In the News
The U.S. may be drawing closer to a confrontation with Iran over involvement in Yemen’s civil war.
Houthi rebel forces in Yemen backed by the Iranian government apparently fired a missile on Wednesday at the USS Mason, which is stationed in the Red Sea. On Sunday, two missiles were fired at the same ship from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
The missiles hit the water in both cases.
Yet the provocative launches against the ship, which carries about 330 sailors, are raising questions about how the U.S. will respond.
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.
The lights are off in the Committee on Science, Space and Technology room — once the last stand for Bob Inglis. The conservative climate change believer had lost to a tea party challenger, and, on that day six years ago, he was indignant.
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.
Next Cold War Roundup 10/11/16
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.
Los Angeles residents will be able to vote in November on a measure that would build 10,000 housing units over 10 years for homeless individuals.
Proposition HHH would lend $1.2 billion to developers from general obligation bonds paid by property taxes. One third of the developers’ housing projects’ costs would be covered by the loan and they would raise the other two-thirds of their planned costs through state, federal and private sources.
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.