PRESS RELEASE

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The Saudi War of Genocide In Yemen and U.S. Arms Sales

Aug. 13, 2016 (EIRNS)—Bruce Riedel, in a commentary in The National Interest, following on the announcement, earlier this week, that the U.S. State Department had given its stamp of approval to the sale of 153 M1 Abrams tanks and other weaponry to Saudi Arabia, raises the question of whether such arms sales are really a good idea given the nature of Riyadh’s war in Yemen. The Houthis have done "surprisingly well" he writes, and the war has been costly for the Saudis, to the point where the highest Wahhabite cleric is calling for donations to help the families of Saudi troops killed in the war. "This appeal underscores the expense of the war and the government’s challenge in paying for what is an open-ended quagmire," Riedel, a former CIA analyst who is the director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, writes. Obama has been the most enthusiastic arms seller of any U.S. President to the Saudis, racking up sales of $110 billion, sales that have hardly been challenged in the U.S. Congress.

"The losers in the war are of course the Yemeni people," Riedel concludes.

"More than half the 25 million people are malnourished. Many are dislocated. Children are at greatest risk. The war gets almost no mention in the American media, but it’s our war."