{"id":512,"date":"2020-11-30T21:40:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T21:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=129555"},"modified":"2020-11-30T21:40:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T21:40:55","slug":"over-80-organizations-urge-biden-to-prioritize-ending-u-s-involvement-in-yemen-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/11\/30\/over-80-organizations-urge-biden-to-prioritize-ending-u-s-involvement-in-yemen-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 80 Organizations Urge Biden to Prioritize Ending U.S. Involvement in Yemen War"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON – Today, over 80 organizations representing millions of people across the United States sent a joint letter to President-elect Joe Biden with an urgent request that he prioritize ending U.S. support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen, as he indicated he would during his campaign. The letter, from groups ranging from foreign policy organizations to faith-based groups, outlines the specific measures Biden should take through executive powers and by working with Congress. <\/p>\n

Acknowledging that when Biden comes into office, he will surely get pushback from those who want to keep the U.S. involved in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the signers of the letter felt it necessary to show that there is a broad constituency clamoring for an end to nearly five years of participation in this catastrophic war and for the U.S. to help the Yemeni people rebuild their lives. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore coronavirus, Yemen was already experiencing the largest human\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan crisis on the planet,\u201d the letter reads, pointing out that the Saudi-led bombing campaign and blockade of ports has decimated the country\u2019s healthcare infrastructure and severely damaged access to clean water, sanitary systems, and nutrition. \u201cEnding U.S participation would signal to millions of Yemenis living in Yemen and thousands of Yemeni-Americans who worry about their families in Yemen that weapon sales and geopolitical chess moves are not more important than their lives and the lives of their loved ones,\u201d the letter continued. \u201cIt would be a monumental first achievement for your administration that would be praised by Americans across the ideological spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican involvement in this brutal catastrophe is shameful and must come to an end. Pulling the U.S. out should be among Biden\u2019s top priorities for his first days in office.\u201d \u2014 Ariel Gold, CODEPINK national co-director. <\/p>\n

Biden is given an opportunity to correct the wrong policy of supporting the Saudi war on Yemen in 2015 under the Obama administration. I hope that he now helps end the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, one that he helped create. \u2014 Aisha Jumaan, Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation <\/p>\n

“It’s time for America to reclaim its moral compass and withdraw completely from any involvement in the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.” \u2014 Hal Ginsgurb, Our Revolution<\/p>\n

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“As military veterans, we know the true cost of war. The victims of the armed Saud- led conflict in Yemen include starving children and countless people suffering from COVID-19. It is shameful to have American support for atrocities that only benefit weapon industries and Saudi royalty. If the United States will have credibility as a stabilizing leader in the international community, we need to start by prioritizing humanitarian aid and stop enabling warmongering.” – Garett Reppenhagen former US Army Sniper, Executive Director of Veterans For Peace <\/p>\n

“The American people have been calling on the United States to end all support for the Saudi-UAE coalition’s disastrous war in Yemen that serves as the worst humanitarian crisis, said Yasmine Taeb, Senior Fellow at Center for International Policy. “The U.S. needs to prioritize human rights in our foreign policy and must stop providing arms to authoritarian or repressive governments that systematically violate human rights.”  <\/p>\n

While millions of Americans recently finished their Thanksgiving feasts, millions of Yemenis will face famine without action by the new Congress and Administration. The new government should rapidly stop backing the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen — begun under the Obama-Biden Administration, and ensure an end to the de facto blockade which is starving the Yemeni people. Through the recently-introduced War Powers Resolution, Congress is once again asserting its will to stop U.S. participation in this unconstitutional war. The Biden Administration should stop all participation in the war — including intelligence sharing — and refocus on true U.S. security interests rather than the whims of the famine-causing Saudi dictatorship.\u201d \u2014 Isaac Evans-Frantz, Action Corp<\/p>\n

Read the full letter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Signers:<\/p>\n

Action Corps \u2027 American Friends Service Committee \u2027 Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain \u2027 Avaaz \u2027 Ayada Leads \u2027 Beyond the Bomb \u2027 Brooklyn For Peace \u2027 Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security \u2027 Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community \u2027 CAPA DePaul  \u2027 Center for Economic and Policy Research \u2027 Center for International Policy \u2027 Chicago Area Peace Action \u2027 Clearinghouse on Women\u2019s Issues \u2027 CODEPINK \u2027 Daily Kos \u2027 Demand Progress \u2027 Democracy for America \u2027 Democracy for the Middle East Now (DAWN) \u2027 Episcopal Peace Fellowship \u2027 Fellowship of Reconciliation \u2027 Feminist Majority Foundation \u2027 First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI \u2027 Franciscan Action Network \u2027 Freedom Forward \u2027 Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) \u2027 Friends of Sabeel North America \u2027 Grassroots Global Justice \u2027 Health Alliance International \u2027 Historians for Peace and Democracy \u2027 Indiana Center for Middle East Peace \u2027 Institute for Policy Studies, National Priorities Project \u2027 Institute for Policy Studies, New Internationalism Project \u2027 Interfaith Community Sanctuary \u2027 Islamophobia Studies Center \u2027 Israel Palestine Mission Network PCUSA \u2027 Isuroon (Strong Women, Strong Communities) \u2027 Jetpac Resource Center \u2027 Jewish Voice for Peace Action \u2027 Just Foreign Policy \u2027 Justice for All \u2027 Justice Is Global \u2027 Kairos Center \u2027 Mass Peace Action \u2027 MADRE \u2027 MPower Change \u2027 NorCalSabeel \u2027 Organization for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain \u2027 Our Revolution \u2027 Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace \u2027 PAX Christi USA \u2027 Peace Action \u2027 PEACEWORKERS \u2027 Presbyterian Church USA \u2027 Progressive Democrats of America \u2027 Project Blueprint \u2027 Project South \u2027 Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft \u2027 Raytheon anti-war Campaign \u2027 Rethinking Foreign Policy \u2027 Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment \u2027 Revolving Door Project \u2027 RootsAction.org \u2027 Saudi American Justice Project \u2027 September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows \u2027 Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team \u2027 The International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) \u2027 The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society \u2027 Tunisian United Network \u2027 United African Congress \u2027 United for Peace and Justice \u2027 U.S. Labor Against Racism and War \u2027 Veterans For Peace \u2027 WESPAC Foundation, Inc. \u2027 West Suburban Peace Coalition \u2027 Western New York Peace Center \u2027 Win Without War \u2027 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-US \u2027 World BEYOND War \u2027 Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation \u2027 Yemeni Alliance Committee<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, over 80 organizations representing millions of people across the United States sent a joint letter to President-elect Joe Biden with an urgent request that he\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}