The Concrete Steps
There's a fantastic opportunity regarding the war in Yemen—this is so exciting.
“We don’t have to be mere spectators—we can be participants. There’s endless hope if we join activism and it’s exciting to join activism.”
“There’s a neat website that allows Americans to find their legislators—every American who’s reading this piece should contact their legislators about the war in Yemen, since there’s a major opportunity right now regarding that war.”
“The bill in Congress is called ‘H. J. Res 87’ and you can read the bill’s text online—Americans should definitely contact their legislators about this bill.”
What are the concrete steps that people can take in order to change things? It’s not the media’s job to get people off the couch and induce people to become active—even Democracy Now! doesn’t really do that, since it’s a news program, though DN! is obviously more activism-oriented than something like CNN is.
We don’t have to be mere spectators—we can be participants. There’s endless hope if we join activism and it’s exciting to join activism.
I’m just starting out on Substack—I have a long way to go in all aspects of my writing. But I want to eventually provide my audience with concrete steps so that my audience can take action. The first step is to demonstrate that taking action is worthwhile and the second step is to provide those concrete steps—one reader told me this:
All in all, none of this stuff is easy. If it was, we would have accomplished all the things you have talked about. That said, you can play a very important role in breaking issues down for people in ways that help them understand A) Why they should care and B) What they can do to get society one small step closer to solving the problem. You already do A, but if you can focus in on B you will be able to accomplish a lot more than you ever thought you could.
So I should seek potential solutions to issues; discover what’s already going on legislatively; interview experts on the bill in question or the subject in question; respectfully urge my audience to contact their elected officials about it; and so on.
There’s a neat website that allows Americans to find their legislators—every American who’s reading this piece should contact their legislators about the war in Yemen, since there’s a major opportunity right now regarding that war.
The Problem
The war in Yemen is an absolutely enormous humanitarian crisis:
“As U.S. Focuses on Ukraine, Yemen Starves” (16 March 2022)
“‘Just Pay Attention to What Our Own Government Is Doing in Yemen’” (25 March 2022)
“‘Catastrophic hunger’: Charity urges truce extension in Yemen” (31 May 2022)
Here’s an excerpt from the 16 March 2022 piece:
Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, called the Saudi blockade of Yemen the most “offensive action” the Saudis engage in.
“The blockade is an act of war against the Yemeni people and is directly responsible for the massive humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, especially the malnutrition of children,” said Riedel, who served as a CIA analyst and adviser on Middle East issues to four U.S. presidents until his retirement in 2006. Biden has “broken his promise to make peace in Yemen a top priority,” he said, adding that the blockade “should be investigated as a war crime.”
“The Saudis are bogged down in an expensive quagmire,” Riedel told The Intercept. “The Congress needs to step in and cut off all military assistance to Riyadh.”
Until that happens, more Yemenis will be pushed closer to famine. Acute malnutrition has increased by 284 percent among children and by 374 percent among pregnant women since October 2020, according to U.N. figures.
And here’s an excerpt from the 25 March 2022 piece:
I don’t blame the average person for feeling a certain way about Ukraine and not having that same empathy for Yemen, because, like you said, the media really manipulates the way we understand issues, and it decontextualizes so much of this stuff. And so somebody might be looking at this and not understanding that we are Putin in this case—we are, the Saudis are, like Putin, we are the aggressor, the US is the aggressor in this case, we are the people who are causing the starvation—because it’s so decontextualized. But we can walk and chew gum at the same time; we can pay attention to what’s going on in Ukraine and also not stall on our action toward Yemen, especially because, in this case, it’s not about different people fighting a war that we’re not involved in. We are central to the war, like we’ve discussed.
And here are my notes on the 31 May 2022 piece:
“Oxfam said on Tuesday that the United Nations-brokered ceasefire is essential for millions of Yemenis suffering from a lack of basic services and soaring prices of food and other goods.”
“The UN estimates that more than 377,000 people have died due to the conflict as of late 2021, adding that the war in Yemen has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
“The UN has also warned that 19 million people of Yemen’s population of 32 million would face hunger in 2022, including 160,000 likely to suffer from ‘famine-like conditions’.”
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as it hit global food supplies and sent food prices soaring. Yemen imports 90 percent of its food, including at least 42 percent of its wheat from Ukraine, Oxfam said.”
So we’re talking about the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world here—the stakes are enormous.
And just look at this piece:
“Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen have been called war crimes. Many relied on U.S. support.” (4 June 2022)
Here’s an excerpt:
While Russia’s bombings of a maternity hospital and other civilian targets in Ukraine have drawn widespread public indignation as war crimes, thousands of similar strikes have taken place against Yemeni civilians. The indiscriminate bombings have become a hallmark of the Yemen war, drawing international scrutiny of the countries participating in the air campaign, and those arming them, including the United States. U.S. support for the Saudi war effort, which has been criticized by human rights groups and some in Congress, began during the Obama administration and has continued in fits and starts for seven years.
New analysis by The Washington Post and Security Force Monitor at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute (SFM) provides the most complete picture yet of the depth and breadth of U.S. support for the Saudi-led air campaign, revealing that a substantial portion of the air raids were carried out by jets developed, maintained and sold by U.S. companies, and by pilots who were trained by the U.S. military.
So this is an incredibly serious situation—we should care about the war crimes that we ourselves are involved in and we shouldn’t restrict our attention to war crimes that official enemies like Russia are involved in.
The Solution
I read about an amazing opportunity regarding the war in Yemen:
I took these notes on the 1 June 2022 piece:
“With the support of the United States, Saudi Arabia established a devastating port blockade that slashed the flow of commercial and humanitarian goods into Yemen and littered the country with bombs that have killed countless civilians.”
“During the Trump administration, some Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans, fought to end the U.S. bomb sales, intelligence support, and warplane refueling that made the Saudi intervention possible.”
“But with a Riyadh-friendly president in the White House, their efforts never had a plausible chance of actually forcing the kingdom to withdraw.”
“In early 2019, when majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate for the first time in history invoked the 1973 War Powers Resolution to end U.S. involvement, Saudi Arabia could rely on former President Donald Trump’s veto.”
“So the war dragged on. President Joe Biden adjusted U.S. policy when he entered office by demanding an end to ‘offensive’ support, but this didn’t have a material impact for Yemenis trapped by the blockade and Saudi air raids supporting it.”
“In November, the United Nations estimated that 377,000 Yemenis would be dead by the end of 2021, 70 percent of whom would be children, many as a result of starvation and disease.”
“According to the World Food Programme, more than 17 million Yemenis are battling food insecurity, and that figure is expected to rise to 19 million, or nearly one-third of the population, by December 2022.”
“Two months ago, the U.N. brokered a cease-fire between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis that gave the population some respite, but it’s scheduled to end this week.”
“With the deadline looming, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., co-founder of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, introduced a new resolution on May 31 invoking the 1973 War Powers Resolution to demand that Biden end U.S. military participation in the Yemen war.”
“According to a press release from the CPC, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will introduce a companion resolution when the Senate is back in session.”
“Forty-one Democrats and Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors, including CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who introduced an earlier version in 2019.”
“DeFazio also secured the support of more moderate Democratic leaders, like House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and House Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern, D-Mass., whose panel will have to shuffle the resolution through to a floor vote.”
“There are five Republican co-sponsors: Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.”
“the resolution has the endorsement of more than 100 organizations, including the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Demand Progress, and Just Foreign Policy, which are urging members of Congress this week to support it”
“‘Congress has a historic opportunity to end crucial U.S. engagement in the Saudi-UAE-led coalition’s deadly and inhumane war against Yemen, and reclaim their Constitutional jurisdiction over war,’ Cavan Kharrazian, foreign policy campaigner at Demand Progress, wrote in a statement.”
“U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia are at a crossroads: After initially promising to isolate the crown prince, Biden is now trying to curry favor with him.”
Trump in 2019 “had come to Crown Prince Mohammed’s defense after the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, just a few months after Saudi Arabia bombed a school bus in Yemen, killing at least 26 children”
“In November 2018, the White House relented somewhat by agreeing to no longer refuel Saudi coalition warplanes—Riyadh said it did not need U.S. support anyway—but Washington still supplied weapons, logistical support, and intelligence that allowed the war to continue.”
“Biden looked to make a change, pledging on the presidential campaign trail to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ and removing the Houthis from the State Department’s terrorist list upon entering the White House.”
“‘This war has to end,’ Biden said in his first foreign policy speech as president, in February 2021. ‘And to underscore our commitment, we are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.’”
“The White House put a halt on hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of bomb sales but has still enabled U.S. maintenance of Saudi warplanes conducting airstrikes in Yemen.”
“Biden also did not demand an immediate end to port blockades.”
“Some lawmakers may hesitate because this year’s bill goes much further to cease U.S. military support than the 2019 version.”
“Then, the bill narrowly focused on ending midair refueling of Saudi warplanes and included an amendment, offered by Buck, the Republican representative from Colorado, clarifying that intelligence sharing may continue.”
“The new resolution would forbid logistical and maintenance support for warplanes bombing Houthi targets, coordination with Saudi-led military forces fighting the Houthis, and intelligence sharing.”
“The expanded bill has Buck’s support, but it has lost many original co-sponsors; in 2019, the resolution had about 70 original co-sponsors in the House, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who is not on the list today.”
The piece concludes as follows:
Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, acknowledged the challenges ahead. “FCNL and our allies, on and off the Hill, are ready for a more difficult political fight on the Yemen War Powers Resolution this time around. In 2019, Democrats were eager to push back against President Trump. Now, many are hoping President Biden normalizes relations with Saudi Arabia to lower energy costs,” he told The Intercept.
“As Biden is preparing to head to the region to potentially formalize a security arrangement with Saudi Arabia, this War Powers Resolution sends a strong signal from Congress that any agreement with the kingdom needs to include ending war in Yemen,” he added. “By reasserting its Article I war authority, Congress can help extend the temporary Yemen truce into a lasting peace settlement and finally bring this devastating humanitarian crisis to an end.”
The bill in Congress is called “H. J. Res 87” and you can read the bill’s text online—Americans should definitely contact their legislators about this bill.
This bill is indeed a “historic opportunity to end crucial U.S. engagement in the Saudi-UAE-led coalition’s deadly and inhumane war against Yemen”. And the situation in Yemen is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world—you cannot exaggerate how big a deal it would be to “finally bring this devastating humanitarian crisis to an end”.
There was a truce renewal:
“Top UN Envoy hails two-month renewal of Yemen truce” (2 June 2022)
“Yemen truce extended for two months, but warring sides far apart” (2 June 2022)
“A Fragile Truce in Yemen” (8 June 2022)
But the truce renewal doesn’t at all bear on this bill’s importance—the truce renewal means that things stay as they are with prospects for a peace settlement remote, so this bill remains as important as ever.
The Questions
I could only think of two potential reasons not to support this bill:
(1) What if the War Powers Resolution doesn’t align with what the Founding Fathers intended?
(2) What if Saudi Arabia increases oil prices in response and this increase harms American consumers, harms the Democrats, and gives the GOP power?
I showed these concerns to my friend and they said that we should support this bill and try to stop the war in Yemen, since it’s the right thing to do given the stakes for 100s of 1000s of people and even for millions of people.
Regarding (1), they said that the Constitution very explicitly gives Congress the power to declare war—they explained that it would make a joke out of this constitutional power to say that the president never declared war in the case of Yemen, since this would mean that the president doesn’t need congressional approval in order to effectively fight a war or effectively fight a proxy war.
Regarding (2), they said that higher oil prices harm the whole world—not just the US—and that we can’t say for sure that Saudi Arabia won’t react in this way. But my friend added that it’s not clear how much Saudi Arabia will want to anger the US; that the US has looked out for Saudi Arabia both domestically and internationally; and that higher oil prices push the world more towards clean energy in a way that harms Saudi Arabia’s long-term interests.
And regarding (2), I also reached out to a different friend and they said this:
The Yemen bill has to do with the War Powers Act and US participation in a murderous war. There is an abstract and hypothetical connection with oil prices, but there are such connections with almost everything of international significance. In this case there is nothing to explain because few are even aware of the hypothetical relation.
I think that everyone should support this bill and try to end the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis. This bill is a great opportunity and a wonderful thing—let’s all support this bill and let’s all use this bill as an organizing tool and as an educational tool.
We live in dark times—opportunities like this make our world a hopeful place.