After almost a year of civil war, the conflicting forces in Yemen sat down on December 15 in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the prospect of finding a political solution to the conflict that has been raging since March 2015. While this is a necessary step towards ending the violence that has killed thousands, crippled infrastructure and led to a critical humanitarian crisis, the peace talks should include a mechanism for rebuilding this impoverished nation. Saudi Arabia, which is responsible for most of the destruction with its relentless bombings, should be forced to pay for the terrible damage it has wrought. So should the United States.<\/p>\n
The U.S. involvement in the Yemen crisis can be summed up in four words: allegiance to Saudi Arabia. The United States\u2019 problematic relationship with Saudi Arabia goes all the way back to World War II, when US officials started to see Saudi\u2019s oil as a strategic advantage. Since then, the US has blindly supported the Kingdom in almost every political and economic effort, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is an ultraconservative Islamic monarchy rife with human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
“Saudi Arabia\u2019s involvement in Yemen has only destroyed lives and created a state of total chaos, and the US government is complicit in the carnage.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When the Houthis, a Shia rebel group from northern Yemen, took over the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in January 2015 and forced Sunni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi into exile, Saudi Arabia formed an Arab Gulf states coalition to fight against the Houthis. Naturally, the US agreed to support<\/a> its close ally in its endeavor to \u2018reinstate order\u2019 in Yemen by providing intelligence, weaponry and midair refueling, as well as sending US warships to help enforce a blockade in the Gulf of Aden and southern Arabian Sea. The blockade was allegedly to prevent weapons shipments from Iran to the Houthis, but it also stopped humanitarian aid shipments to beleaguered Yemeni citizens. The American CIA and military intelligence are also on the ground<\/a> in Yemen, providing targeting and other logistical support, and Uncle Sam\u2019s drones are constantly flying overhead, sending intel to the Saudis.<\/p>\n Since then, the coalition has carried out indiscriminate airstrikes and bombings throughout the country, often targeting<\/a> highly populated civilian areas<\/a>. As of late September, the U.N. had documented<\/a> that the war had killed 2,355 civilians and wounded 4,862, the majority of cases as a result of coalition airstrikes. The Saudi-led military intervention has created a humanitarian crisis that has left over 75% of Yemen\u2019s population (21 million people<\/a>) in urgent need of immediate aid. Millions of people<\/a> have been forced out of their homes and left without water or electricity, as the country\u2019s infrastructure continues to disintegrate. <\/p>\n The US is the main supplier of these weapons being used to carpet bomb Yemen. Cluster munitions, which are sold to Saudi Arabia by an American company called Textron<\/a>, have been used in several coalition strikes. These horrific bombs constitute a particular danger to civilians because of their wide area of effect and the fact that unexploded bomblets can remain hazardous for decades after their deployment, which is why they are banned in over 115 countries. \u201cSaudi-led cluster munition airstrikes have been hitting areas near villages, putting local people in danger,\u201d said Steve Goose<\/a>, arms director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThese weapons should never be used under any circumstances. Saudi Arabia and other coalition members \u2013 and the supplier, the US \u2013 are flouting the global standard that rejects cluster munitions because of their long-term threat to civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n The United States\u2019 direct role in coordinating Saudi air operations also makes the United States complicit in war crimes. \u201cThe US government is well aware of the Saudi-led coalition\u2019s indiscriminate air attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians in Yemen,\u201d said Joe Stork<\/a>, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cProviding the Saudis with more bombs under these circumstances is a recipe for greater civilian deaths, for which the US will be partially responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n To make matters worse, the terrible conditions on the ground have led to the strengthening of extremist terrorist groups that will inevitably plague that nation for years to come. The local Al Qaeda branch, Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (also known as AQAP), formed in 2009, has exploited the present conflict and increased recruiting efforts<\/a>. The current political and security vacuum has also opened the way for the appearance of a branch of ISIL<\/a>, which has been carrying out deadly attacks on Shiite mosques<\/a> and positioning itself as even more aggressive than AQAP. Some fear that AQAP and ISIL recruitment efforts might lead to competition between both radical groups<\/a>, which could mean even more attacks around the country as the groups try to upstage one another.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia\u2019s involvement in Yemen has only destroyed lives and created a state of total chaos, and the US government is complicit in the carnage. Both nations should, as part of the peace process, be forced to pay reparations for the tremendous damage their bombs have inflicted.<\/p>\n The Yemen crisis should also serve as a prime moment for the US to reconsider its alliance the Saudi regime, a regime that not only denies human rights to its own people but exports death and destruction abroad. An upcoming activist-based Saudi Summit,<\/a> which will be held in Washington DC on March 5-6<\/span>, is an effort to build a campaign to support challenge this toxic relationship.<\/p>\n Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of the peace group CODEPINK<\/a> and the human rights group Global Exchange<\/a>. She is the author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After almost a year of civil war, the conflicting forces in Yemen sat down on December 15 in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the prospect of finding a political solution to the conflict that has been raging since March 2015. 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