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US Deploys B-2 Stealth Bombers to Attack Yemen Without Congressional Approval
"Why is the U.S. bombing Yemen—with a B-2 bomber no less—with zero congressional authorization?"
Oct 17, 2024
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."
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The US Is Waging an Illegal War for Faster Shipping
Even as the Biden administration and Congress move forward with military solutions, there are alternatives to addressing the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping, namely, negotiating a cease-fire in Gaza.
Apr 04, 2024
The United States is waging an illegal war in Yemen, where major shipping routes along the country’s coastlines have been disrupted by ongoing violence in the region.
Despite widespread understanding in Washington that U.S. military operations in Yemen violate U.S. law, U.S. officials continue to insist that they must continue their military campaign, which they say is necessary to saving time and money on commercial shipping through the Middle East.
“The U.S. economy relies on open sea lanes,” U.S. General Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said at a March 7 Senate hearing, after being asked about the growing U.S. military presence in the Red Sea. “By our national security strategy, we will not allow a state or non-state actor to affect the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab al Mandeb, or the Suez Canal.”
Although some of the Houthis’ attacks have caused casualties, the major concern in Washington has been the implications for the global economy.
Since January 11, the United States has been directing airstrikes and other military operations in Yemen. U.S. military forces have been targeting the Houthis, a militant group that has been launching missiles and other attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.
For months, the Houthis’ attacks have disrupted commercial shipping. The Houthis have insisted that they will continue their attacks until Israel ends it military offensive in Gaza.
Although some of the Houthis’ attacks have caused casualties, the major concern in Washington has been the implications for the global economy. As U.S. officials have repeatedly noted, as much as 15% of global trade passes through the Red Sea, including 12% of the sea-based oil trade.
“The reason it’s so important there is this,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained earlier this year. “15% of commercial traffic is going through that strait every single day.” That includes “30% of the world’s container ships.”
Of particular concern to U.S. officials is the Bab al Mandeb, a narrow strait along the southwestern coast of Yemen that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. An estimated 8.8 million barrels of oil are shipped through the strait every day, making it one of the world’s “strategic chokepoints,” as Gen. Kurilla described it.
Although the White House has insisted that President Joe Biden has the legal authority to take military action against the Houthis, several members of Congress have refuted its claims. At a Senate hearing in February, several senators called attention to the War Powers Resolution, which establishes that the president cannot continue hostilities for longer than 60 days without approval from Congress.
Regardless, Congress has failed to act, even now that the deadline has passed. March 12, the day that the White House was required to cease its military operations, “came, and went, in public silence,” as The Associated Press reported.
Even as the Biden administration and Congress move forward with an illegal war, there are alternatives to addressing the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping.
As some U.S. officials have acknowledged, the ideal and perhaps most obvious alternative would be to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza. After all, the Houthis continue to insist that they will not end their attacks until Israel ends its siege of Gaza.
“I am very keen to see that there is a cease-fire in Gaza,” U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking said during a March 29 appearance on “Washington Journal.” “I do believe that we can use that moment to deescalate some of these other crises, including the Red Sea. We must get to that moment.”
Absent a cease-fire, however, it remains possible for commercial ships to circumvent the Middle East. Data compiled by the International Monetary Fund indicates that maritime trade is being redirected around Africa. In other words, commercial ships are taking advantage of other options for reaching their destinations.
The Biden administration has opposed both approaches, however. Not only has the administration continued to support Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, despite its acknowledgment of the worsening “humanitarian catastrophe,” as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described it, but the administration remains unwilling to tolerate the longer shipping times that are associated with the route around Africa.
“If you’re talking oil that comes through, we’re seeing a diversion of that,” Gen. Kurilla said at the March 7 Senate hearing. “It goes around the Cape of Good Hope. What that’s going to do is bring products late to market and price increases as well.”
Indeed, the priority of U.S. officials is to keep the Red Sea open for shipping. Their determination to maintain faster shipping is leading them to move forward with a war in Yemen that they know is illegal, even as they come to recognize more sensible options.
The first step in getting to a “just settlement” in Yemen “is the cease-fire in Gaza,” Lenderking said. “I think we can use that diplomatically to deescalate the situation in the Red Sea.”
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Where Are the Progressives as Biden Marches Toward War?
This should be a four-alarm fire. Is there anyone effectively organizing against Biden just casually leading us into another war?
Jan 31, 2024
The general silence around the progressive establishment as the current Democratic administration prepares to launch military strikes against more foreign targets risking a wider war in the Middle East is so depressing and disconcerting.
As deeply disturbed I am about Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) recent bizarre and absurd attacks on peace advocates, I am even more distressed about the prospect of a casual stroll into an all out war against Iran in response to the militia attack on U.S. military personnel near the Jordan/Syria border over the weekend, which killed three Americans and wounded dozens more. Why U.S. troops are even there to begin with is a whole other matter.
Since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s invasion of Gaza in response, Biden administration officials and the president himself have repeatedly said they do not want the conflict to spiral out of control in the region. But in response to the attack on U.S. troops at the Jordan/Syria border, President Biden is reportedly considering “striking Iranian personnel in Syria or Iraq or Iranian naval assets in the Persian Gulf” which, if he follows through, could carry with it a tit-for-tat path of escalation that risks spiraling out of control.
Biden and his team are sleepwalking into a direct war in the Middle East, a course of action that will be beyond devastating...
Also, the Biden administration apparently does not see a link between U.S. support for Israel’s carnage in Gaza and the violence in the Red Sea and elsewhere in the region. Instead, Politico reported this week that an unnamed U.S. official “poured cold water on a pair of alternative options the U.S. could take: Reassessing troop deployments in the region and pressuring Israel to end fighting in Gaza, since that’s what has been angering the proxy groups.”
The same report, however, quoted former State Department official and international law expert Brian Finucane saying that “non-military options are likely to be more effective at bringing about an end to attacks on U.S. troops.”
Keep in mind President Biden is already on record saying that recent U.S. strikes targeting the Houthis haven’t been working. Furthermore, Qatar has already reportedly warned that U.S. retaliation to strikes in Jordan could hurt the ongoing hostage negotiations.
There have been some in the progressive foreign policy space offering sober, level-headed progressive approaches on how to diffuse the tension. For example, Matt Duss, former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, has suggested better non-military options like negotiating a new Iran nuclear deal, pushing for a legitimate two-state solution, and conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel. “Ultimately, you need to get to some kind of modus vivendi of which Iran is a part," he said.
Win Without War, a grassroots-focused group that promotes progressive foreign policy, has been on point as usual with their messaging imploring President Biden to change his current course in the Middle East.
But apart from that, there are not many people speaking out from the progressive mainstream and there are very few, if any calls to action.
Meanwhile, many on the right wing are filling the void and talking the most sense about the situation at this moment. For example, Tucker Carlson called Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) “f*cking lunatics” for calling on Biden to attack Iran. Former GOP presidential candidate and now Trump surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy blasted Graham and Nikki Haley for "giddily calling" for war: "It's disgusting & says a lot about the kind of GOP they're trying to recreate," Ramaswamy tweeted. And Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) piled on, asking Graham, "Is there anyone you don't want to bomb?"
This should be a four-alarm fire. If I was at my old job running the political advocacy programs at CREDO Mobile today, emails would be going out lighting up the Capitol Hill switchboards trying to prevent a Democratic president from leaning even further into this maddening military conflict (which is exactly what we did a handful of times during the Obama administration).
Where is the leadership from the Left — leaders at big organizations with outsized email programs and social media assets to deploy?
What is happening? Is there anyone effectively organizing against Biden just casually leading us into another war?
I fully support an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate release of all hostages. Those two outcomes are linked. And, I admire everyone pouring their heart and soul into their advocacy to make that a reality.
But, right now, President Biden and his team are sleepwalking into a direct war in the Middle East, a course of action that will be beyond devastating and one that requires the Left’s urgent attention.
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