KATHY KELLY: Well, the school bus was carrying children on their field trip and one little boy on the bus had actually taken footage of the kids, you know, doing what kids do on a bus. They’re giggling and kind of moving around and getting a chance to talk with each other. And now that little boy who filmed it was killed. His cell phone was retrieved and CNN showed that video footage. They were kids who were looking forward for days to this holiday that they were going to get to take, going to a grassy area for a picnic following the summer school they’d been in, which was for religious studies.
The Saudis initially said, “No, no, there were no children on that bus.” And now they’ve said, “Well, we’ll do an investigation.” But it seems to me highly inadequate to say, oh, okay, the Saudis will investigate this situation because already the Saudi king has issued a pardon for any Saudi military person’s activities that might in any way be seen to be wrongdoing. He’s just absolved them all in advance.
So, we’ve found that in the past when the Saudis targeted and hit a Doctors Without Borders hospital, they said, “Well, we’ll ask our American counterparts for better guidance.” Well, the United States had just hit the three weeks earlier a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan. So might’ve been even a bit tongue-in-cheek – you know, at this point, trying to understand the extent of suffering the Saudis are causing. I think certainly you know, the parents and the relatives and friends of those children and the traumatized survivors of the killing and bloodshed when the bus was hit is front and center in our minds. But, in June of this past summer, the Doctors Without Borders had just finished completing a center for treatment of cholera and they’re anticipating a third epidemic wave of cholera and the Saudis bombed that.
BETWEEN THE LINES: There was a very disturbing news report that emerged recently that talked about the Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi rebels in Yemen, secured secret deals with al Qaeda in Yemen and recruited hundreds of the group’s fighters to assist them in their battle against the Houthis. What can you tell us about the deal-making that’s going on between the Saudi-led coalition and these terrorist groups?
KATHY KELLY: Well, it seems like the Saudi-led coalition wanted to say, “Oh yes, we’ve rooted all of these Al-Qaeda in the Arab peninsula fighters.” But then it turned out that was hardly the case. They paid some of the commanders really handsome sums of money and they gave safe passage to convoys of these fighters who were moving out and at one place, there was even a farewell dinner for them. So, you know, I think the United States perhaps isn’t going to want it to be well- known that it’s supposed to partners in fighting the war on terror actually in some ways linked up with the people that are supposedly the terrorists and that they then say, well, you know, if you want, you can come and work for us. How would that be? And then recruit them into their armed services. I mean, you don’t find very many Saudi military people on the ground in Yemen doing the fighting. They’ve brought people over from amongst the Janjaweed fighters in south Sudan. They bought a people that are desperate from other African countries in to do the fighting and now they’re trying to recruit Al-Qaeda in the Arab peninsula, former fighters.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Earlier this year, members of the House of Representatives bipartisan group of congresspeople got together and put forward some measures that would put them on record as being opposed to the U.S. involvement in the Yemen war. What is the current status of efforts to continue opposition to what the Trump administration is doing and aiding the Saudi coalition in Yemen?
KATHY KELLY: Oh, Rep. Ro Khanna in California and Rep. Barbara Lee I’m hoping will press forward with the one piece of legislation, House Resolution 81, which is still on the books. It would be possible to get more co-sponsors, but you know, that Resolution 81 could have gone forward for a vote. Instead Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer decided that he would put forth a different resolution, which was a non-binding resolution and it condemned the Saudi war. But because it was non-binding, it didn’t mean anything. It was just like if you or I made a statement.
And so, I think there’s a high reluctance to offend the Saudi prince. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud came to the United States. He was treated like royalty. He was met with by every past president of the United States who’s alive today, Oprah Winfrey and met with him. Heads of show biz met with him.
He went all around the United States making public relations appearances. And then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan organized a delegation to go over to Saudi Arabia and people shook hands with the crown prince. And, President Trump’s first international trip was to Saudi Arabia. So I think the Saudi royalty that haven’t been locked up by their brother is an interesting story. He rounded up his cousins and some of his own brothers and kind of kept them at the Ritz Carlton until they agreed to turn over vast parts of their fortunes because I think he is very worried about how he’s going to pay for this war that costs $200 million a day.
