Progressive champion Sanders joins fight against Yemen war
Anti-war activists hope that a new bipartisan effort spearheaded by 2016 left-wing candidate Bernie Sanders will reinvigorate efforts to end US support for the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis.
Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined forces today with Tea Party conservative Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on the latest bipartisan resolution to end US support for the Saudi-led war against the Houthis in Yemen.
Sanders, an independent, rose to national prominence as a left-wing firebrand for his willingness to challenge Democratic Party orthodoxy on domestic issues during the 2016 Democratic primaries. Anti-war activists hope that the backing of the high-profile progressive and potential 2020 candidate for president will lend new momentum to their efforts to end US support for an indiscriminate bombing campaign that has been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
“Many Americans are unaware that the people of Yemen are suffering today in a devastating civil war with Saudi Arabia and our allies on one side and Houthi rebels on the other,” Sanders said at a press conference introducing the resolution. “Many Americans are also not aware that US forces have been actively involved in support of the Saudis in this war providing intelligence and aerial refueling of planes whose bombs have killed thousands of people and made this crisis worse.”
“For far too long, Congress under the Democratic and Republican administrations has abdicated its constitutional role in authorizing war,” Sanders said. “The time is long overdue for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority.”
