Tens of thousands have died in Yemen as a Saudi-led bombing campaign continues to fuel a devastating civil war. And the U.S. has been fueling military efforts by Saudi Arabia in this four year conflict.
This hour, we ask Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy: what are the next steps to address this humanitarian crisis, now that the senate has failed to override the president’s veto of a resolution to end American involvement in the war?
We also talk with a former ambassador to Yemen about the roots of the conflict. And we hear from the president of Save the Children about the physical and mental toll of the war on a generation of children in Yemen—where an estimated 85 thousand children may have died of starvation.
And we also get the latest from Wethersfield, Connecticut where dashcam footage from a fatal police shooting was released in early May.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
GUESTS:
- Ryan Lindsay - Reporter for Connecticut Public Radio and the Guns & America public radio reporting collaborative (@RLindsayReports)
- Senator Chris Murphy - Democratic U.S. Senator for Connecticut, and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (@ChrisMurphyCT)
- Ambassador (ret.) Barbara Bodine - Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen; she is Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and the Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University
- Carolyn Miles - President and CEO of Save The Children, based in Fairfield, Connecticut (@carolynsave)
READING LIST:
Connecticut Public Radio: Videos Of Wethersfield, Conn. Police Shooting Released, From Traffic Stop To Fatal Shots (Ryan Lindsay, May 2019) – “Nearly two weeks since a Wethersfield police officer shot an 18-year-old driver after a traffic stop, the chief state’s attorney’s office released dashcam footage and surveillance video on Friday that show the incident that led to the man’s death.”
New York Times: How the War in Yemen Became a Bloody Stalemate—and the Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World (October 2018) – “The war has turned much of Yemen into a wasteland and has killed at least 10,000 civilians, mostly in errant airstrikes. The real number is probably much higher, but verifying casualties in Yemen’s remote areas is extremely difficult. Some 14 million people are facing starvation, in what the United Nations has said could soon become the worst famine seen in the world in 100 years. Disease is rampant, including the world’s worst modern outbreak of cholera.”
Washington Post: Senate fails to override Trump’s veto of resolution demanding end to U.S. involvement in Yemen war (May 2019) – “It brought along some Republicans troubled by the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen, where more than 20 million people are at risk of starvation, and others frustrated by the lack of clear congressional authorization for participation in the conflict. But most Republican lawmakers objected to using Congress’s war powers to end what amounts to a support operation.”
Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
