House Members Block Resolution to End Yemen War
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Bipartisan House and Senate members overwhelmingly support all US wars of aggression – why they’re ongoing endlessly in multiple theaters, notably post-9/11.
Wars and chaos serve Washington’s imperial agenda. Peace and stability defeat it. So do equity and justice at home an abroad.
America is a warrior nation, the way it’s been from inception – first exterminating its native people, then taking on the rest of the world.
The US is unique among history’s warrior states, prioritizing endless wars, not ending them to achieve a new era of peace and stability – serving its military, industrial, security, media complex, including Wall Street, at the expense of ordinary people everywhere.
Yet America’s only enemies are invented ones. Real ones haven’t existed since Nazi Germany and imperial Japan were defeated in 1945.
US war in Yemen has been ongoing almost as long as the one in Afghanistan – because Republicans and undemocratic Dems oppose resolution in all US war theaters.
On Wednesday, House Republicans blocked a resolution to end war in Yemen by ending US military support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Yemen is America’s war, launched by Bush/Cheney, supported by Obama for eight years, by Trump for nearly two years.
The resolution called “Manage Our Wolves Act” included an undemocratic Dem provision on Yemen, solely for political reasons, a grandstanding stunt, not one of conviction.
Washington profiles in courage are practically extinct. Rare exceptions prove the rule.
Dems are as pro-war on humanity as Republicans, unconcerned about the human cost, civilians harmed most in all war theaters – notably in Yemen, famine stalking millions because of endless war and blockade.
Dem Rep. Ro Khanna invoked the 1973 War Powers Act. Enacted to check presidential power to wage war without congressional approval – except under “national emergency (conditions) by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces” it hasn’t worked as intended.
It’s supposed to require presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action, forbidding them from remaining for more than 60 days in combat, a further 30-day withdrawal period granted – no longer without congressional authorization.
Since enacted into law, the measure was repeatedly violated by presidents, ignored by Congress, notably during the rape of Yugoslavia and endless post-9/11 wars of aggression against nations threatening no one.
When presidents take America to war for any reason, the vast majority of congressional members support the action – international, constitutional and US statute laws ignored.
Invoking the War Powers Act on Wednesday gave the Yemen resolution “privileged” status, allowing it to bypass the process involving legislation passing through committees before reaching the House and Senate floor.
Republicans stripped the resolution of status. Khanna was over the top calling the action “unprecedented in American history,” adding:
“What the majority is saying is that if the president of the United States and the speaker believe we should be in war, we should be at war.”
It’s how it’s largely been since WW II – with overwhelming bipartisan support. Both right wings of America’s one-party state support endless wars of aggression – including in Yemen for over 17 years.
The notion that Dems are concerned about Yemeni suffering and deaths flies in the face of their abhorrence of peace and stability anywhere – the same as Republicans.
The last US president against war, wanting all US forces out of Vietnam, was assassinated by the CIA. Jack Kennedy’s transformation from warrior to peacemaker cost him his life.
It’s a lesson not lost on successors. Go along with imperial wars or end up like JFK.
They all supported and continue to support endless US wars of aggression against nations threatening no one.
Khanna represents the strongly Dem California 17th congressional district – elected in November 2016, reelected on November 6, earlier serving as Obama’s deputy assistant Commerce Department secretary, supporting his regime’s imperial agenda.
It included terror-bombing seven countries, including Yemen. Khanna’s call for ending war in Yemen belies his earlier support – including for US naked aggression in multiple other theaters, likely supporting them now.
The vast majority of congressional members back Washington’s imperial agenda – why there’s no prospect of ending US wars.
Khanna was less than candid, saying “(t)here’s not a single American who wouldn’t want the violence to end,” adding:
“I plead with my Republican colleagues. Please vote no on this resolution. Let’s have a debate. Let’s have a debate about the starvation and the killing going on there and do the right thing for our Constitution and our world.”
Most Americans are ignorant about US wars, where they’re waged and why. Virtually no anti-war movement exists.
On cable television where most Americans get no news/news, there’s practically no coverage of US imperial wars. When there is, it’s all propaganda all the time, leaving viewers disinformed and unaware of what’s going on.
Khanna’s alleged concern about what’s going on in Yemen rings disturbingly hollow.
What about the starving, suffering people in all other nations Washington continues to rape and destroy!
What about long-suffering Palestinians, especially terror-bombed Gazan, longstanding victims of Israeli apartheid viciousness!
What about lawless US sanctions on Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Syria and other countries!
What about bipartisan congressional support for wanting virtually all sovereign independent governments forcefully replaced by pro-Western puppet rule!
What about undeclared homeland war against unwanted aliens, Muslims, and America’s most vulnerable citizens by punishing neoliberal harshness and raging inner city battlegrounds – claiming over 100,000 lives annually.
America’s agenda in Yemen is one similar others in many other countries.
The key issue virtually no one in Congress will touch is ending all US wars of aggression, not one alone, even figures like Khanna have no credibility urging because of his support for Washington’s imperial agenda.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
