[pjw] NEWS/ACTION: Trump vetoes Yemen (anit-)war resolution (Wash Post 4/16)

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi
As the Portland Mercury put it in their blog post this morning pointing to 
the Washington Post this morning:

  Despite passing the House and being approved by the Senate, Trump went
  ahead and vetoed a resolution that would end US participation in Yemen's
  civil war. "This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to
  weaken  my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American
  citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future," Trump
  said in a statement that he clearly did not write.

Tim Kaine's quote at the end that starts with "I hope my colleague's 
won't..." is confusing, but I think he clearly wants the Congress to urge 
a veto.

***If any of you live in Oregon's 5th district and can contact Rep.
Greg Walden to urge him to help over-ride the veto that would be great.** 
The vote was 43 shy of a 2/3 majority in the house so whatever we can to 
to edge that number up, we should.

--dan h
peace and justice works iraq affinity group


----

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-vetoes-resolution-to-end-us-participation-in-yemens-civil-war/2019/04/16/0fabc312-60a1-11e9-bfad-36a7eb36cb60_story.html

Trump vetoes resolution to end U.S. participation in Yemen's civil war
By Felicia Sonmez ,Josh Dawsey and Karoun Demirjian April 16 at 8:53 PM

President Trump on Tuesday vetoed a resolution that would have ended U.S. 
support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.

The move, which had been expected, marks the second veto of Trump's 
presidency.

"This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my 
constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and 
brave service members, both today and in the future," Trump said in a 
statement.

The measure had passed the House on a 247-to-175 vote this month and was 
approved by the Senate last month with the support of seven Republicans.

This month's House vote marked the first time both chambers had acted to 
invoke the same war-powers resolution to end U.S. military engagement in a 
foreign conflict. It also represented the latest instance of Congress's 
challenging Trump's decisions as commander in chief.


The veto means the United States will continue its involvement in Saudi 
Arabia's bombing campaign against Yemen's Houthi rebels, waged in the name 
of holding back Iran's expansion in the region.

But the Saudi-led effort, which has targeted civilian facilities and 
prevented aid shipments from getting to Yemenis, has been faulted by human 
rights organizations for exacerbating what the United Nations has deemed 
the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe.

A senior administration official said that Trump was involved in drafting 
and editing the language of Tuesday's veto statement and that he had told 
senators for some time he was going to issue a veto.

"It should come as a surprise to nobody," the official said.

Trump viewed the Yemen vote as a rebuke of his administration after the 
killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and urged some senators not to 
go along with it, according to White House and congressional aides.


The CIA has concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's 
de facto ruler, ordered Khashoggi's killing. Even so, Trump has resisted 
holding Mohammed responsible and has continued to embrace him and other 
Saudi leaders.

The president has grown frustrated with Congress for some of its votes 
that seemed designed to admonish him, such as the decision to remove 
sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska -- who has ties to former 
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort -- and the pushback against Trump's 
declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for his 
long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Trump's first veto, issued last month, was of a congressional resolution 
disapproving of his emergency declaration. The president spent more time 
whipping votes against that measure than against the Yemen resolution, 
aides said.


The decision to keep support for the war in Yemen is perplexing to some 
members of the administration, considering the president is usually 
inclined to remove U.S. troops from all conflict zones.

In his State of the Union address in February, Trump declared, "Great 
nations do not fight endless wars."

At the same time, Trump continues to want to keep strong ties with Saudi 
Arabia and does not share the view of Congress that the kingdom needs to 
be punished for the killing of Khashoggi, aides said.

In his statement announcing the veto, Trump defended the U.S. involvement, 
arguing that "it is our duty to protect the safety of the more than 80,000 
Americans who reside in certain coalition countries that have been subject 
to Houthi attacks from Yemen."

He also urged members of Congress to instead focus their energies on the 
drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Syria.


"Congressional engagement in those endeavors would be far more productive 
than expending time and effort trying to enact this unnecessary and 
dangerous resolution that interferes with our foreign policy with respect 
to Yemen," he said.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed 
Services committees, responded Tuesday night that with his veto, Trump 
"shows the world he is determined to keep aiding a Saudi-backed war that 
has killed thousands of civilians and pushed millions more to the brink of 
starvation."

"I hope my colleagues will show we won't tolerate the Trump 
administration's deference to Saudi Arabia at the expense of American 
security interests by voting to override this veto," he said.