The Moral Bankruptcy of the United States

I called my congresswoman yesterday. She is a freshman. I donated to her campaign and phone-banked for her. I figured that since she started up a non-profit called "Hate Free Zone" in the wake of 9/11 that she, once in office, would be a reliable peace advocate.

To be honest, the only thing I can tell you about her service in Congress so far is that she has been snatched up as eye-candy by House Democratic Leadership. Here she is fronting for neo-McCarthyism:

In any event, yesterday I received this email from Just Foreign Policy:

Last night the House Rules Committee approved two amendments for votes today that fundamentally challenge U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen. 

The Davidson [R-OH] amendment prohibits U.S. military action not authorized by the 2001 AUMF. U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen is not authorized by the 2001 AUMF. That would block the U.S. refueling of Saudi warplanes bombing Yemen. 

The Nolan [D-MN] amendment prohibits the deployment of U.S. troops to participation in Yemen's civil war. That would block the U.S. refueling of Saudi warplanes bombing Yemen. 

This devastating war, which was never authorized by Congress, has been going on for more than two years and has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, with the worst cholera outbreak in the world, with the UN on the verge of giving up on vaccination against cholera in Yemen because of the war. 

We've never had votes like this before in either chamber. We have no idea how it will go. Every Rep. needs to be called, whether they are Democrat or Republican, pro-Trump or anti-Trump. 

Call your Rep. now at (202) 224-3121. When you reach a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like: 

"I urge you to vote YES on the Davidson and Nolan amendments to prohibit U.S. participation in the unauthorized Saudi war in Yemen."

So I called the local office of my congresswoman (not the D.C. office because I was at work and didn't want the local to absorb the long-distance charge).

A pleasant young woman answered the phone and tried to find the bill number. I hadn't read the Just Foreign Policy email closely enough to tell her H.R. 2810. She assured my she would get the message to the congresswoman.

Two stories yesterday reinforce 1) that the U.S. is directly complicit in war crimes in Yemen, and 2) the cholera epidemic there is at the point of "spiralling out of control."

For the first, consult Samuel Oakford's "U.S. DOUBLED FUEL SUPPORT FOR SAUDI BOMBING CAMPAIGN IN YEMEN AFTER DEADLY STRIKE ON FUNERAL."

This morning's Situation Report condenses the story as follows:

US doubles down on support for war in Yemen. Since an October airstrike in Yemen by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that killed more than 130 people, “the United States doubled the amount of fuel it provided to coalition jets, according to figures obtained from the U.S. military,” writes Samuel Oakford in The Intercept. “The numbers underline the fact that U.S. support for the campaign has continued and even increased despite growing attention to civilian casualties and alleged war crimes by the coalition.”

For the second, see The Guardian's " 'Cholera is everywhere': Yemen epidemic spiralling out of control":

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Monday that the cholera epidemic in Yemen was spiralling out of control, reaching a milestone of over 300,000 suspected cases. More than 1,600 people have died. Children account for nearly half of all suspected cholera cases in the country, according to the UN’s children agency.

This is where the lack of an anti-war movement or a strong peace caucus in the Democratic Party becomes glaringly obvious. At a previous time, the U.S. facilitation of a cholera epidemic would be the subject of mass outrage.

The fact that it isn't has many roots: complicity with al-Saud's genocidal war started with the Peace Prize POTUS; there are too many wars for the general public to track; and the New Cold War provides a thick smokescreen for all manner of abhorrent behavior. They all point to a moral bankruptcy.