Thursday, September 22, 2016

Saudi cluster bombs are killing Yemeni kids, so Sens Sasse and Fischer voted to sell them more arms

Yesterday, 27 senators (4 Repubs, 22 Dems and Bernie) voted to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, that beach paradise whose citizens brought America the Arab Oil Embargo in the 1970s and the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. Sasse and Fischer helped defeat the resolution.
     Apparently, the Saudis haven't been using American weapons very nicely, unless you consider dropping cluster bombs on Yemeni schools and hospitals nice.
     The usual GOP suspects (McCain et al) claim the Saudis MUST do this because IRAN! Meaning Yemen's civil war is really a proxy war directed by Iran. The Intercept begs to differ:
     At least 40 members of Congress (not including anyone from Nebraska) weren't buying that bullshit and said so in a letter to Obama in August (click to enlarge):

     If you're still wondering why so many in the Middle East hate America, it may not be because of our freedoms, but because of the unprecedented amount of arms your senators Sasse and Fischer allow to be sold to every bloodthirsty Middle East faction.
     Here's what Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said (not included in the video excerpt below):
     Murphy argued that all of the Saudi bombs, provided by the US, are being dropped on civilians and Yemen's Houthi faction, rather than being used against “our sworn enemy, Al-Qaeda.”
     This war has given opportunity for Al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL) to grow in leaps and bounds, he said.
     “How can you say you’re serious about strangling ISIL when the textbooks that are produced inside Saudi Arabia are the very same textbooks that are handed out to recruit suicide bombers?" Murphy asked on the Senate floor.

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