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CPUd
05-01-2017, 04:14 PM
Rand Paul: The U.S. should not fund Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen


By Sen. Rand Paul

American-built planes with American bombs were used by the Saudis to bomb a funeral procession in Yemen. Over 100 people were killed, and 500 mourners were wounded. Active duty American pilots have been refueling the planes dropping bombs across Yemen.

Sounds like war to me.

But when did we declare war on Yemen? When did Congress vote to authorize military force in Yemen? Who is the enemy, and why are we fighting them?

Let’s be clear: war was NOT declared by Congress, as the Constitution requires. Congress never authorized American participation in a war in Yemen. And yet, here we are, involved in yet another Middle East war.


We have an unfortunate habit of arming foreign nations, only to discover that these supposed allies may be creating more enemies for America than they are killing.

Not only are we selling the bombs to Saudi Arabia that they are dropping on Yemen, the president’s first military act was to send a manned raid of Navy Seals into Yemen.

RELATED: Paul slams McCain and Graham on Syria: “They have learned nothing from our history in the Middle East”

Tragically, one of our Navy SEALs was killed, along with several women and children. I don’t blame our soldiers — they take orders. They do the best that they can under the circumstances. I do, however, blame the politicians who send our soldiers into impossible situations.

Confronted by civilians, sometimes women and children, firing weapons at them, our soldiers must return fire. But before putting our soldiers in that unenviable position, shouldn’t Congress debate whether involving our nation in a war in Yemen is in our national security interest?

The raid killed al-Qaeda operatives who, while likely enemies of ours, were actually fighting the same people the Saudis are fighting: the Houthi rebels.

To emphasize, the Saudis and al-Qaeda are fighting a common enemy in the Houthi rebels. In essence, we sent Navy Seals into Yemen to kill people who actually were fighting a common enemy.

In a country where so many factions are fighting, it is nearly impossible to distinguish friend from foe.

Thousands of civilians have been killed by Saudi bombings in Yemen. The blowback from these civilian deaths will be generations of hatred and likely more terrorism.

It is also possible our involvement in the Yemeni Civil war could allow a situation where the Saudis and the Houthis decimate each other, leaving a vacuum that al-Qaeda fills. Think it can’t happen? Well it’s exactly what happened when America and Saudi-supported rebels pushed back Assad in Syria, leaving a power gap that ISIS filled.

In recent years, there hasn’t been a military action taken in Yemen by Saudi Arabia that doesn’t have America’s fingerprints all over it.

As my colleague Senator Chris Murphy said last year, “If you talk to Yemenis, they will tell you that this is perceived inside Yemen as not a Saudi-led bombing campaign […] but as a U.S. bombing campaign or at best a U.S.-Saudi bombing campaign.”

Obviously, none of this enhances U.S. national security. But how many Americans are even aware that we are actively involved in a war in Yemen?

Last year I introduced a bipartisan bill with Sen. Murphy to stop a U.S. transfer of arms and dollars — costing $1.15 billion in all — to the Saudis. The Senate voted to allow the sale. The debate, however, prompted President Obama to reconsider and ultimately to cancel the sale of more bombs to Saudi Arabia.

Now, the Trump administration is considering going ahead with more missile sales to Saudi Arabia. This would be a serious mistake. If the sale is debated in Congress, I will reintroduce legislation to stop it.

Other reasons not to sell offensive arms to Saudi Arabia include their abysmal human rights record and lingering questions about that nation’s possible role in 9/11.

The families of 9/11 victims have an active legal case alleging Saudi culpability for 9/11. These are complaints that bear review, considering that 16 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

One of the memos discovered during the Hillary Clinton email leak stated, “We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIS and other radical groups in the region.”

RELATED: Ron and Rand Paul: Now is the time to pass Audit the Fed

A State Department cable released by Wikileaks in 2009 revealed, “Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda [and] the Taliban […]”

Why don’t we hear more about this?

President Trump promised to put America first again, precisely because so much of what we have done in our foreign policy in recent years has been to other countries’ benefit but to the detriment of the U.S.

In the upcoming debate, I hope the president will seriously consider the unintended consequences of getting us mired in yet another Middle East war.

That would be a mistake. I think it’s high time we start learning from our mistakes.
http://rare.us/rare-politics/issues/foreign-policy/rand-paul-the-u-s-should-not-fund-saudi-arabias-war-on-yemen/

dannno
05-01-2017, 04:19 PM
Do you know who broke the Saudi weapons deal story last week CPUd?

r3volution 3.0
05-01-2017, 04:23 PM
Do you know who broke the Saudi weapons deal story last week CPUd?

Not that you asked me, but I just cannot contain my curiosity; Who?

dannno
05-01-2017, 04:29 PM
Not that you asked me, but I just cannot contain my curiosity; Who?

Oh, just the guy who CPUd says "doesn't matter"


Saudi Arabia to Obtain Arms, Nuclear Technology in McMaster-Orchestrated Deal

https://medium.com/@Cernovich/saudi-arabia-to-obtain-arms-nuclear-technology-in-mcmaster-orchestrated-deal-3b3d2897a532

CPUd
05-01-2017, 04:30 PM
Ron has been talking about this for months if not years.

dannno
05-01-2017, 04:30 PM
Ron has been talking about this for months if not years.

Yes, Ron Paul predicted Donald Trump's Saudi weapons deal in 2012.

CPUd
05-01-2017, 04:36 PM
http://i.imgur.com/aDyik6i.png

r3volution 3.0
05-01-2017, 04:37 PM
Oh, just the guy who CPUd says "doesn't matter"

Saudi Arabia to Obtain Arms, Nuclear Technology in McMaster-Orchestrated Deal

https://medium.com/@Cernovich/saudi-arabia-to-obtain-arms-nuclear-technology-in-mcmaster-orchestrated-deal-3b3d2897a532

I must be thick...

Is that supposed to somehow justify Trump's bombings of civilians on behalf of the KSA?

juleswin
05-01-2017, 04:38 PM
Supplying a country with weapons is not the same thing as funding a war. Saudi Arabia is the one who told John Kerry that they would pay for the war if we invaded Syria. Saudi Arabia is not Israel, they have the money to pay for the war. They just need someone else to fight it for them.

Another deceptive statement coming from Rand after the whole "govt mandate never went away, it is now transferred to publicly run insurance company" lie

dannno
05-01-2017, 04:48 PM
I must be thick...

Is that supposed to somehow justify Trump's bombings of civilians on behalf of the KSA?

No, it's not supposed to justify anything. It was a news story that was broken by Mike Cernovich. He breaks a lot of big news stories, and the mainstream media later reports on it but never cites his work.

polomertz
05-01-2017, 04:50 PM
I would say that selling arms is not the same as funding war but it can easily lead to that. Similar to how we got into WWI. Germany attacked American ships supplying the Allies. “If you talk to Yemenis, they will tell you that this is perceived inside Yemen as not a Saudi-led bombing campaign […] but as a U.S. bombing campaign or at best a U.S.-Saudi bombing campaign.”

AZJoe
05-13-2017, 11:45 AM
US Nears $100 Billion Arms Deal with Saudi Arabia Ahead of Trump’s Trip. (http://www.dw.com/en/us-nears-100-billion-arms-deal-with-saudi-arabia-ahead-of-trumps-trip/a-38824944) I guess the annihilation of the Yemeni people requires Washington to supply more tools for the trade.

AZJoe
05-16-2017, 07:25 AM
More Weapons for the totalitarian Riyadh Regime (http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/selling-more-weapons-to-the-reckless-saudis/):

the arms deals are estimated to be worth at least $100 billion, and when all is said and done may be worth more than $300 billion. Obama held the previous record for offering arms sales to the Saudis with more than $115 billion (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-security-idUSKCN11D2JQ) … Trump will soon surpass him and become the top Saudi enabler of all time. Offering these deals represents the Trump administration’s endorsement of the Saudis and their recent behavior … a green light from Washington to keep doing what they’ve been doing to Yemen. Taken together with Trump’s visit to Riyadh, these arms sales send the worst possible message and deepen U.S. complicity in the Saudi-led war …

1)Why should a government that has been actively destabilizing the region be rewarded with the means to do more of the same? 2) What U.S. foreign policy objective is served by throwing more weapons at an evidently incompetent Saudi military? 3) What benefit does the U.S. get from having a stronger relationship with a reckless client that routinely commits war crimes? 4) Since the Saudi-led war on Yemen has strengthened Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and AQAP has occasionally fought alongside coalition-backed forces, how does continuing to back the Saudis’ war make the U.S. more secure? …

asurfaholic
05-16-2017, 09:42 AM
Almost all the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

AMERICA is Saudia Arabias little bitch.

AZJoe
05-16-2017, 11:34 AM
https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18446776_1940260172860907_8677682750273993817_n.jp g?oh=96dbec6e1f0e76fc8a20ce621a3459d6&oe=59BB64EC

AZJoe
05-24-2017, 04:21 AM
https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/18595160_669433546560178_3594369025160466949_o.jpg ?oh=d6f20974b75cc956c85910f90eb785f2&oe=59AC4C83