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Your Support Urgently Needed for US Senate Joint Resolution on Yemen
Dear WILPF Members,
Please read, take action and distribute as widely and quickly as you can. Our WILPF-US Middle East and DISARM-End Wars issues committees and President Mary Hanson Harrison, on behalf of our US Section, are requesting your action on an urgent issue in the US Senate around the US direct and indirect support for hostile actions being undertaken against Yemen and the Yemeni citizens.
"On Wednesday [February 28, 2018], in a show of bipartisan unity against unauthorized wars of choice, Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) [sic], and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) courageously introduced a Senate joint resolution [S. J. Res. 54] under the War Powers Act, directing President Trump to halt all current U.S. military activities in Yemen.
"If passed, the president would have 30 days to stop U.S. forces and resources from continuing to assist the Saudi-led conflict against the Houthis there." Read more here:
This Senate Joint Resolution invokes Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution, providing that only Congress can declare war, noting that Congress has not declared war for the conflict between military forces, led by Saudi Arabia, including forces from the United Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, and Sudan, who make up The Saudi Coalition against the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, in the Republic of Yemen.
Please call your Senators quickly.
A vote on this Senate Joint Resolution could come as soon as Wednesday, March 7.
We need to stop this use of our tax dollars to target innocent civilians.
This resolution cites other legal points that are problematic, including, but not limited to, the absence of any specific Congressional authorization, as required by the Constitution, for the use of US Armed Forces with respect to the conflict between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis in Yemen, and no provision of law explicitly authorizing US Armed Forces to provide targeting assistance or mid-air refueling services to Saudi or United Arab Emirates warplanes that are engaged in this conflict.
This Senate Joint Resolution directs the President to remove US Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen, except US Armed Forces engaged in operations directed at al Qaeda or associated forces, by no later than the date that is 30 days after the date of the adoption of the Senate Joint Resolution, unless the President requests and Congress authorizes a later date, and unless and until a declaration of war or specific authorization for such use of US Armed Forces has been enacted.
Please call your Senators and state that you support Senate Joint Resolution 54 and ask them to endorse it. And, demand an immediate cease-fire and food and medical help for the Yemeni people.
Connect directly with your Senators by dialing
1-833-StopWar, or
1-833-786-7927, to connect to both of your Senators in a single call.
WILPF-US members have prepared recent background information on Yemen:
Other information you can use when calling includes:
- The US is currently refueling Saudi planes and helping with intelligence in the targeting of bombs.
- The UK is also involved in similar assistance to the Saudi endeavor. This makes us complicit in the continued humanitarian disaster that the Saudis are causing in Yemen.
- Due to US support of Saudi Arabia in its fighting against Yemen, civilians are being impacted in the following ways: An extremely high rate of civilian deaths from bombings and from famine brought about by the closure of borders, and from a massive cholera epidemic due to a lack of medical supplies.
- The United Nations has declared that the conditions in Yemen are "catastrophic," with more than 13,000 civilian deaths, 22.2 million in need of food aid, and 1.1 million suffering from cholera.
Please direct questions to Middle East Issues Committee Co-Chairs
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