WASHINGTON (Middle East Eye) – A bipartisan group of lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to take further measures to ensure U.S. military support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates does not contribute to civilian casualties in Yemen.
“A failure to reckon with the devastation the United States may be complicit to in Yemen would represent a failure in the Biden administration’s stated prioritization of human rights and our core democratic values,” the lawmakers said.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Mike Lee sent letters to the State Department and Pentagon in response to a U.S. congressional watchdog report that found the U.S. had failed to determine how its aid to Persian Gulf allies was linked to civilian casualties.
The lawmakers called the findings “an unacceptable failure”.
“We urge you to review whether or not the Saudi and Emirati governments are taking the necessary precautions to prevent harm to civilians in Yemen,” the letters said.
“If either are found to be in violation, we urge state to halt all arms sales to either country until it can verify they are taking steps to protect civilians.”
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published the report, which was obtained by HRW and also reported by the New York Times. The authors said that neither the State Department nor the Department of Defense could “provide evidence” that they had “investigated any incidents of potential unauthorized use of equipment transferred to Saudi Arabia or UAE”.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the U.S. and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh- and Washington-friendly rulers and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.