Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – More than 50 anti-war groups are urging lawmakers to use the annual defense policy bill to end all U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen’s civil war.
In a letter being sent Monday, the organizations call on lawmakers to use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to “legislate an end to ongoing U.S. complicity in the war and blockade in Yemen.”
“By suspending the sale of arms and ending U.S. participation in the Saudi coalition’s war and blockade, Congress can prevent a humanitarian catastrophe from spiraling further out of control as it reasserts its constitutional authority on matters of war and peace,” the 56 organizations wrote in the letter.
We read in their letter that, Consideration of this year’s NDAA comes at a critical time for Yemen, as roughly 16.2 million people in Yemen are at risk of famine. Aid agencies have described Yemen as the worst place in the world to be a child, with the conflict claiming the lives of at least 85,000 children from hunger and disease
“With the help of U.S. logistical and maintenance support, Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen has created untold suffering for tens of millions of people and contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths,” Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, one of the letter’s organizers, said in a statement.
