War Powers Act Challenge on Yemen Postponed to November 2
House Leadership Fails to Stop Legal Challenge to Yemen War
The concurrent resolution directs the president to end all military participation in
the Saudi war in Yemen immediately, pointing out that Congress never
authorized such an operation. Congress has sole discretion to make such a
determination, and in over two years of war in Yemen, there’s never
been such a vote.While a lot of America’s ongoing wars are at present not authorized under the War Powers Act, Yemen is a particularly glaring one, because there isn’t even a roundabout argument to be made to try to connect this to the vague AUMF on fighting al-Qaeda. Indeed, in fighting against the Shi’ite Houthis in Yemen, the Saudi-led war has greatly enhanced al-Qaeda’s power in the country.
Indications are that support in the House for this resolution is growing, unsurprising given the House’s recent votes on selling arms to the Saudis have been increasingly close. The delay will give the vote’s supporters more time to shore up support.
Those wishing to call their representatives to express support for H. Con. Res. 81 can find contact information here. Under the War Powers Act, any one representative can bring a challenge like this one, so the prospects of the House leadership actually preventing the vote are virtually nil. This means getting the word out about support for the bill is particularly important.
“When Did Congress Vote to Aid the Saudi’s Yemen War?”
Porter explains why, despite there being zero national security interest at stake, the U.S. is involved in the aerial war in Yemen. He and Scott then discuss the clearly misleading fatality figures which they suspect are being vastly underreported by the U.N. Porter then gets to the crux of his article: how members of Congress are attempting to use the War Powers act to end U.S. involvement in Yemen. Scott delves into the history of the War Powers Act and explains why it’s been utterly misinterpreted. Finally, Porter touches on the Saudi blockade which, with help from the U.S. Navy, is stopping needed supplies from arriving to help the desperate Yemenis.
Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show
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