UNICEF recently reported a grim milestone in Yemen: 10,000 children have been killed or maimed as a result of the Saudi and Emirati-led war.
And yet President Biden — who ran on a commitment to END U.S. complicity in Yemen — just announced a $650 MILLION dollar sale of Raytheon-made missiles to Saudi Arabia. With this sale, Biden is breaking his promise to us and doing the exact OPPOSITE of what the UN and other experts tell us would avoid further devastation: fueling this war with more weapons.
For over *six* years now, the United States has given the green light to human rights abuses and suffering in Yemen by fueling fighter jets, providing intelligence and logistical support, and approving arms sales just like this one.
Luckily, there’s a silver lining that can help us turn the tide. Rep. Ro Khanna and Senator Bernie Sanders have introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would prohibit U.S. military support for the coalition’s war. It already passed the House and when the final NDAA makes it to President Biden, he’s all but guaranteed to sign it.
That means just ONE thing is between us and the beginning of the end of U.S. complicity in Yemen: the Senate. And we’re hearing that they’ll vote in the coming days — leaving a tiny but critical window for us to ensure the Khanna-Sanders amendment makes it into the final bill that lands on President Biden’s desk. It’ll be an uphill battle, and we need you with us.
We REFUSE to let hawks in the Senate blow up a bipartisan effort to end U.S. complicity in Yemen when we are so close. A donation of $15 ensures we have the cash on hand that we need to keep the lights on and the pressure up. Not everyone reading will give, and if you can, please consider donating now.
Speaking to the UN Security Council a few weeks ago, the UN deputy humanitarian chief Ramesh Rajasingham shared that not only is Yemen’s economy collapsing but that the Saudi- and Emirati-fueled conflict is also growing more violent.
The U.S. government remains directly culpable for helping fuel the suffering. And every day that we avoid the consequences of our culpability, more people are pushed closer to the brink of death.
We thought we’d won a huge victory when President Biden announced he’d end “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arm sales” earlier this year.
But we’ve seen anything but. With the latest arms sale to Saudi Arabia and September’s $500 million maintenance package for Saudi helicopters, it’s clear we have work to do to make the Biden administration do the right thing: when we say we want U.S. military involvement and support to end, we mean ALL U.S. military involvement and support.
The Khanna-Sanders NDAA amendment is a critical and positive step toward ending U.S. complicity, and we’ve got to do everything we can to make sure that it passes the Senate and gets to President Biden’s desk.
That’s why we’re ramping up our work — hopping on the phone, in chat, and on Zoom, day in and day out — to make sure our message is heard loud and clear in every senator’s office. We need you with us.
A donation of $15 ensures we have the cash on hand that we need to keep the lights on and the pressure up. Less than 1% of those reading will give, and if you can, please consider donating now.
Thank you for working for peace,
Amy, Faith, Kate, and the Win Without War team
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