The U.S. House of Representatives — concealed its cowardice (regarding stopping American war crimes in Yemen) — underneath a layer of sanctimonious hypocrisy

© 2017 Peter Free

 

15 November 2017

 

 

Don't we look good?

 

You may recall that the House of Representatives recently scuttled a chance to end the unconstitutional US contribution to Saudi war crimes committed in Yemen.

 

Afterward, those astute Congressional folk probably felt that their institutional cowardice might look bad to outsiders, so they did this:

 

 

The House of Representatives on Monday [13 November 2017] voted 366-30 to declare . . . that it has not authorized U.S. action in support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, but . . . the resolution did not actually do anything to end American participation in the conflict.

 

Since the Saudi bombing of Yemen started in the spring of 2015 . . . the U.S. has . . . . aided Saudi bombers with targeting and assisted with refueling.

 

It has also sold tens of billions of dollars in munitions to the Saudis since the war began, while the kingdom has used U.S.-produced aircraft, laser-guided bombs, and internationally banned cluster bombs to target and destroy schools, markets, power plants, and a hospital, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths.

 

Following a deadly strike on a Yemeni funeral in 2016, the U.S. actually doubled fuel support for Saudi airplanes.

 

The war has led to an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions.

 

© 2017 Zaid Jilani, Congress Votes to Say It Hasn't Authorized War in Yemen, yet War in Yemen Goes on, The Intercept (14 November 2017) (excerpts)

 

 

Not everyone in Congress (of course) is a coward

 

The following day, Senator Chris Murphy (again) argued on the side of American decency:

 

 

Murphy . . . brought photos of starving and dying children to the floor of the Senate.

 

“Thousands and thousands inside Yemen today are dying. The Saudi-led coalition that has been engaged in an incessant two-year-long bombing campaign in Yemen is blockading Yemen – not allowing any humanitarian relief, not allowing fuel or food or water to get into the country. It would be one thing if the United States was a mere observer, but we are a participant in this.

 

"This horror is caused in part by our decision to facilitate a bombing campaign that is murdering children and to endorse a Saudi strategy inside Yemen that is deliberately using disease and starvation and the withdrawal of humanitarian support as a tactic.”

 

© 2017 Zaid Jilani, Congress Votes to Say It Hasn't Authorized War in Yemen, yet War in Yemen Goes on, The Intercept (14 November 2017) (excerpts)

 

 

 

Virtually no one paid attention. Senator Murphy noted the "absence of a quorum" at the end of his speech.

 

 

The moral? — Butchering innocents and starving children — for no defensible strategic or moral reasons — is the United States' most defining global business

 

The U.S. House of Representatives does not care enough about this (or any other) slaughter to exercise its constitutional responsibility to declare (or reject) war.

 

In essence, our Military Industrial Complex runs the nation to its own death-dealing profit.

 

Is this the way that a purportedly "Christian" nation should act? The only thing genuinely exceptional about the United States is its insatiable hypocrisy regarding its pretended godliness.