Senate votes to end Yemen war support
Bipartisan rebuke of Trump attempts to end U.S. backing of Saudi-led war
WASHINGTON – In a historic bipartisan rebuke of the president and a marked shift in the long-standing U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia, the Senate voted Thursday to try to force the Trump administration to end its military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
Although the measure will stall in the House for now, the Senate’s 56-41 vote carried extraordinary significance – marking the first time the Senate has invoked Congress’ war powers to challenge U.S. military involvement abroad. The step was both a condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s execution of the Yemen war – which has killed thousands of civilians and created a humanitarian catastrophe – and of the kingdom’s role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
“Today, we tell the despotic regime in Saudi Arabia that we will not be a part of their military adventurism,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who championed U.S. withdrawal from the Yemen conflict along with Sens.
Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. “The United States Congress ... is sick and tired of abdicating its constitutional responsibility on matters of war,” Sanders said.
Senators unanimously approved a separate, nonbinding resolution naming Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, as responsible for Khashoggi’s death. The Washington Post columnist was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 by a team of Saudi operatives, many of whom have been tied to the crown prince.
The resolution, introduced Thursday by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., calls on the Saudi government “to ensure appropriate accountability for all those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder” and urges the kingdom to “moderate its increasingly erratic foreign policy,” among other steps.
“The United States Senate has said the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” Corker said. “That is a strong statement. ... I think it speaks to the values that we hold dear.”
The two Senate votes were a direct challenge to President Donald Trump, who downplayed evidence that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was involved in Khashoggi’s murder and said the incident should not damage U.S.-Saudi relations. His administration, through his son and adviser Jared Kushner, has cultivated close ties to the kingdom.
“Today is a watershed moment for Congress,” Murphy said. “We are reasserting our responsibility to be a co-equal branch with the executive (branch) in foreign policymaking.”
It was also a watershed moment for Sanders, Murphy and Lee – an odd-bedfellows trio who have tried for three years to curb American support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Their first effort, on a measure that would have blocked arms sales to the Saudis in 2016, garnered only 27 “yes” votes.
Thursday, seven Republican senators joined all the chamber’s Democrats and its two independents in passing the Ye- men resolution, which would require the United States to stop providing intelligence, targeting assistance in bombing and other military support to the Saudi government and its allies in the Yemen conflict.
Before the Senate vote, House GOP leaders blocked a similar measure from coming up for a vote in that chamber. Proponents vowed to revive the issue when Democrats take power in January.
“We won’t ignore these issues in the next Congress,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, DN.Y., who will become the new chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January. “It’s a betrayal of the men and women who have served this country in uniform.”
Proponents of the Yemen resolution said America’s involvement in the war was unauthorized, unconstitutional and immoral. They argued that Congress has abdicated its responsibility for decades, fearing the responsibility that comes with sending American troops into harm’s way.
“There is no decision that is more fraught with moral peril,” Lee said at a news conference after the vote. “When we’re putting American treasure and, even more importantly, American blood on the line, it is wrong to entrust that to one person.”
Sanders and others said they hoped the Senate’s action would bolster negotiations, led by a United Nations special envoy, to end the horrific conflict. Since hostilities began in 2015, the Yemen war has left thousands of civilians dead and put millions on the verge of starvation.
Opponents of the resolution said U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition did not amount to warfare, and they argued that U.S. involvement was vital to helping Saudi Arabia contain Iran’s influence in the Middle East.
The war is a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, two regimes vying for expanded influence in the region. The United States stopped refueling Saudi jets, but it still provides munitions and intelligence to the Saudi government.
“There is a threat in the Middle East posed by Iran and their ambitions which must be confronted,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said during Thursday’s Senate debate. Rubio suggested that the U.S.Saudi alliance would be “shattered” if the United States ended its military role in Yemen, and the war would spiral further out of control.
Proponents of the war resolution said the brutal killing of Khashoggi and the crown prince’s alleged involvement strengthened their case for withdrawal.
“When we’re putting American treasure and, even more importantly, American blood on the line, it is wrong to entrust that to one person.”
Rep. Mike Lee, R-Utah