Entire world, human rights groups opposed to Saudi aggression against Yemen: Academic

Press TV has conducted an interview with Seif Da'na, professor at University of Wisconsin in Chicago, to discuss a recent call by Amnesty International urging the United States and Britain to halt weapons exports to Saudi Arabia amid the kingdom’s ongoing military aggression against Yemen.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The UN and multiple human rights groups have been constantly documenting and showing well-documented cases of you know war crimes being committed with the use of Western ammunition and weapons in the hands of the Saudis, yet these cries and these calls and these demands for the West to stop arming the Saudis are falling on deaf ears. Why?

Da'na: Well, it is embarrassing. Even the closest allies of the Saudi regime and everybody at this point realizes that one of the most important factors fueling the continuous war crimes in Yemen is the force struggling inside Saudi Arabia between Mohammad bin Salman and Mohammad bin Nayef about who is going to be the next king. That is essentially one of the main factors fueling the daily crimes. Every one of them especially Mohammad bin Salman is trying to prove that he is worthy of being a king and that is his way of showing that.

Now we have seen that the world has been realizing that this crazy war must stop especially that it is almost a year that Saudi Arabia did not achieve anything and politically accept[ed] the daily war crimes and the daily murders. The allies and the supporters of Saudi Arabia, even some human rights organizations, refrained from criticizing Saudi Arabia at the beginning. Now they are because of the mounting evidence. And the European Parliament, just about two weeks ago, essentially called on all the European governments to halt any weapons sale to Saudi Arabia because it is being used to commit war crimes and it is a violation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT); that is essentially what we have now. Only few countries at this point, especially the US, are willing to continue to support Saudi Arabia’s regime.

And we have a call today by Amnesty International for people to sign. I would actually urge people to go to Amnesty International’s website and sign the petition, demanding that President Obama halts the one-billion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia because it is going to be used to kill innocent civilians. There are documents that the Amnesty International clearly states that they found both unexploded US bombs and fragments of exploded US bombs in the ruins of civilian homes. So these bombs are being used to kill civilians. Why? I am going to go back to your question now. Essentially, we are witnessing the reordering of the Middle East at this point and all the events in the Middle East from Syria to Yemen, to Bahrain, to Lebanon, to Palestine, to everywhere point out to the loss of the US and the US allies politically and the US is not unwilling, actually at this point, to surrender or give up or at least accept the new reality that is being created on the ground. And they are trying actually to prolong the conflict in Yemen or at least support the continuous war on Yemen in hopes of achieving some political gains at this point and that is the only explanation we can have because no one has an interest. The whole world wants this crazy war to stop; the only country that is not [interested] is Saudi Arabia and the only country behind that is the US, supporting them.

Press TV: How will this complicity by Western parties including the US and Britain eventually wash out for Western powers when there has been actual perfectly documented instances of war crimes being committed and their continued support for the Saudi aggression against Yemen that are creating and causing destruction and chaos for civilians in Yemen and deaths for civilians there? Where will see the repercussions for Western powers as a result of this year-long war?  

Da'na: Well, as long as the Western powers are dominating the international community, the organizations and institutions of the international community, it is very difficult to see any real actions against them except in the streets and except in the ballot box. And that is why it is really important that this actually call for action is seen by many people. But I am going to point out here four countries that have been actually named by the European Parliament and by the international human rights organizations; the United States, Britain, France and Spain. These are the four countries that are entangled and involved in selling arms that are being used to commit war crimes. Now it is important that this letter reaches President Obama and about 16,000 people [have] already signed this letter. Now we know that President Obama knows exactly what is going on, on the ground, but he needs to feel the heat in the street; he and other leaders need to feel the heat in the street and need to feel the heat in the media as well and also by the human rights organizations. So that is why I said at beginning that I really urge people to go to Amnesty International’s website and sign this call to President Obama to halt the one-billion-dollar sale to Saudi Arabia because we are talking about thousands and thousands of bombs and missiles that are being requested by Saudi Arabia and they were approved by President Obama; he must stop that. 

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