Senators Seeking To Shoot Down Yemen Bill Were Paid By Saudi Lobbyists…(Just Now Can Get On The Computer! 10:46…)
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Thu, 11/29/2018
Prior to the Oct. 2 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of a Saudi assassination squad — which the CIA believes was on direct orders of crown prince MbS himself — a tiny segment of the American public had likely never heard of the deep Pentagon role in executing the Saudi war on Yemen, which has raged since 2015.
But after Khashoggi’s brutal slaying, the mainstream media suddenly “discovered” what the U.N. has called the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis”. The handful of Senators who’ve long fought to end the U.S. role in the war, however, might now be thinking better late than never as on Wednesday in a hugely important 63-37 victory, the Senate agreed to finally move forward with a full floor debate over the legality of America’s involvement in the conflict.
Crucially, Congress never actually authorized the US joining the war, which is the prime legal challenge the Senate will consider, and this could have huge repercussions in other unauthorized combat theaters such as Syria, where the Pentagon maintains thousands of troops occupying an area of eastern Syria that’s about the size of Croatia, despite Congress never voting to take such action in another UN-member’s sovereign territory.
The legal challenge that the Senate will now move forward to consider is built around the War Powers Resolution (WPR), which was designed to prevent the president from unilaterally placing US troops in harm’s way, and the post-9/11 AUMF (the 17-year old authorization for use of military force) — which every administration since 2001 has invoked to defend their military adventurism abroad.
Prior to the vote, Secretaries of State and Defense Mike Pompeo and James Mattis argued in a closed-door session against severing ties with the Saudis in the midst of the Yemen campaign. Predictably, the reasons centered around the “necessity” of combating Iran and the “stability” that Saudi Arabia supposedly brings to the region.
The Rest…HERE
