Public Comment

In a perverse twist to its stated reason for promoting “stability within the region," the U.S. continues to sell large numbers of weapons to Saudi Arabia, (a staggering $110 billion) — which the Saudis have been raining down on a predominantly civilian population in Yemen. President Obama bypassed Congress to facilitate the sales.

The State Department recently approved an additional $1.5 billion in arms sales. Our British and European cousins are also jumping on the bandwagon eager to participate in the bonanza.

Despite clear marking and GPS coordinates provided to the warring factions, a Doctors Without Borders hospital was recently attacked - again, killing medical personnel, patients, and civilians.  

The attack on DWB and their support facilities was the fourth attack in the past year. The war has killed 6,500 people and displaced 2.5 million. We also continue to ignore mounting evidence of Saudi’s close alliance to terrorist groups (including the perpetrators of 9/11) and its long history of exporting its Wahhabism strain of Sunni Islam which has fueled greater intolerance of “non-believers”. Daniel Benjamin, a former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, has called Wahhabism "a devastating invasive species in Islam's enormous ecosystem”. 

It is time the American people raise their collective voices and demand an immediate halt to further weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. Failure to do so will make us complicit in Saudi’s war crimes. 

As Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut told CNN: “There’s an American imprint on every civilian life lost in Yemen.” Shameful.