There has been a disconnect, particularly among Republicans (although many Democrats are guilty too) between the actions taken and unintended blowback. Republicans, who argue (at least to everyone else) that actions have consequences, seem to forget, or blatantly ignore this when it comes to their own actions.
The last three stories I have just read in the Times all have an element of this. Republicans made it illegal to consider global warming in decisions, so now beach communities in Carolina which never should have been built are being swamped by the rising waters of Florence. The hostile, America-first policies, which did not start with Mr. Trump, although they have been exacerbated by him, have helped create destabilized governments in Latin American, and now we are being flooded with immigrants who will take any risk to escape the horrors in their homelands. We sell powerful weapons to the Saudis, among others, that are used to create humanitarian crises.
There is one common thread in these stories: profit. Developers made millions in North Carolina but now the people who bought properties are having to pay the cost. We have manipulated markets in Central and South America to profit US industry, and we have propped up heinous dictators who will act like friends to us while persecuting their own people. Weapons manufacturers have made millions, if not billions, selling weapons around the world. When will we consider other factors besides profits in our decisions?
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I find it interesting that no one seems to realize, or at least admit, that the Houthi rebels could eliminate civilian casualties by simply ending their rebellion, or minimize them by moving out of the cities. The Saudis are attempting to restore the legitimate government of Yemen after a foreign backed rebellion took it over, yet they are blamed for all the deaths in the war.
I wonder if those making these claims would have been equally outraged by General Sherman's burning of Atlanta, which also cause horrific civilian casualties.
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Cholera will kill many millions. No mention of this in this article, which is a horrific oversight. As Yemen stays economically embattled, and has no drinking water or hospitals or infrastructure, some of which Saudi bombs daily, they will continue to breed terrorists. You can't bomb them into a cooperative stance, you cannot kill them into an open society. A proud moment for the US?
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The Times could do a better job in having its headlines and story content accurately reflect that facts. Pompeo certified only that the Saudi's were taking demonstrable actions to reduce civilian deaths, not that they are doing enough. "Doing enough" seems to be intentionally inflammatory and misleads the readers both as to what certification the Congress required and what statement Pompeo made in response.
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It is tragic that the Trump administration continues to aid and abet the war crimes committed by Saudi Arabia against Yemeni civilians--all in an effort to impose a regime that no one in Yemen wants. Another reason for National Security Advisor John Bolton to insist that the International Criminal Court is "already dead to us."
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Civilians die in wars. Ask the people who were firebombed in Dresden or who were bombed in Hiroshima. The idea that war is a sanitized thing is an illusion.
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@Kathryn Bancroft
The intentional targeting of civilians is wrong.
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Do the children and adults dying of starvation, cholera and bombing accept these excuses? We are complicit if we can't make our representatives stop this horror. It's ironic that when people mourn those killed by the Saudis in 9/11 no one questions why they are now our big buddies.
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Trump has on many occasions displayed no empathy for people in distress. He did however take at least a symbolic action when confronted with pictures of dead and dying children in Syria who were gassed by their own government. Maybe if he sees the photo of graves being dug for children in Yemen it will make him realize that his Saudi friends are also war criminals.
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In all these religious sectarian wars, who is a "civilian" anyway? The semantics we use to discuss war these days is as abstract as is the reasons people fight them. It's all just a cruel game we're now playing with ourselves. Luckily for the people in those graves, they get to stop.
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What a horrific photo. Why is it that the GOP is so determined to save the life of the "unborn" and yet has no compunction about bombing a bus full of school children?
This photo deserves a place on the front page, with a huge headline. Either we are for children, all children, or we are against them. Let Pompeo find an excuse for this excruciating photo.
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The United States is supporting war crimes in Yemen. We must - at the very least - stop active support of the Saudi-UAE war criminals and stop supplying them with weapons to kill civilians. This is a stance that both Democrats and Republicans can get behind. The US support of war crimes started under the Obama administration and has continued into the Trump administration - this is not a partisan political issue.
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The certification requirement is a macabre joke. Congress needs to take much stronger action such as cutting off the military aid to Saudi Arabia that is being used to support these criminal military actions.
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Saudis are padding trump's pockets enough to keep the administration supporting Saudi Arabia & their effort to annihilate Yemenis. The US continues to be party to war crimes & human rights violations all over the world. This is a sad administration & a humiliation of all US citizens. trump's base loves the death & bloodshed of everyone but themselves.
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These attacks on civilians are war crimes and the US should not be supporting their continuation. The Saudi government has fallen into the same trap the US has with our Afghanistan, and Iraq adventures; a political problem cannot be solved using only military power, diplomacy must also be used. Death and destruction are the only things that come from the application of modern military power used without a diplomatic plan to bring the political sides together. As far as certification, wiping out innocent civilians in a misguided attempt to attain a political goal should not be 'certified' by the US after four years of these deadly attacks without a resolution of the civil war in Yemen.
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@Paul Richardson
We are there to counter the Iranian's aggressive actions in Yemen and the region. No one wants civilian deaths, but Iranian control of the area would a terrible outcome. If you think the Iranians are interested in a diplomatic approach, you're naive.
We must do more to ensure civilians are protected. This is horrific.
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@Peggy my question for Pompeo is how are they minimizing civilian deaths when you target a school bus & a school? Those are not military targets. Using US bombs & weapons make us guilty of the death of school children.
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