President Trump Vetoes Bill to End US Involvement in Yemen War


President Trump, using his power of veto for the second time, rejected a resolution from Congress to end US military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Trump said the bill was a “dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities.” Congress has the legal ability to compel the removal of US military forces, absent a formal declaration of war.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday vetoed a resolution from Congress directing him to end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the second such move of his presidency.

The resolution
was a harsh bipartisan rebuke to Trump that took the historic step of
curtailing a president’s war-making powers — a step the president
condemned in a statement announcing his veto.

“This resolution is
an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional
authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave
service members, both today and in the future,” Trump said.

Vetoing
the measure is an “effective green light for the war strategy that has
created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis to continue,” said
International Rescue Committee president and CEO David Miliband.

“This
veto by President Trump is morally wrong and strategically wrongheaded.
It sets back the hopes for respite for the Yemeni people, and leaves
the US upholding a failed strategy.

Yemen is
at a breaking point with 10 million people on the brink of famine.
There are as many as 100 civilian casualties per week, and Yemenis are
more likely to be killed at home than in any other structure.”

The
veto was the second of his presidency, after he overrode a
congressional resolution that aimed to reverse the border emergency he
declared in order to secure more funding for his wall between the United
States and Mexico in March.

Trump argued that US support for the bloody war
between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-aligned Huthi
rebels was necessary for a variety of reasons, “first and foremost” to
“protect the safety of the more than 80,000 Americans who reside in
certain coalition countries.”

These countries “have been subject
to Huthi attacks from Yemen,” he said, referring to drone and missile
strikes the Saudi-led coalition has either claimed were intercepted or
denied altogether.

The president also said the resolution would
“harm the foreign policy of the United States” and “harm our bilateral
relationships.”

War crimes

And it would
“negatively affect our ongoing efforts to prevent civilian casualties
and prevent the spread of terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS, and embolden Iran’s malign activities in
Yemen,” Trump said, referring to two Sunni Muslim militant groups and
his Shiite bete noire.

The resolution, which passed the US House of Representatives earlier this month and the Senate
in March, was a historic milestone, as it was the first time in history
that a measure invoking the 1973 War Powers Resolution reached the
president’s desk.

It was a reminder that Congress has the legal
ability to compel the removal of US military forces, absent a formal
declaration of war.

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