"The world’s worst humanitarian crisis is deteriorating as a Saudi blockade prevents desperately needed food, fuel and medicine from entering the country. London’s unstinting support for Riyadh makes the UK complicit."
"Save the Children says more than 50,000 youngsters are believed to have already lost their lives so far this year. The organisation has said a blockade by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels will almost certainly make things worse. The World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the World Food Programme said seven million people are on the brink of famine. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict since March 2015 and three million have been displaced."
"The strikes - known as Operation Desert Fox- were ordered the day after the House of Representatives issued a report accusing the president of 'high crimes and misdemeanors' and ended on the day the articles of impeachment were passed. Previous strikes in 1996, Operation Desert Strike, were ordered during a campaign finance scandal. Among the other allegations leveled in the article are claims that the Gulf War of 1991 was driven by a desire for profits and political gain, with the U.S. government and media glossing over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis who were 'demonized' and 'characterized as subhuman'."
"The brutal war in Yemen has killed well over 10,000 people since Saudi Arabia began bombing the country in 2015, but in recent months cholera has been killing people much faster than bombs. Saudi Arabia, led by its headstrong Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is hoping to use disease and starvation to force the country to surrender to its terms, a strategy that is on its face a war crime. Murphy’s comments came a day after the House of Representatives voted 366-30 to passing a non-binding resolution that said the U.S. role in the war had not been authorized by Congress."
"At least 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, and seven million are in dire need of food assistance. The US began supporting the Saudi-led coalition through a decision by then-US President Barack Obama, who cited the Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to justify US involvement. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has done the same."
"In 2015, President Barack Obama supported Saudi Arabia's war effort in Yemen, and President Donald Trump has continued the mission. The fight for control of Yemen shows no sign of stopping. The war has killed thousands of civilians, caused widespread food shortages and triggered a cholera epidemic. Yemenis have been plunged into the world's worst humanitarian crisis. In its drive to destroy rebel targets, the Saudi-led coalition has struck hospitals, schools and marketplaces in scores of well-documented attacks."
"As children in war-torn Yemen continue to face severe malnutrition and a deadly cholera outbreak, Saudi Arabia has agreed to reopen air and sea ports following a week-long blockade. The Saudi-led coalition, which is backed by the US, launched an aerial campaign against Shiite Houthi rebels in March 2015, and later began a ground operation. The coalition is allied to Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia when the Houthis took power in Yemen. According to the latest UN figures, the conflict has so far led to the deaths of over 5,000 civilians. More than 8,500 people have been injured in the ongoing fighting."
"In George W. Bush’s home state of Texas, if you are an ordinary citizen found guilty of capital murder, the mandatory sentence is either life in prison or the death penalty. If, however, you are a former president of the United States responsible for initiating two illegal wars of aggression, which killed 7,000 U.S. servicemen and at least 210,000 civilians, displaced more than 10 million people from their homes, condoned torture, initiated a global drone assassination campaign, and imprisoned people for years without substantive evidence or trial in Guantanamo Bay, the punishment evidently is to be given the Thayer Award at West Point."
"The 6,700 page document excoriated US torture policies after 9/11, and noted that not a single incident of a terrorist attack had been foiled because of the torture." Continue reading →
"After destroying a hospital yesterday in the same part of Raqqa, the US has not publicly commented on today's strike. Such incidents rarely make it into the official Pentagon list of civilian casualties in the two nations, which is usually around 10% of the actual death toll as calculated by private NGOs." Continue reading →