WASHINGTON — The State Department and the Defense Department have failed to assess civilian casualties caused by a Saudi-led coalition in the catastrophic war in Yemen and the use of American-made weapons in the killings, according to an internal government report.
The report from the Government Accountability Office focuses on attacks in recent years by a Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Houthi rebels for control of Yemen. The alliance has carried out deadly strikes using combat jets and munitions that have been supplied and maintained largely by American companies with the approval of the State Department and the Pentagon.
The report spans the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, covering the period from 2015, when the war against the Houthis began, to 2021. It is the second major report by a U.S. agency that lays out government shortcomings in preventing civilian casualties in Yemen. In August 2020, the State Department inspector general issued a report that said the department had failed to take proper measures to reduce civilian deaths…
Officials said the main finding in the new report was that the State Department and the Pentagon have failed to collect sufficient data and evidence on civilian casualties or monitor the use of American-made weapons…
The strikes have hit hospitals, schools, buses and a funeral hall, among other sites. On Jan. 21, an airstrike on a prison run by the Houthis killed at least 70 people and injured dozens of others, according to Houthi officials and international aid groups.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the war, including nearly 15,000 civilians, according to an estimate by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The conflict has resulted in what the United Nations has called the worst man-made humanitarian crisis.
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from the above,
The Yemen has been a den of iniquity for how long now??
Anyone know what is going on here, is it the usual jihadis getting wiped out after attacking others? Doesn’t sound like an invasion as in Ukraine.
The common thread in all of these is geopolitics.
Soviet-Taliban War (US aids Taliban)
Iran-Iraq War (US aids Iraq)
Iraq-Kuwait War (US aids Kuwait)
US-Taliban War (Russia aids Taliban)
Saudi-Houthi War (US aids Saudi, Iran aids Houthis)
Ukraine-Russia War (US aids Ukraine)
Another example is the Italy-Greece War of 1940-41, which was fascists fighting facists. The UK helped Greece, again that was simple self interest for the UK.
All entirely logical in that the US is furthering US geopolitical interest, no different from any time in the last century. The US loves the Putin distraction for precisely the same reason: that it furthers US interest by weakening a nuclear-armed rival who is also a tacit ally of their current main enemy China.
The primary difference here is Trump managed to inhibit Putin by intimidation, whereas Biden and Obama were seen by Vlad as weak. All those Obama red lines in Syria. Same thing in the Iraq-Kuwait War when the US Ambassador gave Hussein the impression that the US wouldn’t oppose Iraqi interest in obtaining their “19th Province”. Very expensive mistake.
While I think the whole lot is immoral baddie-on-baddie stuff, I also am a realist to expect this behaviour to continue until our Lord returns. Goes with the fallenness of humanity.
My understanding was that the US supplied both sides, although with some more open encouragement towards Iraq … Saddam Hussein was their boy from the get go.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/revealed-how-the-west-set-saddam-on-the-bloody-road-to-power-1258618.html
The Soviets also supported both sides but then decided they wanted to maintain balance of power in the region and ensured Iraq would not lose, even if they could not beat Iran. The whole thing came down to the big European powers encouraging Muslims to smash other Muslims … which on the whole does not require too much encouragement.
Then again, you could say the same about Slavic people smashing other Slavic people in the Donbas right now.
That’s a 90% success rate for killing baddies. A pretty astounding result for Muslims, who usually have no compunction at all about killing civvies.
Well done Saudi Arabia. 135,000 dead jihadis. The world is a better place.
Abso-bloody-lutely Jupes.
The Iranian backed fucking Houthi filth have been indiscriminately killing other Yemeni tribes people let alone Saudi people for over 15 years that I know about.
These are the arzholes that bombed and sank US Navy craft and are the same arzholes as Somalians and Nigerians!
But John Kerry will broker a Nuclear Deal with Iran?
Look over there Putin the bastard!
https://freebeacon.com/columns/the-iran-crisis-is-here/
Yes, when you want to combat terrorism, the Saudis are your go-to ally.
Nah. By creating a war in Ukraine, the US has strengthened a mega-alliance between a nation that should have been courted into European geo-political normality and China. It’s one of the worst blunders in history. Ample warnings against precisely this policy were made by the men of the Reagan and Bush Sr administrations. Plus, Russia is not being weakened. The Western world is.
LOL C.L.
Every bloody family is a tribe run by a warlord.
Supposedly the flogs behind the Biden Clown Face are cool towards the Saudis, neo-cons gotta con.
Saudi Arabia funds the Jihadis.
The figures are also lies, the Saudis are murdering civilians and counting them as enemy fighters.
The figures are also lies, the Saudis are murdering civilians and counting them as enemy fighters.
Dickless Ed, our man on the spot, has personally checked the corpses!
America overthrew Sunnis in Iraq and gave the country to the Shiites. Now they’re helping Sunnis kill the Shiites in Yemen – as if the Sunnis are the ‘goodies.’ At the same time, the US State Department is doing its best to ensure Iran gets nuclear weapons so it can lord it over the Kingdom and Israel.
Makes a lot of sense.
It makes no sense, of course. Yemen is simply a commercial opportunity for the US arms manufacturers who control Washington and own politicians on both sides of the Congressional aisle.
CL – The US State Department is a festering pesthole of lefties. They’re no friend of Israel, and must’ve been ropable about Trump and Jared getting up the Abraham Accords.
Again re Yemen the geopolitical issue was that Saudi was teetering under Iranian pressure. The Saudis use their air force and artillery because their army guys will not fight other muslims, especially not ones they regard as holy warriors for Allah. Saudi officers have sufficient control over air force pilots and artillery batteries to get them to fire shells and drop bombs from a distance. But they have been using ramshackle mercenaries, especially from Sudan, for anything on the ground. With results exactly as you expect. Early on in the war it was looking like the Houthis, who have no such compunctions about shooting muslims who they regard as infidels, would romp into Jeddah.
If Iran had succeeded in overturning the House of Saud the mess in the ME would be several orders of magnitude worse. So there’s that.
As to the Iranian nuke thing, that ain’t good. On the other hand the Israelis aren’t known for being incompetent, so I suspect they have stuff in the works. But they have to keep Biden and his backers sufficiently sweet until he and they are out of the picture. It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out.
C.L. says:
11 June, 2022 at 9:39 am
Yemen is simply a commercial opportunity for the US arms manufacturers who control Washington and own politicians on both sides of the Congressional aisle.
Remember watching some TV show round 1970 that followed a helicopter gun ship for one month. The figure that stuck in my mind was the $1,000,000 of ordnance the helicopter & crew fired. And that was 1970 dollars.
There’s big dollars in war…too bad about the “collateral damage”
Oh, meant to say I agree entirely with the arms manufacturers thing. They’re upping Javelin and restarting (iirc) Stinger production. There’ll be huge pressure for all kinds of stuff to be produced asap. Quite yummy if you are of the military-industrial complex. It’s fun that the Democrats historically were always so hyperbolic about the dreaded MIC, yet now they’re the firmest of buddies.
Bruce of Newcastle says:
11 June, 2022 at 10:27 am
.…It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out.
My best guess is “Biblical”
Boom boom, Tony. Am I allowed to say that? (It’s a very Strangelovian world we live in right now.)
They will probably need to take this down … but for the time being we have a link to Reuters news service.
https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/UKRAINE-CRISIS-KHARKIV-STRIKE-RC2PNU9IU887.html
Zoom in the picture and take a close look at his arm tattoo. Sheesh we live in a topsy turvy world these days.
Tel – they’re only Garage Nastis