US Support for Saudis Highlight Trump’s Indifference to Human Rights, Says Analyst
The US government’s support for Saudi Arabia in its brutal war against Yemen highlights that Washington and Riyadh threaten human rights and are indifferent to human suffering, says an American analyst.
“Human rights matter for the United States as rhetorical device to allow intervention in various countries’ affairs,” said Don DeBar, a political commentator and radio host in New York.
“Does the United States care about human rights? Certainly their alliance with the Saudis in an illegal war on Yemen indicates not,” DeBar told Press TV on Tuesday.
Men and women have no rights in Saudi Arabia and a small group in the country controls everything, the analyst added.
Amnesty International has compiled a list of 100 ways the Trump administration has threatened human rights in the US and around the world.
Washington has been providing military support for Saudi Arabia in the form of of mid-air refueling flights and targeting intelligence.
The US military has provided refueling services to some 10,400 aircraft in that region, according to data provided by military.com on October 9.
But in Congress, opposition to the US support for the Saudi war is growing. Lawmakers recently introduced a constitutional resolution to withdraw all US support for the war.
House Representative Ro Khanna is working on a legislation to end the US military’s involvement in the deadly aggression.
Speaking to Democracy Now! in an interview published on Monday, the California Democrat said US military support for Riyadh had never been approved by lawmakers.
“Unfortunately, we have been aiding Saudi Arabia. We have been fueling the Saudi—refueling Saudi planes. We’ve been assisting Saudi Arabia with targeting. And none of this has been approved by the United States Congress,” said Khanna.
While the US military started helping the Saudi-led conflict under command of then President Barack Obama, the cooperation grew dramatically larger under the administration of President Donald Trump.
Trump secured major arms deals with the oil-rich kingdom during a trip in May.
Latest tallies show that the imposed war has so far killed over 12,000 Yemenis and wounded thousands more. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.
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