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This remains a five-alarm fire. We have just days left in our Fall Campaign and the numbers we’re seeing are not good. This is terrifying for us, especially when everything we cherish is on the ballot just one week from now.
"Why is the U.S. bombing Yemen—with a B-2 bomber no less—with zero congressional authorization?"
The Biden administration on Wednesday deployed B-2 stealth bombers to launch multiple airstrikes on Yemen, attacks that underscored the United States' deep involvement in a deadly regional war that is threatening to engulf the entire Middle East.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that the strikes targeted "numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that contained various advanced conventional weapons used to target U.S. and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters throughout the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden."
CENTCOM said its assessment of the damage inflicted by the strikes is ongoing and does not thus far "indicate civilian casualties." The U.S. military has routinely refused to investigate, acknowledge, or apologize for killing civilians in Yemen and elsewhere in the world.
The Houthis have repeatedly attacked vessels in the Red Sea this year in what they say is an effort to stop Israel's decimation of the Gaza Strip. The Biden administration has, in turn, bombed Yemen multiple times this year, strikes that progressive U.S. lawmakers have denounced as dangerous as well as illegal given that the White House did not seek congressional authorization, as required by the Constitution.
"Why is the U.S. bombing Yemen—with a B-2 bomber no less—with zero congressional authorization?" asked Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), following Wednesday's strikes. "Are these members of Congress literally asleep or drugged?"
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that "at the direction" of President Joe Biden, he "authorized these targeted strikes to further degrade the Houthis' capability to continue their destabilizing behavior and to protect and defend U.S. forces and personnel in one of the world's most critical waterways."
The strikes on one of the poorest nations in the world, Austin said, were "a unique demonstration of the United States' ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified"—a message that observers interpreted as a warning to Iran.
"The employment of U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate U.S. global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere," Austin added.
Wednesday's airstrikes reportedly marked the United States' first use of the stealth bombers against Yemen, a country that has been devastated by years of relentless attacks by a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition.
The strikes came days after the Pentagon announced the deployment of American troops and an advanced antimissile system to Israel ahead of the Israeli military's expected attack on Iran.
A coalition of progressive lawmakers warned in response to the troop deployment that "military force will not solve the challenge posed by Iran."
"We need meaningful de-escalation and diplomacy—not a wider war," the lawmakers said. "Addressing the root causes is the only route to achieving long-term security and stability in the region. Nothing in current law authorizes the United States to conduct offensive military action against Iran. We risk becoming entangled in another catastrophic war that will inevitably harm innocent civilians and may cost billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars."
One issue that has slipped beneath the radar in terms of news coverage is the recent decision by the Biden administration to resume the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia. For starters, the U.S. will be sending a shipment of bombs worth $750 million in the coming months.
These weapons were cut off by the Biden administration in 2021 because the Saudis were using them in Yemen in their war against the Houthis, killing thousands of civilians.
The resumption of the sale of offensive weapons is part of U.S. efforts to push the Saudis to normalize relations with Israel. In 2020, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed normalization agreements that are collectively known as the Abraham Accords. These deals were brokered primarily by the Trump administration. Some of the countries that signed on, such as the UAE, view the accord not only as a way to bolster trade, but as a military alliance against their historical rival, Iran.
For the Saudis, however, normalization has been pushed off the table by the Israeli assault on Gaza and public sympathy for the Palestinians. A December 2023 survey by the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy found that a near unanimous 96 percent of Saudis say that Arab countries should break all contacts with Israel to protest against Israeli attacks in Gaza.
The Saudis say that Israel must first end the war in Gaza and, even more elusive, create a credible pathway to a Palestinian state. Saudi Arabia has told the United States it will not open diplomatic relations with Israel unless it agrees to accept an independent Palestinian state on the internationally-recognized pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Such a Palestinian state is precisely what Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Knesset are dead set against.
But U.S. officials still want to push for normalization, and the Biden administration has offered a series of incentives, including negotiating a defense pact and an agreement for civil nuclear cooperation.
The U.S. also wants to build closer Saudi ties to drive a wedge into the peace process between Saudi Arabia and Iran that was brokered by China last year, and to counter the inroads that China is making in the region. More immediately, the U.S. wants Saudi cooperation in repelling Iranian retaliatory attacks on Israel. In mid-April, when Iran retaliated against the April 1 Israeli airstrike that killed a top Revolutionary Guard commander in Syria, the Saudis, along with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, cooperated with the U.S. and Israel in repelling some 300 missiles and drones that Iran fired on Israel. The Israelis are now bracing for another Iranian response to the killing in Tehran of Hamas political leader Ismael Haniya.
But the arms sales violate the Biden administration’s earlier promises of a new approach to Saudi Arabia that would focus on human rights. In 2020 Biden vowed to treat Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, as a “pariah,” mainly because of the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Despite recent cosmetic openings like musical concerts and some real reforms like giving women the right to drive and the abolition of the religious police, Saudi Arabia remains one of the most repressive countries in the world. While U.S. officials regularly criticize elections in neighboring Iran, there are no elections in Saudi Arabia. It continues to be one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world.
You don’t have to look at the damning reports from groups like Amnesty International and Human Right Watch to see the extent of Saudi repression. Just look at the U.S. State Department’s 2023 human rights report. It talks about extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture; life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of an independent judiciary; punishment of family members for alleged offenses by a relative; violence against journalists and press censorship; serious restrictions on internet freedom, religious freedom and freedom of movement, including the right to leave the country; bans on independent trade unions; violence against gay and transgender persons; and the excessive use of the death penalty.
Remember: this stinging critique is coming from the US government–a major ally of the Saudis.
Sending more weapons to the Saudis will only strengthen this repressive regime and increase regional conflicts. But, of course, it will also increase the profits of weapons companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. That, in turn, increases the campaign coffers of our politicians.
So the U.S. government is authorizing the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, while it continues to tout itself as the defender of the “free world.” Go figure.
"What's changed in Saudi Arabia to justify this?" asked one human rights advocate. "Nothing."
One rights advocate on Friday said "nothing" has changed to justify a Biden administration decision to lift a ban on U.S. sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia—but the White House has reportedly briefed Congress on the decision to reverse the policy that's been in place for the last three years.
According toReuters, which cited five sources familiar with the matter, weapons sales could resume as early as next week due to the administration's belief that "the Saudis have met their end of the deal."
President Joe Biden placed the ban on weapons sales in 2021 to pressure Saudi Arabia to end its war against the Houthis in Yemen, who are aligned with Iran.
The war in Yemen has created a humanitarian crisis, with 21.6 million people in need of assistance and protection services, and more than 4.5 million—14% of the population—internally displaced. More than 19,200 civilians, including over 2,300 children, have been killed in airstrikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition.
An administration official told Reuters that there have not been any Saudi airstrikes in Yemen since March 2022, when the Saudis and the Houthis entered a truce brokered by the United Nations.
The decision comes as Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.
But Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), was among those who said the administration aims to secure "future lucrative payouts" for officials including National Security Council adviser Brett McGurk.
"With the Middle East on the brink of a regional war, Gaza's pain worsening, and Americans protesting questionable arms deals, why would the Biden administration choose this moment to double down on weapons for Saudi Arabia?" saidHuffPost reporter Akbar Shahid Ahmed in a thread on the social media platform X. "Let's talk about Brett McGurk."
Ahmed explained that in addition to being a major driver of Biden's policy in Gaza, where Israel has been waging a military assault since last October, McGurk has pushed to lift the Saudi weapons ban. The push has come despite concerns over Yemen as well as other human rights violations, including the 2018 murder of U.S. journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally approved, according to intelligence reports.
Critics have pointed out to the administration that "the Saudis haven't shown they'll be more responsible with U.S. weapons," said Ahmed, "or addressed concerns about human rights."
"The criticism was largely ignored," he added. "McGurk has grown his influence, tying his Saudi vision to post-war plans for Gaza to craft a message that's now publicly embraced across the administration."
The "long-term implications" of lifting the ban, said Ahmed, include "further implicating the U.S. in potential war crimes after months of American weaponry being used in alarming ways" in Gaza.