Despite numerous inquiries putting the blame for the majority of ongoing civilian misery in Yemen on the shoulders of a US ally, floundering Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday said that “Iran was taking down the government of Yemen” and “set the entire Middle East on fire.”
Graham cited the conflict in the Arabian Peninsula as a reason to oppose the Iranian nuclear deal during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington.
“President Obama can’t get this deal,” Graham said. “He has neither the will nor an understanding of the complexities of the Middle East. But I do.”
Graham’s assessment, however, isn’t consistent with reams of reports that have found a coalition led by Saudi Arabia to be responsible for the escalation of violence in Yemen.
The contingent invaded in March, after Houthi rebels supported by the country’s former president, Ali Abdullah al-Saleh, toppled its internationally-recognized government.
Human Rights Watch—a non-governmental organization often accused of allying itself too closely with the US government—said last month the majority of 2,000 civilian fatalities that occurred since March have been caused by coalition airstrikes. HRW representatives have described Saudi-led airstrikes as criminal and called the coalition’s use of cluster munitions as “indefensible.”
The Intercept also reported that there is “evidence of a pattern of Saudi-coalition airstrikes that show indiscriminate bombing of civilians and rescuers.”
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the Saudi-led forces “killed at least 20 Indian nationals in air strikes on fuel smugglers” in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital.
Houthi rebels have also been accused by HRW and 22 other NGOs of indiscriminate attacks and other war crimes in a letter calling on the UN to investigate all sides.
Last year, Reuters reported that the Shia militants were receiving “Iranian military and financial support” prior to their September takeover of Sanaa. The wire service noted, however, that the level of assistance had been disputed by sources, and that the Saudi government had also been accused of prior “blatant” support to domestic factions.
The conflict itself, it noted, was largely sparked by “popular discontent over corruption and the removal of fuel subsidies.”
Since March, US forces have assisted the Saudi coalition intervening in Yemen by providing intelligence, logistics, and weaponry. They have also helped enforce a naval blockade that has left half of Yemen’s 21 million citizens “facing food insecurity,” in the words of HRW.
Sen. Graham has styled himself as a foreign policy expert and often brings up instability in the Middle East during presidential campaign speeches.
“I’m best qualified to be Commander in Chief at a time we need somebody who knows what the hell they are doing,” he said Tuesday.
Since launching his campaign, the senior US Senator from South Carolina hasn’t scored higher than 2 percent in national polls.
One Quinnipiac poll released Aug. 27 showed that no Republicans would vote for him.
