[pjw] NEWS: Biden- bombing Yemen isn't working, but I plan to keep doing it

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello peaceful people
I guess when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a 
military target.

The headline on this Common Dreams article-- which popped up in my web 
search on Salon.com-- says it all (and I slightly summarized it in the 
subject line of this email).

EXCEPT, as noted in the article, we are hearing about people in Congress 
calling him out on violating the Constitution and the War Powers 
Resolution, but those are just quaint relics like the Geneva Conventions. 
(Anyone from Oregon I wonder?)

Spoiler alert: The article concludes with what EVERYONE IS TELLING BIDEN 
but he won't listen-- stop the war in Gaza and the attacks around the 
region will stop.

So while I'm here for a short time today I will try to put together a few 
signs that say "Stop Bombing Yemen" for the Friday rally (which will be 
there whether or not this pesky ice goes away, even if the wagon isn't 
there with us).

Read on.
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

  https://www.salon.com/2024/01/18/biden-admits-air-strikes-on-yemen-arent-working--but-vows-to-keep-bombing-anyway/
Biden admits air strikes on Yemen aren't working -- but vows to keep bombing
anyway

"Are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna continue? Yes," Biden told
reporters

By Jake Johnson
Published January 18, 2024 2:39PM (EST)

    After U.S. forces bombed Yemen without congressional authorization for
    the fourth time in a week, President Joe Biden admitted Thursday that
    the airstrikes aren't stopping Houthi attacks in the Red Sea--but said
    the bombing would continue regardless.

    "Well, when you say 'working'--are they stopping the Houthis? No,"
    Biden said in response to a reporter's question. "Are they gonna
    continue? Yes."

    Watch:

    The U.S. president's remarks came as he faced heightening criticism
    from members of Congress and outside advocates over the ongoing strikes
    on Yemen, all launched amid fears of an all-out regional war in the
    Middle East.

    The flurry of U.S. strikes against Yemen's Houthis does not seem to
    have diminished the group's capacity to attack commercial vessels in
    the Red Sea, a key global trade route. The Houthis say they are working
    to prevent genocide in the Gaza Strip by targeting Israel-bound ships.

    As Responsible Statecraft's Kelley Beaucar Vlahos noted Thursday, the
    Houthis struck "a U.S.-owned commercial vessel in the Red Sea with a
    one-way attack drone" just hours before the Biden administration's
    fourth round of bombing, which the U.S. Central Command said was aimed
    at "14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in
    Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen."

    Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have rebuked the Biden
    administration for launching airstrikes in Yemen without approval from
    Congress, which they argue is required under Article I of the
    Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973. U.S. President Joe
    Biden didn't formally notify Congress of the initial strikes on Yemen
    last week until a day after the munitions were dropped, killing at
    least five people.

    "I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to
    protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in
    furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy
    interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority as commander in
    chief and chief executive and to conduct United States foreign
    relations," Biden wrote in a letter to congressional leaders last
    Friday.

    But lawmakers and anti-war campaigners say the Biden administration's
    self-defense rationale for striking Yemen without congressional backing
    doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

    "The excuse that the president can ignore Congress because it's an
    'emergency' under the War Powers Resolution has worn thin," Jon
    Rainwater, executive director of Peace Action, wrote late Wednesday.
    "The U.S. is not under attack. This isn't a short-term crisis. Biden
    must go to Congress."

    Even supporters of Biden's military actions in Yemen, such as Sen.
    Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), have said the president is required by law to
    obtain lawmakers' approval.

    "I expect to be briefed by the White House in the coming days on the
    scope of these strikes and the plan ahead," said Murphy, who chairs the
    Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on Near East, South
    Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism. "The administration is
    legally required to seek congressional authorization for sustained
    hostilities against Houthi forces under the War Powers Resolution."

    U.S. forces have been engaged in hostilities with the Houthis in the
    Red Sea since October, shooting down the group's missiles and drones.

    Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for
    Responsible Statecraft, argued in an op-ed for TIME magazine earlier
    this week that continued strikes in Yemen will only lead to "escalating
    tensions that strengthen the de facto Houthi blockade and elevate the
    potential for the conflict to expand into a full-fledged regional war."

    Noting that confirmed Houthi attacks fell during November's week-long
    pause in Gaza, Parsi argued that the best way to stop the attacks in
    the Red Sea and the targeting of U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria is to
    secure a cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave.

    "A cease-fire is far more likely to curb Houthi and Iraqi militia
    attacks; reduce tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where regular
    exchanges of fire have been taking place; secure the release of Israeli
    hostages held by Hamas; and, most important of all, stop further
    civilian casualties in Gaza," Parsi wrote. "If, in the worst-case
    scenario, Biden's escalation against the Houthis sparks a regional war,
    there should be little doubt that this is another war of choice--and
    one without congressional authorization. Not because Biden desired it,
    but because he refused to pursue the most obvious and peaceful path to
    prevent it."