Friends,
Please do not tell me that I live in a democracy. A democracy does not allow weapons contractors to bribe presidents or members of Congress. The amount of money Biden took from weapons contractors is scandalous. And the Empire uses these weapons to kill noncombatants, the majority of those who die from US weapons.
Kagiso, Max
Biden’s Campaign Donors
Don’t Want Him to End US Support for the Yemen War
President Joe Biden speaks
during a meeting with the White House Competition Council in the East Room of
the White House on January 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C.ALEX WONG / GETTY
IMAGES
In late January, the
Saudi-United Arab Emirates (UAE) coalition carried out an airstrike on a prison
in Yemen, killing more than 90 detainees and
injuring many more. Among the rubble was a fragment of the weapon used to do
it. On it was a Raytheon Technologies manufacturer code. A few
days later, the CEO of Raytheon, Greg Hayes, was discussing the escalation of
the war in Yemen and Ukraine when he said, “I fully expect we’re going to
see some benefit from it.”
The Biden administration,
ignoring its promises about Yemen from a year ago, is embracing the escalation
of the war as they refuse to suspend any support to Saudi Arabia. Raytheon, a
company that sees profits from the war in Yemen, gave President Joe Biden’s
presidential campaign over half a million dollars in 2020.
In early November of 2021, the
Biden administration announced a massive arms sale of $650 million worth of medium-range
missiles and missile rail launchers to Saudi Arabia. The primary contractor for
these weapons is Raytheon.
Aisha Jumaan, the Yemeni
founder of Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, called out the
responsibility of arms supplying companies like Raytheon, saying, “I would like to ask Greg Hayes,
what would you say to the family members of those who were killed by your
weapons? How would you feel if your family was targeted by these arsenals?”
Finding United
States-manufactured weapons in Yemen is nothing new. In 2018, a bomb later identified as a Lockheed
Martin product was dropped on a Yemeni school bus, killing more than 40
children.
When people discuss who is winning
the war in Yemen, the answer will never be the Houthis, Saudi Arabia, or the
UAE. Weapons companies funded by the U.S. taxpayer through Pentagon contracts
are who’s winning the war. Weapons manufacturers that reinvest their money into
political campaigns like President Biden’s are who’s winning the war.
With Saudi Arabia remaining the
number one buyer of weapons from the U.S, these companies make millions —
sometimes billions — of dollars arming the Saudi-UAE led coalition, and Biden
took campaign donations from all of them. According to OpenSecrets, Biden’s
campaign took $527,010 from Raytheon, $447,047 from Lockheed Martin, $726,873 from Boeing, $416,276 from Northrop Grumman, and $237,104 from General Dynamics.
U.S. companies are coming out
on top at the expense of 30 million Yemenis, and the president’s political campaigns
benefit from the companies’ ability to make so much money off conflict.
On February 4 of last year,
President Biden announced to the world that the U.S. would be ending
“offensive” support for the war in Yemen. Peace activists rejoiced for a moment
but were quick to ask Biden what “offensive” really meant. What wasn’t
“offensive” about Saudi Arabia and the UAE waging war and maintaining a
blockade on a sovereign country like Yemen? Activists asked him what the
announcement meant. Members of Congress asked for clarification as well. They never got
answers. A year later, bombs are raining down on Yemen’s main
cities while the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia remains
unimpeded, and manufacturing codes of Biden’s campaign donors are still found
in the rubble left behind by war crimes.
Raytheon, a company that sees
profits from the war in Yemen, gave President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign
over half a million dollars in 2020.
On the anniversary of Biden’s
announcement promising to end offensive support to Saudi Arabia, the situation
on the ground is worse than ever. Airstrikes have gone up in the first year of Biden’s
presidency, compared to former President Donald Trump’s last year in office.
Fuel and food are still not allowed to flow freely into Yemen because of the
Saudi blockade. Fuel shortages are causing hospitals to risk losing power as
they try to treat the countless children who are malnourished. Worst-case
estimates say that a child dies every 75 seconds in Yemen.
Blaming Biden for his refusal
to act isn’t enough now. His campaign donors like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin
benefit from the carnage. Their executives feel comfortable enough with that
fact to admit it openly in their meetings.
In 2018 and 2019, when President
Trump refused to act, Democrats and some Republicans in Congress made it a
point to pass a War Powers Resolution to signal to the White House that
Congress does not consent to the U.S.’s role in Yemen. Lawmakers in Congress
must introduce and pass a new War Powers Resolution for Yemen soon if they are
serious about ending U.S. complicity in the war.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be
reprinted without permission.
Danaka Katovich is a national organizer at CODEPINK. Danaka
graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in political science
in November 2020. Since 2018, she has been working toward ending U.S.
participation in the war in Yemen. At CODEPINK, she works on youth outreach as
a facilitator of the Peace Collective, CODEPINK’s youth cohort that focuses on
anti-imperialist education and divestment.
Donations can be sent
to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206,
Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at]
comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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