{"id":84818,"date":"2021-09-19T10:06:50","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T14:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=84818"},"modified":"2021-09-19T10:07:41","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T14:07:41","slug":"biden-betrays-americas-promise-not-to-support-saudi-arabias-massacre-in-yemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=84818","title":{"rendered":"Biden Betrays America&#8217;s Promise Not To Support Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Massacre in Yemen"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Anti-War Voices Blast Biden Over &#8216;Absurd&#8217; $500 Million Saudi Military Contract<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By Brett Wilkins<br \/>\nCommon Dreams<\/p>\n<p>Peace and human rights\u00a0advocates on Friday accused President Joe Biden of\u00a0<strong>breaking his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/02\/04\/day-peace-activists-have-been-waiting-biden-vows-curb-us-support-saudi-led-war-yemen\">promise<\/a>\u00a0to end American support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen\u00a0<\/strong>after the US\u00a0State Department approved a potential agreement to provide half a billion dollars worth of support services to the Middle East monarchy known for its pervasive human rights abuses and military atrocities.<\/p>\n<p>In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dsca.mil\/press-media\/major-arms-sales\/saudi-arabia-continuation-maintenance-support-services-mss-0\">statement<\/a>, the State Department said Thursday that the proposed\u00a0<strong>$500 million maintenance support services contract<\/strong>\u2014which will serve the Saudi military&#8217;s fleet of AH-64D\/E, UH-60L, UH-60M, Schweizer 333, and Bell 406CS helicopters, as well as the new CH-47F Chinook copters it is slated to acquire\u2014&#8221;will support U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\">\n<aside id=\"in-content-video\" class=\"Advert_verticallySpaced__wnPy3\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21841313772,21778456762\/zerohedge\/in_content_video_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\" role=\"group\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/saudichprs.png?itok=FXxQExsq\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"368\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"25ec8ea7-c1ac-49a5-bfe6-21269afae014\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><figcaption><em>Royal Saudi Air Force AS-532 Cougar helicopters fly in formation in this 2018 photo.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Reuters<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/world\/articles\/2021-09-16\/us-state-department-approves-potential-500-million-saudi-maintenance-deal\">reports<\/a>\u00a0the proposal is the\u00a0<strong>first major military deal involving Saudi Arabia sent to Congress since Biden took office<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In February,\u00a0<em>Common Dreams<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/02\/04\/day-peace-activists-have-been-waiting-biden-vows-curb-us-support-saudi-led-war-yemen\">reported<\/a>\u00a0that the president announced an end to U.S. support for &#8220;offensive operations&#8221; in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, including &#8220;relevant arms sales.&#8221; Peace campaigners\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/medeabenjamin\/status\/1357375602295193602\">hailed<\/a>\u00a0the move, as they did the administration&#8217;s earlier\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/01\/27\/good-anti-war-democrats-applaud-biden-freeze-us-arms-sales-saudis-and-uae\">decision<\/a>\u00a0imposing a temporary freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pending a review of billions of dollars worth of weapons deals with the repressive regimes that were approved during the tenure of former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Anti-war and human rights activists decried the new proposed contract as\u00a0<strong>a betrayal of Biden&#8217;s pledge to end American backing of a war that has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2020\/12\/1078972\">claimed<\/a>\u00a0more than 200,000 Yemeni lives<\/strong>. &#8220;This breaks the Biden administration&#8217;s promise to end U.S. support for the tragic war in Yemen,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jonrainwater\/status\/1438887076678684673\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0Peace Action executive director Jon Rainwater, who added that it is &#8220;pretty tone-deaf for State Department to call [Saudi Arabia] a &#8216;friendly country.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Friendly to whom?&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0he asked.\u00a0<strong>&#8220;Not Yemeni civilians or Saudi women.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1438853107505577987&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fcritics-blast-absurd-biden-admin-first-major-military-deal-saudi-arabia&amp;sessionId=00195018dd093b768ac7ec3f1c367cbd9590f752&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=1890d59c%3A1627936082797&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1438853107505577987\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Jeff Abramson, senior fellow for conventional arms control and transfers at Washington, D.C.-based Arms Control Association,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jeffabramson\/status\/1438833484060102657\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0that &#8220;If the U.S. is serious&#8221; about ending the blockade of Yemen and not providing offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, &#8220;it certainly is not using its leverage&#8221; when it plans a half-a-billion-dollar agreement to continue service of Saudi helicopters.<\/p>\n<p>Erik Sperling, executive director of the D.C.-based advocacy group Just Foreign Policy,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ErikSperling\/status\/1438881851490410505\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0a thread of reports chronicling atrocities committed with helicopters during the Saudi-led war. These include\u00a0<strong>the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pri.org\/stories\/2015-11-30\/us-help-saudi-arabia-obliterating-yemen\">killing<\/a>\u00a0of dozens of Yemeni fishers in a 2015 attack, an Apache helicopter strike on a boat full of Somali refugees that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2017\/03\/26\/yemen-attack-refugee-boat-likely-war-crime\">killed<\/a>\u00a0at least 40 people in 2017, and a &#8220;double-tap&#8221; airstrike that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/america.aljazeera.com\/articles\/2015\/9\/27\/helicopter-attack-kills-30-civilians-in-yemen-village-residents-medics.html\">killed<\/a>\u00a030 civilians, including first responders, in 2015<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1438881851490410505&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fcritics-blast-absurd-biden-admin-first-major-military-deal-saudi-arabia&amp;sessionId=00195018dd093b768ac7ec3f1c367cbd9590f752&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=1890d59c%3A1627936082797&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1438881851490410505\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Saudi Arabia&#8217;s war crimes in Yemen, its monarchy&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/projects\/documents\/evidence-of-financial-links-between-saudi-royal-family-and-al-qaeda\">support<\/a>\u00a0for international terrorism, and its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/world-report\/2021\/country-chapters\/saudi-arabia\">horrific human rights record<\/a>\u00a0have prompted\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2015\/09\/02\/groups-aim-expose-bloody-relationship-between-us-and-saudi-arabia\">calls<\/a>\u00a0from across the U.S. political spectrum for a reevaluation of relations with the oil-rich and geostrategically important ally.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/09\/17\/anti-war-voices-blast-biden-over-absurd-500-million-saudi-military-contract\">https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/09\/17\/anti-war-voices-blast-biden-over-absurd-500-million-saudi-military-contract<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anti-War Voices Blast Biden Over &#8216;Absurd&#8217; $500 Million Saudi Military Contract<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}