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US supporting Saudi war crimes in Syria, Yemen: ex-diplomat

Sunday, 31 January 2016 7:33 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 01 February 2016 12:06 PM ]

Springmann says the US is accomplice to Saudi crimes in Syria and Yemen.

Enjoying full support from the United States, Saudi Arabia is wreaking havoc in various parts of the world and more US politicians need to speak out against this alliance, says a former US diplomat in the Arab kingdom.

In an interview with Press TV on Sunday, J. Michael Springmann made the remarks when asked about Democratic Senator Chris Murphy’s criticism of Washington’s blind support for the Riyadh regime.

During a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier this week, Murphy questioned Washington’s unwavering support for Saudi Arabia despite the regime’s backing of extremist ideology and its military offensive in Yemen.

The Connecticut senator said the US does not have “a particularly credible long term strategy” for the Middle East because of “some very uncomfortable truths” about the nature of the fight against terrorism and the alliance with Saudi Arabia.

Springmann, the former head of the American visa bureau in Jeddah, said Sen. Murphy was among “the few people in the American government who can actually speak the truth.”

The author of Visas for al-Qaeda: CIA Handouts that Rocked the World hailed the senator’s revealing comments. “It is really time for more people to speak out and work with reality… the Saudis for years have been backed up” by the US, Springmann told Press TV on Sunday.

“The Saudis were basically on the periphery of everything in the Arab world and the periphery of the rest of the world, yet suddenly now they are out bombing neighbors and supporting wars” in Syria and Yemen, he added.

“The Saudis have always been working behind the scenes and on the principle of ‘let you and him fight, not us,’” the former diplomat explained, adding that the UK has also joined America in providing weapons to the monarchy to kill more Yemeni people.

Springmann accused Saudi King Salman and his son of targeting civilians and infrastructure in their “horrible” military aggression in Yemen.

Yemen has been under Saudi military strikes on a daily basis since late March of last year. The military campaign is supposedly meant to undermine the Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

More than 8,270 people have been killed and over 16,000 others injured since the strikes began. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure.

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