May 14, 2018
From the article:
WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration is doubling down on its claim that it cannot know whether U.S. support for a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen enables the bombing of civilians, according to a Pentagon document sent to select Senate offices last week and shared with HuffPost.
The Defense Department gave two reasons for not having that information. It said it does not know whether the Saudi and United Arab Emirates planes that receive American aerial refueling are headed for bombing runs or reconnaissance missions, and it cannot investigate the impact of Saudi-UAE airstrikes since Yemen is a conflict zone.
But in the same document, the Pentagon maintains that it believes the Saudi-led coalition has become better at preventing civilian casualties ― offering no evidence of how the U.S. can know that.
The two-pager represents a previously unreported part of the Pentagon effort to solidify opposition to a Senate resolution that aims to end U.S. assistance to the coalition because Congress never authorized it when then-President Barack Obama initiated the aid in 2015.
A vote on the measure, sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), is expected later this week.
The Pentagon document, sent on March 15, fleshes out testimony that Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, gave on March 13 to the Senate Armed Services Committee. In sometimes heated exchanges with several lawmakers, Votel said the U.S. should continue its support for the coalition even if it cannot tell whether American fuel or bombs are used in airstrikes that kill civilians.
...“Let’s be super clear: the Saudi military has made no serious effort to limit civilian casualties in Yemen.”
- Obama-era foreign aid official Jeremy Konyndyk