I first wrote about Syria 11 months ago in a My Turn piece on Nov. 22, decrying the xenophobia, racism and unwarranted fear exemplified by a petition to Gov. David Ige to “pause immigration to Hawaii.” I noted that one champion of that paranoid agenda was Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who one week earlier had declared a Syrian refugee family unwelcome in his state, even though they had spent more than two years in a refugee camp being thoroughly vetted. Small wonder he has since become the running mate of fear-monger-in-chief, Donald Trump. Meanwhile, we have seen the horrors being inflicted on Syrian civilians by the Assad regime and their Russian allies as well as by the U.S. and Saudi supported rebels. On Oct. 7, Secretary of State John Kerry called for a war crimes investigation into the relentless Syrian and Russian attacks on Aleppo, declaring them “inexcusable” and “beyond the pale.”
I first wrote about Syria 11 months ago in a My Turn piece on Nov. 22, decrying the xenophobia, racism and unwarranted fear exemplified by a petition to Gov. David Ige to “pause immigration to Hawaii.” I noted that one champion of that paranoid agenda was Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who one week earlier had declared a Syrian refugee family unwelcome in his state, even though they had spent more than two years in a refugee camp being thoroughly vetted. Small wonder he has since become the running mate of fear-monger-in-chief, Donald Trump. Meanwhile, we have seen the horrors being inflicted on Syrian civilians by the Assad regime and their Russian allies as well as by the U.S. and Saudi supported rebels. On Oct. 7, Secretary of State John Kerry called for a war crimes investigation into the relentless Syrian and Russian attacks on Aleppo, declaring them “inexcusable” and “beyond the pale.”
However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a Russian TV channel, “I believe Kerry used all these terms with a view to escalating the situation. If the matter concerns war crimes, American representatives should start with Iraq. And then switch to Libya and certainly to Yemen to see what (happened) there. What I want to say is that it’s very dangerous to juggle such words because American officials also carry war crimes on their shoulders.”
It seems likely that the citizens of Yemen would agree. Two days after Kerry’s remarks, on Oct. 9, Saudi pilots flying American made jets that are regularly aerially refueled by American tankers, dropped two American made bombs on a funeral home in Sana full of civilians. A picture from the rubble posted by a lawyer in Yemen shows a label marked “FOR USE ON MK82 FIN, GUIDED BOMB 996214ASSY837760-4.” My research indicates that the warhead is produced by General Dynamics with a guidance system made by Raytheon. Both are American weapons manufacturers. There were 155 men, women and children killed and hundreds more wounded. This is merely the most recent atrocity in the Saudi led, U.S.-backed war on Yemen.
U.S. officials have previously expressed concerns over American complicity in war crimes. The day after the bombing, Reuters reported, “The Obama administration went ahead with a $1.3 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia last year despite warnings from some officials that the United States could be implicated in war crimes for supporting a Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians, according to government documents and the accounts of current and former officials.” The report continues, “U.S. government lawyers ultimately did not reach a conclusion on whether U.S. support for the campaign would make the United States a ‘co-belligerent’ in the war under international law … That finding would have obligated Washington to investigate allegations of war crimes in Yemen and would have raised a legal risk that U.S. military personnel could be subject to prosecution.”
Instead of curtailing its support for the murderous campaign, the Obama Administration announced its intention to sell the notoriously brutal and repressive Saudi monarchy $60 billion worth of arms over the next several years, including a $1.15 billion sale in September. To Hawaii’s credit, Sen. Brian Schatz co-sponsored a bill to block the sale and Sen. Mazie Hirono supported Schatz. Our Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, is an original co-sponsor of the companion bill in the House and issued a press release on Sept. 21 condemning the Saudis dropping of “cluster bombs and other munitions targeting hospitals, schools, markets, places of worship, and other non-military facilities in Yemen, killing over 3,700 civilians so far. The U.S. must stop arming Saudi Arabia, stop fueling this fire, and hold Saudi Arabia accountable for their actions.”
What if America were to be held accountable? I put the question to Congresswoman Gabbard via email and received this powerful response:
“The hypocrisy of U.S. support for Saudi Arabia in Yemen, while simultaneously criticizing Russia and Syria for war crimes in Syria, is only the tip of the iceberg of the hypocrisy that exists within our counterproductive Middle East policy. The first thing the U.S. must do is stop supporting Saudi Arabia and Turkey in their fight for supremacy in the region, and the resulting devastation and lives lost.
“Our support for Saudi Arabia’s military action in Yemen has resulted in immense human suffering and large-scale civilian casualties, including women and children. Additionally, our spending billions of dollars, along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to arm, train, and fund so-called moderate rebels trying to overthrow the Syrian government of Assad has caused devastating loss of life, forced millions of Syrians to flee their homes, and strengthened groups like ISIS and al- Qaeda that have declared war on America.
“Setting aside the potential legal implications of our support for Saudi Arabia’s military action in Yemen, and in Syria, it’s simply wrong. It’s wrong for the U.S. to ally itself with a country and people that are providing ‘clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region’ like al-Qaeda.
“In addition to introducing legislation that would stop the U.S. from arming Saudi Arabia, I have introduced legislation that would end our support for the counterproductive regime change war in Syria that we have been waging alongside Saudi Arabia and Turkey.”
It’s doubtful that the legal implications will be addressed any time soon, but noteworthy that Bush, Cheney and others have elected not to travel abroad where they might be arrested for their crimes. Meanwhile, thank you, Tulsi! If only you had been Secretary of State or Defense for the past eight years.
Jake Jacobs is a 747 pilot for a worldwide cargo company who lives in Kailua-Kona and writes a monthly column for West Hawaii Today.