Lawsuit puts spotlight on Washington’s role in Yemen

A group of Yemenis filed a lawsuit in a US district court against US arms manufacturers Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics, accusing them of “aiding and abetting war crimes and extrajudicial killings” by supplying weapons to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

The suit by the seven Yemeni individuals also names US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin along with some leaders from the Middle East. The plaintiffs claim that weapons supplied by US companies have allowed indiscriminate and brutal bombings, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians and worsening Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.

The lawsuit is being filed under the Torture Victim Protection Act, a 1991 US law that allows victims of torture to sue for compensation from their tormentors if the accused are in the United States.

The number of Yemenis who have fallen victim to cluster bombs since the beginning of the war now stands at over 25,000. The country has been in a state of crisis since March 2015, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and exacerbating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Critics point out that US arms dealers continue to provide arms, technical support, training and aftersales services to those involved in the Yemen conflict, even as the US quietly cuts humanitarian aid to Yemen.

In addition, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders proposed an amendment to the Yemen War Powers Resolution last year, which sought to seek the US’ withdrawal from the military intervention in Yemen. The White House, however, kept pressuring Sanders to withdraw the resolution.

Although the lawsuit will not change the situation, it serves to further undermine the US’ international image. Instead of providing weapons and funding for the conflict in the country, the US should substantially increase its humanitarian aid to Yemen and act as a responsible mediator to end the crisis at an early date, which has already become a completely negative asset of the US’ geopolitical game.

Reportedly, the US Congress, with the tacit approval of the government, provided “profit insurance” last year to defense giants such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Boeing, the defendants in the Yemen lawsuit, to help them cope with the unsubstantiated burden of inflation. The generous “humane care” the US gives to these arms suppliers is in sharp contrast with its meager “humanitarian care” for the civilians in the countries torn by wars it funds.