WASHINGTON – Following a CNN investigation that found that U.S. weapons sold to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have fallen into the hands of terrorists linked to al Qaeda, Salafi militias, and other factions in Yemen, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for the United States to end its involvement in the civil war in Yemen. Last week, Murphy joined U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in introducing a War Powers Resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Last year, Murphy, Sanders and Lee were successful in passing a joint resolution in the U.S. Senate.

“This is a nightmare situation but it was totally foreseeable. When the United States indiscriminately sends weapons into war zones, they inevitably get into the wrong hands. This happened in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It happened a few years ago when we tried to train and equip the Syrian rebels, and instead saw weapons fall into the hands of Sunni extremist groups. And now we know the weapons we sold to the Saudis and the Emirates have fallen into the hands of terrorists and Iran. This investigation needs to be a wake-up call. Congress should immediately pass our bipartisan War Powers Resolution to get us out of the war in Yemen that has gone horribly wrong, and we must stop selling weapons to help Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue to perpetuate this disastrous war,” said Murphy.

Since 2015, Murphy has been a vocal critic of the United States’ support for the Saudi-led civil war in Yemen that has led to devastating humanitarian consequences and a security vacuum that has empowered terrorist groups, like ISIS and al Qaeda, to grow stronger in the region. Murphy reiterated his call for the suspension of military support for the Saudi-led campaign throughout the years, and echoed his call in an op-ed in the Washington Post after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

 

###