National Security and Foreign Affairs
A Democratic lawmaker is calling on the United States to immediately stop supporting a Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen.
WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. lawmaker called on the Obama administration to suspend cooperation with a Saudi-led coalition conducting airstrikes in Yemen, saying in a letter released on Wednesday that civilian casualties from the strikes "appear to be the result of war crimes."
Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday that the coalition has conducted more than 70 "unlawful airstrikes" in Yemen.
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration went ahead with a $1.3 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia last year despite warnings from some officials that the United States could be implicated in war crimes for supporting a Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians, according to government documents and the accounts of current and former officials.
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Saudi coalition airstrikes on a large funeral in Yemen escalated the war and puts the US at risk of participating in war crimes. The Pentagon may retaliate for an alleged missile fired at a US warship off the coast of Yemen. Naval analysts claim the USS Mason fired missiles during the incident.
A Saudi airstrike that destroyed a funeral hall and killed 140 people Saturday in Yemen is a scenario U.S. lawyers have been worried about under international law. Documents obtained by Reuters reveal that State Department lawyers were concerned that arms sales to the Saudis might make the U.S. liable for war crimes the Saudis might commit. The U.S. hasn’t been giving targets to the Saudis but, problematically, it has provided a no-strike list including critical infrastructure. In effect, that may make the U.S.
Congressional critics of the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemeni rebels are demanding the White House pull its support for Riyadh following an alleged weekend airstrike that killed at least 140 funeral mourners in Sanaa.
The Obama administration has already said it is considering ratcheting back its aid for Saudi Arabia -- a rare step that all but certainly will inflame America’s most powerful ally in the Arab world. But lawmakers said they remain unappeased by the White House threat in the face of the growing civilian death toll in Yemen’s nearly two-year war.
WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The Obama administration went ahead with a $1.3 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia last year despite warnings from some officials that the United States could be implicated in war crimes for supporting a Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians, according to government documents and the accounts of current and former officials.
Breached voter registration databases in Illinois and Arizona, reported earlier this year, are causing the public to become skeptical about election cybersecurity.
Even though the majority of states have turned to the Department of Homeland Security for help in protecting their election systems from hacks, cybersecurity experts are at odds to what portions of the country would be targeted for attacks.