US, UK complicit in Saudi atrocities against Yemenis: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for the [Persian] Gulf Affairs (IGA) from Washington, to discuss recent calls by human rights groups on US President Barack Obama to stop its internationally-banned cluster bombs sales to Saudi Arabia.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Certainly, it is not the first such call for arm sales and especially those of cluster bombs to stop to Saudi Arabia. Do you think there will be any action on the part of the West on this?

Ahmed: I do not think so because human rights organizations are private entities and they have no physical power or influence over governments in selling a cluster bomb. This is not the first time Human Rights Watch (HRW) or Amnesty (International) calls for a ban on the sale of cluster bombs but yet they continue to be sold to different countries. So really this is just an exercise in futility we say often but nothing happens. These governments are not embarrassed by the Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International reports.

Press TV: I wonder why isn’t this a bigger scandal because certainly the use of cluster bombs as an internationally-banned weapon should be a bigger thing, shouldn’t it?

Ahmed: It should be, but again you know it has to do with the power and influence. If you are powerful; if you use cluster bomb against the Israelis for example, that is going to be huge and is going to have repercussions. But if use them against the Yemenis who have no major world power allies, then too bad for them I guess. That is how the international law of jungle is working.

Press TV: I am wondering the issue of arms sales over superseding human rights continues to come up when it comes to UK and US arm sales to Saudi Arabia. How do you feel about that? 

Ahmed: The United States and UK use human rights just as a political tool against their rivals. They do not for example sit on the Saudi human records. They never raise this issue even in international bodies that have no authority like the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. They have not even used words let alone [bringing] action. So the United States and the UK have no moral authority whatsoever when it comes to human rights. So they are involved in this; they are silent and even open partners to the use of cluster bombs in Yemen. So I do not think they care about the human rights; they care about their bottom line, making money and supporting their allies.

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