Saudi Arabia Committing War Crimes In Yemen With US Weapons

A new report by Human Rights Watch published on Sunday claims that Saudi Arabia has been using near-universally banned cluster munitions supplied by the United States in airstrikes in Yemen. Cluster bombs are notoriously dangerous to civilians and 116 countries signed a treaty in 2008 banning them from use on the battlefield - Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories to the agreement.

Just as problematic is the Saudis nonchalant use of US cluster and other munitions on civilian targets such as hospitals leading to the civilian death toll already exceeding 500 including over 115 children. The Saudis blatant disregard for civilian casualties has been met with silence from the Obama Administration even as the killings are carried out with US made and supplied weapons.

While the Saudis are carrying out their killings with US weapons such as cluster bombs to target the Houthis rebels in Yemen the Obama Administration is busy condemning the use of barrel bombs on rebels in civilian areas in Syria - what exactly is the standard again?

Photographs, video, and other evidence have emerged since mid-April 2015 indicating that cluster munitions have been used during recent weeks in coalition airstrikes in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate, the traditional Houthi stronghold bordering Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch has established through analysis of satellite imagery that the weapons appeared to land on a cultivated plateau, within 600 meters of several dozen buildings in four to six village clusters. 

“Saudi-led cluster munition airstrikes have been hitting areas near villages, putting local people in danger,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “These weapons should never be used under any circumstances. Saudi Arabia and other coalition members – and the supplier, the US – are flouting the global standard that rejects cluster munitions because of their long-term threat to civilians.”

The US has its own troubling history using barrel bombs, perhaps most notably in the Vietnam war. US forces use barrel bombs to try and start fires in the jungles of Vietnam and used cluster munitions in covert wars in Laos and Cambodia - munitions still endangering civilians to this day.

Given the course of events and the contradictory public positions the reality appears to be that the US only has a problem with war crimes if the country is not allied with the US. That's not a revelation by any measure but seeing how obvious that truth is becoming perhaps its time for the White House to dial down the "humanitarian" rhetoric. It just looks silly.

US Moves Warships To Yemen As Warning To Iran As Report Notes Iran Not Behind Rebels

While US bombs and military equipment via Saudi hands attack forces within the country of Yemen, US warships have now sailed to positions off Yemen's coast as the White House continues to claim it is not involved in the war. The naval maneuvers are a clear warning to Iran and the US flotilla would stop any ships that would supply the Shiite Houthis rebels in Yemen.

The White House claimed, with no sense of irony, that Iranian weapons were "destabilizing" Yemen and that Iran had continued to “supply arms to one party to that dispute so that the violence can continue.”

Beyond the brazen hypocrisy of accusing Iran of destabilizing Yemen by providing weapons is a report that US officials believe Iran warned the Houthis against launching an insurrection last year. While Saudi Arabia and the US have justified the brutal air campaign killing civilians in Yemen as a proxy war between themselves and Iran, the evidence indicates that the Houthis have their own agency.

Evidence offered by US government officials no less.

Iranian representatives discouraged Houthi rebels from taking the Yemeni capital of Sanaa last year, according to American officials familiar with intelligence around the insurgent takeover.The seizure of the capital in September came as a surprise to the international community, as Houthi rebels demonstrating outside Sanaa realized the city was abandoned and effectively unguarded. Despite Iran's advice, the Houthis walked into the city and claimed it... 

U.S. lawmakers and Gulf state leaders who are skeptical of the nuclear negotiations with Iran have pointed to the Houthis' rise to power in Yemen as more evidence of Iran's unhelpful expansionary objectives in the region. But the news that Iran actually opposed the takeover paints a more complicated picture. As the regime in Tehran has signaled, the Iranians are not unhappy to see their Gulf rivals embroiled in conflict in their neighborhood, but their advice against seizing Sanaa suggests that controlling Yemen is at best a secondary priority for Iran, far behind relief from sanctions that could come with a successful nuclear pact.

So what does the White House actually believe? And if the genuine view is that Iran did not instigate the Houthis rebellion then what is the point of sending warships to Yemen's coast?

One possible explanation is that the US is trying to assuage wounded Saudi pride. The Saudis have been continually whining in private and public about the US dealing with Iran and not supporting the Saudi position on Syria of overthrowing the Assad government. Now, with a nuclear deal with Iran within sight, the Obama Administration may have decided to facilitate the Saudis venting their frustrations with US policy by bombing the hell out of the people in Yemen.

US May Offer Middle East Countries Nuclear Commitment

Take us to Derpcon 1. In what may be one of the dumbest ideas expressed out loud in US foreign policy history, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Obama Administration officials are floating the idea of extending the US nuclear umbrella to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.  Such an agreement would obligate the US to take part in a nuclear conflict in the Middle East as well as make the US a legitimate target for nuclear weapons by future belligerents.

The nuclear commitment is being discussed as the US pledges more weapons and training to the Sunni Arab states some of which are using already obtained US weapons in Yemen against Shiite Houthis rebels. The US weapons sold to Saudi Arabia have been linked to a bombing campaign in Yemen that is killing numerous civilians.

The idea of extending the US nuclear umbrella comes amidst negotiations with Iran over ending the country's nuclear weapons program. Iran's adversaries in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, are fretting over the negotiations and are unconvinced any deal would actually stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. The Saudis reportedly even threatened to try and purchase a nuclear weapon from Pakistan.

Obama administration officials are promising a major strengthening of U.S. defense commitments to Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies, possibly including a nuclear commitment to their security, in an intensifying effort to win their support for the proposed nuclear deal with Iran. 

Officials say they hope to reassure nervous gulf Arab states by providing more military aid and training to their defense forces, and by making more explicit commitments to help them repel external attacks. The administration is studying whether to make any nuclear assurances, though officials emphasize no decision has been made.

So much for Senator Corker's theory on President Obama trying to get the US out of the Middle East. Not only is Obama not taking his chips off the table he is putting the US all in if such assurances are made - if the US is on the hook for a nuclear war the impetus to meddle in Middle Eastern politics is that much stronger.

The upside of such an agreement would, in theory, be that the US would have a robust existential commitment to nuclear non-proliferation in the region. Of course that commitment would make it difficult to support the only power in the region currently with active nuclear weapons, Israel.

What is the US getting out of these increasingly costly relationships in the Middle East again?

UN: Yemen 'On Verge Of Total Collapse,' Saudis Killing Civilians With US Weapons

The United Nation has warned that the effects of the war in Yemen have pushed the contrary to the "verge of total collapse." The UN focused particularly on civilians who are caught in the crossfire between a Saudi-led forces bombing campaign and Houthis rebels who have taken the capital and are battling local government forces.

The air campaign along with ground battles has crippled the country with military attacks occurring in civilian areas. The Houthis have blamed the Saudis for civilian deaths in refugee camps whereas the Saudis have blamed the Houthis for locating forces in densely populated areas. The Houthis were cited as having been involved in attacks on hospitals.

The airstrikes killing civilians and militants in Yemen are coming from US made military equipment sold to Saudi Arabia.

Yemen spiraled further into chaos on Wednesday night, with a Saudi Arabia-led Arab coalition launching a military intervention marked by airstrikes by dozens of fighter jets and the deployment of thousands of ground troops and tanks on its Yemeni border. U.S. officials said they will offer intelligence and logistical support to the Saudis, but that’s really only a piece of it: The Saudi military is equipped with billions of dollars in advanced American-made weapons.  

Between October 2010 and October 2014, Washington and Riyadh reached more than $90 billion in weapons deals, according to a report published in January by the Congressional Research Service. The sales have included everything from war planes to armored vehicles, along with powerful missiles and bombs.

Since Friday at least 93 civilians had been killed according to the UN with 62 of the dead being children. Why do they hate us?

Will the US (at least) condemn what Amnesty International cited as indiscriminate killing in Yemen by the Saudis? Obviously it would be too much to ask to cut off arm sales to a state that has been sponsoring terrorism around the world including 9/11.