In an unsurprising turn of events, it was discovered that the United States sold the bomb that hit a school bus in Yemen to Saudi Arabia just last week.
The Saudi coalition-led attack, supported by the U.S., resulted in the deaths of over 50 people, 40 of whom were children. An even greater number of injuries were reported as well; of the 79 total injuries, 56 were children. The majority of these children were under the age of 15.
The school bus bombing marked another lethal Saudi targeting mistake, following similar attacks in 2016. In March of that year, three airstrikes killed nearly 100 people at a Yemeni market during its peak rush time. The suppliers of those bombs? The United States. Later in October, 155 people were killed after Saudi intelligence “accidentally” hit a funeral hall.
The Yemeni war truly began in early 2011, in a period of revolution and reform that captured the Middle East (now referred to as the Arab Spring). The president at that time, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was a corrupt “leader”, gaining an estimated $60 billion through embezzlement and extortion as his country grew poorer day by day. Naturally, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis wanted him removed from his position. Multiple attempts at leadership later, the Houthi rebels (backed by Iran) gained control of Yemen’s government in 2014.
This was Saudi Arabia’s cue to intervene. Afraid that this was Iran’s attempt to expand its powers, Saudi created a coalition made of 8 Middle Eastern countries and the support of the U.S. and the U.K., dedicated to targeting the Houthis. Since then, Yemen has been brutally transformed into the bomb-ridden site of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
In just three brief years, over 5,000 civilians have been killed, with the victims of the latest bombing sadly adding to the statistic. Three million Yemenis have been forced to flee the country due to the combination of famine, inflation, and war that they face. Both the rebels and the Saudi coalition are accused of despicable war crimes and human rights violations, all the the expense of innocent civilian lives.
The question is, why does the United States continue to support this war by providing weaponry and financial support that have been used repeatedly against civilians? To make matters worse, earlier this May, it was found out that the Trump administration has actually sent U.S. troops to Yemen, undisputedly increasing involvement in a conflict that will stain history.
The answer to the question above has been kept top-secret by the U.S. government, but one can surely assume that to the United States, oil is much thicker than the blood of the innocent.
Image Credit: Almigdad Mojalli via Voice of America
