TELL THE SENATE: CUT OFF U.S. SUPPORT FOR THE WAR IN YEMEN

Yemen petition branded

Last Updated on February 2, 2021.

SUMMARY

Since March 2015, the United States has supported a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the civil war in Yemen. The coalition’s destruction of schools and hospitals, indiscriminate targeting of civilians, and use of starvation as a weapon of war has created the conditions necessary for Yemen to become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Coalition airstrikes are the leading cause of civilian casualties and the coalition’s blockade of food, medicine, and other essential basic goods have contributed to putting more than 8 MILLION people on the brink of starvation. The destruction of vital civilian infrastructure has facilitated the largest and fastest growing cholera outbreak ever documented in modern history.

Congress has never authorized America’s involvement in this war in Yemen, yet for almost three years the United States has literally fueled the conflict and the suffering of Yemeni civilians by providing mid-air refueling to coalition jets, sharing intelligence for targeting assistance, and selling weapons to the Saudi-led coalition – all assistance that is used in the coalition’s bombing campaign that has killed thousands of civilians and directly contributed to the humanitarian crisis. It’s time for the Senate to end this unauthorized war in Yemen once and for all.

Thanks to a massive movement of grassroots activists speaking out against this un-American and unconstitutional war, we expect a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce a war powers resolution on Yemen to pull the plug on U.S. involvement in this unconstitutional war, and force a vote on the Senate floor in March.

This legislation will be our best chance to end America’s role in this devastating war,push for peace, and help alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.  

TOWNHALL SAMPLE QUESTIONS

  • You represent us and are our voice in Washington DC. Would you support legislation to cut off unauthorized U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war and humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen?
  • In your Congressional oversight role, what will you do to end unauthorized US assistance for Saudi Arabia’s disastrous intervention in Yemen, a country devastated by starvation and disease, and where a child dies every ten minutes because of the war? Can I count on you to support legislation that would cut off unauthorized U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen?

MESSAGING POINTS

The expected legislation to cut U.S. support for the Saudi-led military coalition will be our best chance to fully end U.S. involvement in this unconstitutional war and humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.

  • The resolution would end U.S. refueling of and intelligence-sharing for coalition warplanes conducting aerial bombings in Yemen – activities that are the leading cause of civilian casualties in the war according to the United Nations.  
  • Ending unauthorized U.S. military support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen would curtail further Yemeni civilian casualties in U.S.-supported airstrikes by slowing the current tempo of the air campaign.
  • The resolution also provides an opportunity for Congress to reassert its war powers authority and end a clearly unconstitutional war that is threatening the lives of millions of Yemeni civilians.

The United States’ involvement in the war in Yemen has never been authorized and Congress must debate and vote on this unconstitutional war as soon as possible.

  • Congress has never authorized America’s involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
  • Neither the 2001 nor 2002 AUMF authorize U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
  • Because the expected legislation invokes the War Powers Resolution (WPR) of 1973, which was passed in the wake of Vietnam to empower Congress as the sole body that can declare war, it will be guaranteed a vote on the Senate floor.

The U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen has resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

  • With United States support, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are deliberately using starvation as a weapon of war in Yemen and allowing diphtheria and cholera to ravage the country.

American taxpayer dollars should not be funding senseless human suffering in Yemen.

  • For years, American taxpayer dollars are literally fueling Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s brutal campaign in Yemen where US-supported airstrikes are implicated in war crimes.
  • American taxpayer dollars could be better prioritized by keeping the lights on in Puerto Rico, funding community health centers, or fully funding U.S. diplomacy and humanitarian assistance programs, which are key tools for resolving and preventing conflicts such as the civil war in Yemen.
February 22, 2018