On Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna joined CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Peter DeFazio in pledging to introduce and pass a new Yemen War Powers Resolution to fulfill President Biden’s broken promise to end unconstitutional U.S. participation in the Saudi war/blockade in Yemen.
It will be instructive to see if the “progressive” national security website “Just Security” - weighed down as it is by former Administration officials - improves its line on the Yemen War Powers Resolution now.
In a piece published the day before marking the seventh anniversary of the war, Luke Hartig and Oona Hathaway took a spectacularly anemic line on this question. Perhaps, like the British economist John Maynard Keynes, they would like to “read the data differently now” [as Larry Summers might say] in the light of new information.
Here’s what Hartig and Hathaway wrote about this on March 24. After noting that in 2018, Senator Sanders introduced a resolution pursuant to the War Powers resolution calling for the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities in Yemen that had not been authorized by Congress, and that in 2019 a resolution to end U.S. support for Saudi operations in Yemen passed both houses of Congress only to be vetoed by then-President Trump, Hartig and Hathaway wrote [my emphasis]:
President Biden’s announcement that the United States would no longer provide “offensive” support for Saudi military operations in Yemen likely brings this chapter to a close, for now. But continued servicing of Saudi jets and other “defensive” support could reignite such legal concerns.
When they wrote, “for now,” did they mean, “for today, March 24”? When they wrote “could reignite,” did they mean, “on tomorrow, March 25”? Does Bernie “raising his voice” count as “reigniting such concerns”?
Hartig and Hathaway also wrote [my emphasis]:
The end of (most) U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition also brings to a close some of the key concerns under international law...the Saudis and Emirates have been accused of various war crimes in the course of the brutal war against the Houthis...The end of offensive military support for the Saudi-led coalition helps ease concerns about ongoing U.S. complicity in those war crimes…
This begs the question: who elected or appointed Hartig and Hathaway to make this determination, that such “concerns” have been “brought to a close” or “eased”? How many divisions do Hartig and Hathaway control? Who died and made them Pope?
Finally, Hartig and Hathaway claim:
At the end of the day, it seems likely that more of the onus for resolving the Yemen conflict will lie with the administration than the Hill.
Care to revisit this now, @just_security? Get on the bus. Stand shoulder to shoulder with Bernie/Ro and Jayapal/DeFazio for the Yemen War Powers Resolution now, and all your past crimes will be forgiven. Go and sin no more.