Newsweek: Airstrikes by Allies, Not 'US-Made' Airstrikes
Newsweek headlines 'US Allies Clash in Territory of War-Torn Neighbor,' subtly erasing the fact that these "allies" – Saudi Arabia and the UAE – are engaged in a brutal, years-long war in Yemen, largely thanks to billions in US arms sales. The Saudi-led coalition, heavily armed by the US, (according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the US supplied 79% of Saudi Arabia's arms
imports between 2015-2019), unleashed devastation, creating what the UN called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Yet, the framing here is two distant 'allies' having a minor disagreement, not two US-armed proxies executing a US-enabled war, leading to a cholera outbreak affecting over a million people (WHO, 2017 data). It's always 'regional conflicts' or 'allies clashing' when US-supplied
bombs are doing the work. The US supplied weapons to the Saudi-led coalition, including Boeing JDAM kits and Raytheon Paveway bombs (Amnesty International, 2016 report), used in documented civilian infrastructure strikes. One might wonder if the 'US' only qualifies for direct blame when US soldiers pull the trigger, not when US arms dealers facilitate mass murder. The euphemisms are exhausting.
How many 'allies' does it take to create a famine before the media connects the dots to their Washington benefactor?