Dear Saudi Crown Prince Supporters: Your Hero May Allow Women to Drive, but He’s Also a War Criminal
Mehdi
Hasan, The Intercept, April 24 2018
Hasan, The Intercept, April 24 2018
Dear fans of
Mohammed bin Salman,
Mohammed bin Salman,
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Photo:
Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Kingdom Council Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images |
I know
you’ve been busy wining
and dining
the crown prince of Saudi Arabia on his recent tour of the United States, but
have you got a spare few minutes for me? I wanted to ask you a few questions.
you’ve been busy wining
and dining
the crown prince of Saudi Arabia on his recent tour of the United States, but
have you got a spare few minutes for me? I wanted to ask you a few questions.
In fact,
I had planned to reach out to you much sooner, but I got diverted last week writing an
open letter to apologists for another brutal Arab dictator: Bashar
al-Assad of Syria. Unlike those apologists, however, who tend to be a motley
and mostly fringe collection of bloggers and conspiracists with very little
mainstream credibility, you are a diverse group that wields
significant power and influence. Your ranks are filled with presidents
and prime
ministers, senators
and CEOs,
TV anchors
and op-ed
columnists — most of whom seem convinced that the blood-stained
MBS is a political revolutionary, a social reformer, and a Muslim moderate.
I had planned to reach out to you much sooner, but I got diverted last week writing an
open letter to apologists for another brutal Arab dictator: Bashar
al-Assad of Syria. Unlike those apologists, however, who tend to be a motley
and mostly fringe collection of bloggers and conspiracists with very little
mainstream credibility, you are a diverse group that wields
significant power and influence. Your ranks are filled with presidents
and prime
ministers, senators
and CEOs,
TV anchors
and op-ed
columnists — most of whom seem convinced that the blood-stained
MBS is a political revolutionary, a social reformer, and a Muslim moderate.
So here
are my questions: Have you heard of Yemen? Does it not bother you in the
slightest that the de facto ruler of one the richest countries in the Arab
world has been bombing and
besieging the poorest country in the Arab world for the past three
years? Have you no shame? No remorse? Don’t any of you regret hosting,
entertaining,
and joking
with a Middle East despot who has shed so much innocent blood?
are my questions: Have you heard of Yemen? Does it not bother you in the
slightest that the de facto ruler of one the richest countries in the Arab
world has been bombing and
besieging the poorest country in the Arab world for the past three
years? Have you no shame? No remorse? Don’t any of you regret hosting,
entertaining,
and joking
with a Middle East despot who has shed so much innocent blood?
To be
clear: I did not expect those of you who are members of the Trump
administration, the defense
industry, the oil industry
or, for that matter, the Bush family,
to do anything other than flatter and fawn over MBS on his recent visit to
these shores. But what of you liberal apologists for the Saudi
dictator-in-waiting? Why did so many of you fall over one another to get a meet-and-greet
with MBS? From major
Hollywood bosses like Brian Grazer and Bob Iger, to Dwayne “The
Rock” Johnson? From the tech titans
of Silicon Valley like Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos and Evan Spiegel,
to the heads of Harvard
and MIT? From
“liberal interventionists,” such as Bill Clinton
and John Kerry,
to liberal capitalists, such as Lloyd
Blankfein and Michael
Bloomberg?
clear: I did not expect those of you who are members of the Trump
administration, the defense
industry, the oil industry
or, for that matter, the Bush family,
to do anything other than flatter and fawn over MBS on his recent visit to
these shores. But what of you liberal apologists for the Saudi
dictator-in-waiting? Why did so many of you fall over one another to get a meet-and-greet
with MBS? From major
Hollywood bosses like Brian Grazer and Bob Iger, to Dwayne “The
Rock” Johnson? From the tech titans
of Silicon Valley like Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos and Evan Spiegel,
to the heads of Harvard
and MIT? From
“liberal interventionists,” such as Bill Clinton
and John Kerry,
to liberal capitalists, such as Lloyd
Blankfein and Michael
Bloomberg?
What
happened to “don’t be evil”?
What happened to “veritas”?
What happened to “saving
innocent lives”? What happened, dare I ask, to your legendary
liberal consciences?
happened to “don’t be evil”?
What happened to “veritas”?
What happened to “saving
innocent lives”? What happened, dare I ask, to your legendary
liberal consciences?
Look, I
get why so many of you have fallen for him: The tall, charming, suited-and-booted
MBS seems to be saying and doing all the right things. He does sound like a
reformer. From June, women will be allowed to
drive in Saudi Arabia — hurrah! Cinemas are opening inside
the kingdom — yay! Cirque du Soleil is heading for
Riyadh later this year — mabruk!
get why so many of you have fallen for him: The tall, charming, suited-and-booted
MBS seems to be saying and doing all the right things. He does sound like a
reformer. From June, women will be allowed to
drive in Saudi Arabia — hurrah! Cinemas are opening inside
the kingdom — yay! Cirque du Soleil is heading for
Riyadh later this year — mabruk!
But what
about “the forgotten
war” in Yemen, as Amnesty International calls it? Just how much
forgetting did you have to do as you lined up to shake the prince’s
blood-stained hands, or delivered encomiums to him on the op-ed pages of the New York
Times and the Washington
Post? Did any of you, over cocktails and canapés with MBS, denounce
his decision to blockade
Yemen, which has caused a “countrywide
famine” and raised the “danger of
mass starvation”? Did any of you challenge him on his role in
starting and prolonging a conflict that that has resulted in the “world’s worst”
cholera outbreak since records
began? United Nations officials have described the situation in
Yemen as “the worst
manmade humanitarian crisis of our time.” Yes and the “man” who
“made” it is MBS — he was, lest we forget, the Saudi defense minister in March
2015, and, as the New York
Times has reported, “took the lead, launching the war… without full
coordination across the security services.”
about “the forgotten
war” in Yemen, as Amnesty International calls it? Just how much
forgetting did you have to do as you lined up to shake the prince’s
blood-stained hands, or delivered encomiums to him on the op-ed pages of the New York
Times and the Washington
Post? Did any of you, over cocktails and canapés with MBS, denounce
his decision to blockade
Yemen, which has caused a “countrywide
famine” and raised the “danger of
mass starvation”? Did any of you challenge him on his role in
starting and prolonging a conflict that that has resulted in the “world’s worst”
cholera outbreak since records
began? United Nations officials have described the situation in
Yemen as “the worst
manmade humanitarian crisis of our time.” Yes and the “man” who
“made” it is MBS — he was, lest we forget, the Saudi defense minister in March
2015, and, as the New York
Times has reported, “took the lead, launching the war… without full
coordination across the security services.”
So what
excuse can you offer for your silence? For your complicity even? Listen to Sarah Leah
Whitson, the director of the Middle East and North Africa division
of Human Rights Watch. Those of you pictured smiling and laughing with the
Saudi crown prince, she told me, are guilty of “either sinister, craven
hypocrisy over what Saudi Arabia is doing in Yemen … or of ignorance from
people who have a responsibility not to be ignorant when their pictures are
being used to legitimize someone who is responsible for dropping cluster bombs
on schools.”
excuse can you offer for your silence? For your complicity even? Listen to Sarah Leah
Whitson, the director of the Middle East and North Africa division
of Human Rights Watch. Those of you pictured smiling and laughing with the
Saudi crown prince, she told me, are guilty of “either sinister, craven
hypocrisy over what Saudi Arabia is doing in Yemen … or of ignorance from
people who have a responsibility not to be ignorant when their pictures are
being used to legitimize someone who is responsible for dropping cluster bombs
on schools.”
Yes, cluster bombs.
Banned
under international law, but repeatedly
deployed
by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Don’t you think that was maybe an issue
worth addressing with the Saudi defense minister over coffee
at Starbucks?
Banned
under international law, but repeatedly
deployed
by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Don’t you think that was maybe an issue
worth addressing with the Saudi defense minister over coffee
at Starbucks?
Here’s
another question: Have any of you spoken out since Sunday evening, when the
Saudi-led coalition bombed a
wedding party in northern Yemen, killing at least 20 people and
wounding more than 50 others? “Most of the dead were women and children,”
reported the Associated
Press. The bride was among those killed while the groom arrived to
the hospital with “shrapnel
scattered across his body.” According to AP, “Footage that emerged
from the scene of the airstrike shows scattered body parts and a young boy in a
green shirt hugging a man’s lifeless body, screaming and crying.”
another question: Have any of you spoken out since Sunday evening, when the
Saudi-led coalition bombed a
wedding party in northern Yemen, killing at least 20 people and
wounding more than 50 others? “Most of the dead were women and children,”
reported the Associated
Press. The bride was among those killed while the groom arrived to
the hospital with “shrapnel
scattered across his body.” According to AP, “Footage that emerged
from the scene of the airstrike shows scattered body parts and a young boy in a
green shirt hugging a man’s lifeless body, screaming and crying.”
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| A Yemeni man, injured in an attack on a wedding party, receives treatment at a hospital in Yemen’s Hajjah province on April 23, 2018. Dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in the bombing, local officials said, with Houthi rebels blaming the Saudi-led military coalition. Photo: Essa Ahmed/AFP/Getty Images |
Do you
expect us to believe that this barbaric attack on a Yemeni wedding was a
mistake? A mere targeting error? Is that how you’re able to get to sleep at
night? But how then do you explain a similar
attack on a funeral ceremony in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa, in
October 2016, which left at least 155 people
dead and more than 500 injured?
Another accident, you say? Not quite. As U.N. monitors noted
in a (leaked) report to the U.N. Security Council, there were two airstrikes,
the second of which occurred “three to eight minutes after the first” and
killed “the already wounded and the first responders,” and “in respect of the
second airstrike … the Saudi Arabia-led coalition violated its obligations in
respect of hors de combat and the wounded in this ‘double tap’ attack.”
expect us to believe that this barbaric attack on a Yemeni wedding was a
mistake? A mere targeting error? Is that how you’re able to get to sleep at
night? But how then do you explain a similar
attack on a funeral ceremony in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa, in
October 2016, which left at least 155 people
dead and more than 500 injured?
Another accident, you say? Not quite. As U.N. monitors noted
in a (leaked) report to the U.N. Security Council, there were two airstrikes,
the second of which occurred “three to eight minutes after the first” and
killed “the already wounded and the first responders,” and “in respect of the
second airstrike … the Saudi Arabia-led coalition violated its obligations in
respect of hors de combat and the wounded in this ‘double tap’ attack.”
So you
may want to continue to look away, to turn a blind eye, but the reality is
that, since 2015, the Saudi-led coalition has killed thousands of
defenseless civilians in Yemen by bombing not just weddings and
funerals, but also schools,
hospitals,
markets,
factories,
power plants,
bridges,
ports,
and residential
areas.
may want to continue to look away, to turn a blind eye, but the reality is
that, since 2015, the Saudi-led coalition has killed thousands of
defenseless civilians in Yemen by bombing not just weddings and
funerals, but also schools,
hospitals,
markets,
factories,
power plants,
bridges,
ports,
and residential
areas.
These are
war crimes,
plain and simple. And, yes, before you say it, let me concede that the Houthi
rebels have also committed horrific
war crimes.
But human rights
groups and U.N.
investigators agree that it is your friend, your hero, MBS, the
great reformer, who is responsible for the vast majority of the unlawful
killings in Yemen.
war crimes,
plain and simple. And, yes, before you say it, let me concede that the Houthi
rebels have also committed horrific
war crimes.
But human rights
groups and U.N.
investigators agree that it is your friend, your hero, MBS, the
great reformer, who is responsible for the vast majority of the unlawful
killings in Yemen.
Why does
none of this seem to bother you? And if these are not war crimes, then what are
they? What value does such a term have if it doesn’t extend to the massacre of
a bride and her wedding party? I can’t help but note that many of you supported
the U.S.-led
bombing of Syria earlier this month as a way of trying to deter
Assad’s air force from committing crimes against humanity; as a way of trying
to protect Syrian civilians from being killed, maimed, and gassed. Why do you
(rightly) deem the bombs dropped by Assad on Syrian schools and hospitals to be
violations of international law, but not the bombs dropped by MBS on Yemeni
schools and hospitals? Why are you so outraged by the Syrian president’s use of
banned
weapons, but not by the Saudi crown prince’s use of banned
weapons? Do the lives of innocent Yemenis not matter to you? Do
they not register on your moral radar?
none of this seem to bother you? And if these are not war crimes, then what are
they? What value does such a term have if it doesn’t extend to the massacre of
a bride and her wedding party? I can’t help but note that many of you supported
the U.S.-led
bombing of Syria earlier this month as a way of trying to deter
Assad’s air force from committing crimes against humanity; as a way of trying
to protect Syrian civilians from being killed, maimed, and gassed. Why do you
(rightly) deem the bombs dropped by Assad on Syrian schools and hospitals to be
violations of international law, but not the bombs dropped by MBS on Yemeni
schools and hospitals? Why are you so outraged by the Syrian president’s use of
banned
weapons, but not by the Saudi crown prince’s use of banned
weapons? Do the lives of innocent Yemenis not matter to you? Do
they not register on your moral radar?
“Ah, but
you can’t compare Syria to Yemen,” I hear some of you say. “They’re not the
same.” Maybe not, but they do have much in common. The two Middle East conflicts
“are on the same level,” says Whitson of Human Rights Watch, “in terms of
comparing the … wildly indiscriminate and reckless bombardment that makes no
effort to distinguish between civilians and combatants.” Then there is the
ongoing Saudi-led blockade of Yemen, she adds, which is “inhuman” and an
“exemplar action of collective punishment.”
you can’t compare Syria to Yemen,” I hear some of you say. “They’re not the
same.” Maybe not, but they do have much in common. The two Middle East conflicts
“are on the same level,” says Whitson of Human Rights Watch, “in terms of
comparing the … wildly indiscriminate and reckless bombardment that makes no
effort to distinguish between civilians and combatants.” Then there is the
ongoing Saudi-led blockade of Yemen, she adds, which is “inhuman” and an
“exemplar action of collective punishment.”
Earlier
this year, the U.N.’s humanitarian chief said
Yemen “looks like the apocalypse.” Unless the situation on the ground changes,
he added, “We’re going to have the world’s worst humanitarian disaster for 50
years.”
this year, the U.N.’s humanitarian chief said
Yemen “looks like the apocalypse.” Unless the situation on the ground changes,
he added, “We’re going to have the world’s worst humanitarian disaster for 50
years.”
But, hey
ho, MBS gave
citizenship to “Sophia,” the female robot, and is going to let women
drive; he hosted Toby Keith
and screened “Black Panther“;
he wants to part-privatize
Saudi Aramco and build a
high-tech city in the desert. He also wants to carry on
buying U.S. weapons and has recognized Israel’s “right”
to a homeland in the Middle East.
ho, MBS gave
citizenship to “Sophia,” the female robot, and is going to let women
drive; he hosted Toby Keith
and screened “Black Panther“;
he wants to part-privatize
Saudi Aramco and build a
high-tech city in the desert. He also wants to carry on
buying U.S. weapons and has recognized Israel’s “right”
to a homeland in the Middle East.
So who
cares about Yemen, right? Isn’t that your calculation? To hope that no one pays
attention to the thousands
dying and millions
starving while you continue to heap praise and plaudits on their
Saudi oppressor?
cares about Yemen, right? Isn’t that your calculation? To hope that no one pays
attention to the thousands
dying and millions
starving while you continue to heap praise and plaudits on their
Saudi oppressor?
What else
can I say? You are accomplices to a war criminal.
can I say? You are accomplices to a war criminal.
Sincerely,
Mehdi
Hasan
Hasan
