W hile the crisis in Syria continues to garner front-page headlines and ample television coverage, the media has largely turned a blind eye to the other travesty unfolding in the Middle East: Yemen has turned into a humanitarian disaster, where thousands of bombs are being dropped, 1. The major difference? In Yemen, the US is one of the primary causes of the problem.
The two western powers, who often purport to care about democracy and human rights, are also helping the Saudi monarchy β one of the most repressive regimes on the planet β cover up those crimes at the UN. The New York Times, the rare exception to the giant shrug much of the American media has given this critical subject, recently published a harrowing front-page story on the rash of indiscriminate bombing β conducted in response to Houthi rebels who have attacked the sitting government β that has been killing scores of civilians with direct help from the US.
That report came before the latest and deadliest attack on civilians yet: last week, a Saudi strike killed at least innocent people at a wedding, mostly women and children.
Over children have been killed since the start of the strikes. It would be hard for the US to give more assistance to Saudi Arabia as they commit these atrocities without actually dropping the bombs themselves: the Saudis are using cluster munitions banned by treaty in the vast majority of countries around the world supplied to them by United States defense contractors.
The US military, far from being a neutral observer, is actively providing the Saudis with intelligence and logistical assistance for their air strikes. And the US is finalizing a deal to give even more weapons to the Saudis. Instead, Saudi Arabia will be given license to investigate themselves. Human rights groups immediately castigated the decision. It turns out that the UK and US also made another secret deal with the Saudi monarchy years ago, according to diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks.
