Saudi Arabia waging war on Yemeni people: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Richard Becker, with the ANSWER Coalition from San Francisco, to get his take on the impact of a recent strong retaliatory attack by Yemen on the Saudi aggression against the impoverished country.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It’s been the heaviest attack on Yemen, Richard. Saudi coalition has called it an act of revenge for its heavy losses on Friday. Will attacks like these by the Yemenis change the equation of war in Yemen?

Becker: Well, certainly it had a major impact in the countries where 60 soldiers were killed as you as you mentioned, 45 of them from the UAE, five from Bahrain reportedly and 10 from Saudi Arabia. And we don’t really know if that’s the total number or how many were wounded.

But it was a major attack that took place. And I think that the idea that Saudi Arabia was going to be able to come in with its monarchical partners, these monarchies that rule over the [Persian] Gulf states, and that this would be a cakewalk has proven to be anything but true.

The Yemeni people are suffering terribly because of this; thousands have died; many thousands have died, and millions are suffering deprivation because of this war. And behind Saudi Arabia –and that made very clear on Friday – is the United States, which is sending another billion dollars in arms to Saudi Arabia expressly for the purpose of waging war against the people of Yemen.

Press TV: Well, talking about the United States, Saudi Arabia’s coalition said that it was attacking targeted areas; now we’re hearing reports that they are actually targeting residential areas, hospitals and universities indiscriminately. So, President Obama was very quick to condemn what happened on Friday. We’ve not heard about his reaction so far.

Becker: Well, we always hear about this, whether it was the war in Iraq or going way back to the war in Vietnam, they are always carefully targeting military facilities, but in Vietnam millions of civilians were killed in Iraq, [the] whole country was devastated.

And the idea that we should have any trust or confidence in the propagations from the Saudi military and its partners that they’re only targeting military installations, but it’s ludicrous.

So, this is a war against the Yemeni people and it’s a war by the richest country in the Arab world against the poorest country in the Arab world. And in Yemen, it’s said that 21 million out of the 26 million people are in need of assistance of outside assistance, of aid, because of this war and because of this conflict that’s been raging there and that’s coming from the United Nations.

Press TV: We already know that Saudi Arabia has been stopping aid and financial support going to the Yemeni people. How is that going to affect the Yemenis? What is at stake?

Becker: Well, clearly many people are in desperate situation in Yemen. And the cutting off of humanitarian supplies, the blocking of aid that has been done repeatedly makes it clear that this is really a war against people. It’s not just a war against one group or against a government or former government or some designated enemy; this is a war the way that all... in wars. In fact, virtually all of them are waged [so] as the population itself is targeted. And it’s an inhumane war and these are war crimes that are being carried out against the people of Yemen.

Press TV: So, why is the United Nations not doing anything to stop these war crimes and the attack on the sovereignty of a nation?

Becker: Well, what the UN does and doesn’t do to a very large degree and especially anything that comes from the Security Council is subject to the dominant power in the United Nations and that of course is the United States.

It’s not that the United States can do what it wants, whatever it wants, because countries that it’s at odds with such as Russia and China are also permanent members of the Security Council. But the United Nations was designed by the United States from its beginnings at the end of World War II with the idea that it would be an instrument of US foreign policy, of US global hegemony.

And so, it does carry out some important actions like attempts at humanitarian aid, but because the US is backing the Saudi government in this war against the people in Yemen, against the Houthis and against their partners inside of Yemen, there is no public opinion created in favor of humanitarian aid; and so the humanitarian aid to large degrees is blocked from getting there.

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