senate floor as the body is a month away from having a third of its members replaced would be the equivalent of Washington informing Riyadh that it does not support it in any bid to start an escalation with its southern neighbors.
Back in April, Saudi Arabia reached an armistice agreement with Yemen, and the deal has been extended several times. Though the agreement has expired, the two parties maintained the existing peace between them. Capitol Hill is hoping to let its allies know that they may not attack Yemen.
