URGENT UPDATE: VOTE on Yemen Today

Today, November 14, the U.S. House will consider H.Res. 1142, the “rule” bill allowing for debate on HR 6784, which removes the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act.

The House Rules Committee inserted a provision declaring that “the War Powers Act does not apply to H.Con.Res. 138,” which directs the president to cease all hostile actions in Yemen. This provision removes the resolution’s “privileged” status, so if the rule passes, House leadership will be able to delay a vote indefinitely.

The Rules Committee is called the “Speaker’s Committee,” so Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions would not slip this provision in without the support of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Campaign for Liberty members should call their Representatives immediately and tell them to vote no on H.R. 1142.

Here is the text of a “Dear Colleague” letter sent to every member of Congress by Representatives Thomas Massie and Walter Jones:

Dear Colleague:

We write to urge you to support a full debate and a vote on U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen. Congress has never authorized the U.S. military’s participation in this Saudi-led war, which began under President Obama in 2015 and includes targeting assistance and fueling for airstrikes.

In order to demand a vote on this war, we have introduced the bipartisan H. Con. Res. 138, a privileged resolution introduced pursuant to the War Powers Resolution of 1973. H. Con. Res. 138 would end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in the Saudi-led conflict within 30 days unless this military involvement is approved by Congress. Despite our efforts, the Rules committee has inserted language into HR 1142 that would “de-privilege” our resolution and deny us a vote.

In the wake of the killing of Saudi dissident and American permanent legal resident Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump argued on October 23rd that “there has to be some kind of retribution,” and that “I’m going to leave it very much, in conjunction with me, up to Congress.” Mr. Khashoggi was a prominent critic of the Saudi-led war in Yemen and had called for its end.

Pursuant to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress alone has the authority to determine whether the United States shall use offensive military force. As James Madison wrote, “In no part of the Constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department.”

We therefore urge you to oppose this rule, which serves only to obstruct our constitutional right to decide questions regarding the use of military force, and tampers with the expedited consideration and privileged status of H. Con. Res. 138. Vote “no” on HR 1142.

Here is Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul on the U.S. involvement in Yemen:

Why Are We Helping Saudi Arabia Destroy Yemen?

POSTED BY Ron Paul November 20, 2017

It’s remarkable that whenever you read an article about Yemen in the mainstream media, the central role of Saudi Arabia and the United States in the tragedy is glossed over or completely ignored. A recent Washington Post article purporting to tell us “how things got so bad” explains to us that, “it’s a complicated story” involving “warring regional superpowers, terrorism, oil, and an impending climate catastrophe.”

No, Washington Post, it’s simpler than that. The tragedy in Yemen is the result of foreign military intervention in the internal affairs of that country. It started with the “Arab Spring” which had all the fingerprints of State Department meddling, and it escalated with 2015’s unprovoked Saudi attack on the country to re-install Riyadh’s preferred leader. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and millions more are at risk as starvation and cholera rage.

We are told that US foreign policy should reflect American values. So how can Washington support Saudi Arabia – a tyrannical state with one of the worst human rights record on earth – as it commits by what any measure is a genocide against the Yemeni people? The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs warned just last week that Yemen faces “the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims.” The Red Cross has just estimated that a million people are vulnerable in the cholera epidemic that rages through Yemen.

And why is there a cholera epidemic? Because the Saudi government – with US support – has blocked every port of entry to prevent critical medicine from reaching suffering Yemenis. This is not a war. It is cruel murder.

The United States is backing Saudi aggression against Yemen by cooperating in every way with the Saudi military. Targeting, intelligence, weapons sales, and more. The US is a partner in Saudi Arabia’s Yemen crimes.

Does holding hands with Saudi Arabia as it slaughters Yemeni children really reflect American values? Is anyone even playing attention?

The claim that we are fighting al-Qaeda in Yemen and thus our involvement is covered under the post-9/11 authorization for the use of force is without merit. In fact it has been reported numerous times in the mainstream media that US intervention on behalf of the Saudis in Yemen is actually a boost to al-Qaeda in the country. Al-Qaeda is at war with the Houthis who had taken control of much of the country because the Houthis practice a form of Shi’a Islam they claim is tied to Iran. We are fighting on the same side as al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Adding insult to injury, the US Congress can’t be bothered to even question how we got so involved in a war that has nothing to do with us. A few conscientious Members of Congress got together recently to introduce a special motion under the 1973 War Powers Act that would have required a vote on our continued military involvement in the Yemen genocide. The leadership of both parties joined together to destroy this attempt to at least get a vote on US aggression against Yemen. As it turns out, the only Members to vote against this shamefully gutted resolution were the original Members who introduced it. This is bipartisanship at its worst.

US involvement in Saudi Arabia’s crimes against Yemen is a national disgrace. That the mainstream media fails to accurately cover this genocide is shameful. Let us join our voices now to demand that our US Representatives end US involvement in Yemen immediately!