US complicit with Saudi Arabia in killing Yemenis: Academic

Press TV has conducted an interview with William Beeman, a professor at the University of Minnesota, about the US’s role in the Saudi aggression against Yemen.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Pentagon failed to be more specific in the number of troops and the length and the size of the operation in Yemen. Why do you think that is?

Beeman: I am not sure you can hear me or see me, but the problem is in Yemen that there are actually four groups there fighting. There’s support for former President Hadi, there’s the Houthis, there’s al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula and also the Islamic State, also known as Daesh or ISIS or ISIL.

And the United States is dedicated to supporting the forces of President Hadi. And the US forces were deployed in the port of al-Mukalla, which is in former southern Yemen on the Gulf of Aden. It’s quite away from Sana’a and quite away from Aden. So, that’s what’s actually going on. It is an area that is under contest between the forces of President Hadi and also al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Press TV: Should the secrecy and ambiguity, professor, behind this operation impel us to ask whether US forces are there to battle al-Qaeda or are there other scenarios that are more plausible?

Beeman: Well, of course the United States is saying that they are there to battle al-Qaeda. And if you take a look at a map of the current conflict, you’ll see that the United States’ forces are quite away from any territory that’s being controlled by the Houthis. They are in the territory that’s being controlled by both President Hadi and also by the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. However, the United States continues to say that they’re giving logistic support and intelligence support to President Hadi in order to try to shore up his government.

Press TV: And the US has provided both weapons and now direct military support to Saudi Arabia in its war on Yemen. Does this make Washington complicit in the disproportionate killing of the extremely high number of civilians by the Saudis?

Beeman: Well, the situation, as I pointed out, is extremely confused with so many parties, with four parties fighting each other in Yemen. And there is no question that the United States wants the government of President Hadi to succeed. And that’s why they’ve been giving arms to the Saudi Arabians, who also support him.

In that regard, insofar as the Saudis are fighting against the Houthis and causing civilian casualties, the United States is of course complicit, but it is interesting that the United States’ forces now are supposedly being deployed against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. And the Saudis will not fight against al-Qaeda. They will not fight against ISIS, against Daesh. And so the only...

Press TV: Why not professor?

Beeman: Because they’re afraid of them and they also support them in other parts of the Middle East. The Saudi Arabians are supporting ISIS in Syria and so they don’t want to be in situation where they are confronting them in Yemen. They are afraid of al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda has targeted their government. Al-Qaeda would like nothing more than to see the Saudi royal family destroyed. And so, the Saudis are quite afraid to confront al-Qaeda directly because they’re afraid of the backlash that would take place even within their own country.

The only enemy that the Saudis are comfortable confronting are the Houthis, who are a branch of Shiism, the Zaidis.

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