Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner: Armaments and Conflict in the Middle East with Mohamad Bazzi, journalism professor at New York University, a former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday and a former Council on Foreign Relations fellow. He is currently writing a book on the proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Mohamad Bazzi, recently wrote for The Nation that Trumps public statements on Saudi killing in Yemen reflect "a narrative that has been gaining traction for years among U.S. officials and in sectors of the Western media: that the Saudis and their allies in the Yemen war, especially the United Arab Emirates, are killing civilians and destroying infrastructure by mistake. But this is not true. The Saudi coalition has targeted civilians and the countrys infrastructure by design since it intervened in Yemens civil war in March 2015. Its not that the Saudis and their allies dont know how to use American-made weapons or need help in choosing targets -- theyre using them as intended. And American officials have known this for years."
Bazzi has written extensively on the war in Yemen and the Trump administration circumventing Congress on arms to Saudi Arabia while civilians are being targeted -and recently said: "the Trump administration stated it plans to circumvent Congress to sell billions in new weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. U.S. officials have known for years that the Saudi/UAE coalition deliberately targets civilians in Yemen with U.S. weapons."
Produced by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash
please notify us if you plan to broadcast this program - knash@igc.org