US acts like ‘magician’ helping Saudis in Yemen war: analyst
The United States is a “perfect example of a magician,” because it claims to have suspended sending cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, but continues to provide its Arab ally with other kinds of weapons in its bombing campaign in Yemen, says a former US diplomat in Riyadh.
In a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday, J. Michael Springmann said Washington might have suspended sales of cluster bombs to the Saudis, but it continues selling other weapons, providing training, targeting information, and logistical support to Riyadh.
“While the United States might suspend sales of cluster bombs to the Saudis, it does nothing at all and says nothing at all about other weapons that the United States is selling to the Saudis and it does not address the issue of providing military intelligence and targeting information that the Saudis have met, so they can continue to do war crimes and human rights violations in Yemen,” he said.
Washington has sold Riyadh millions of dollars worth of internationally-banned cluster bombs in recent years.
Springmann said that Washington “says nothing at all for example about US especial forces being in Yemen and helping the Saudis with their war.”
The Foreign Policy reported on Friday that the White House has quietly blocked the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia as Riyadh continues its war against Yemen.
According to the report, the move follows rising criticism by members of Congress about Washington’s support of the Saudis in their year-long aggression.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have found evidence that CBU-105 cluster bombs, manufactured by the US-based company Textron Systems, have been dropped on multiple locations around Yemen.
Amnesty International said last week that its most recent mission to Yemen has found evidence of US, UK and Brazilian cluster munitions used by Saudi forces.
Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015. More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured since the onset of the campaign.
Saudi Arabia launched its offensive against Yemen in a bid to bring back to power former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of the Riyadh regime, and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
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