Author: Dave DeCamp

A coalition of antiwar groups is leading a week of action to push for an end to the war in Yemen and is urging Americans to contact their Representatives and tell them to support H.J. Res. 87, a War Powers Resolution that was introduced in the House on May 31.

Call 1-833-Stop-War to get connected to your Representative’s office. Visit 1833stopwar.com for instructions on what to say.

Demand Progress put together a helpful list where you can see if your Representative supports the bill.

H.J. Res. 87 would end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen by directing the president “to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Houthis in the Republic of Yemen.”

“Hostilities” as defined by the bill include “sharing intelligence for the purpose of enabling offensive coalition strikes” and “providing logistical support for offensive coalition strikes, including by providing maintenance or transferring spare parts to coalition members flying warplanes engaged in anti-Houthi bombings in Yemen.”

The Resolution came after the most successful ceasefire since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen with support from the U.S. in 2015. Fighting has been reported on the ground and the humanitarian situation is still dire, but for over two months, no coalition airstrikes have been recorded in Yemen.

H.J. Res. 87 has already received 85 cosponsors, including nine Republicans. Now is the time to get this legislation to President Biden’s desk and end this brutal war that has taken at least 377,000 lives.

For more information on the war in Yemen check out these frequently asked questions from the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Antiwar.com is proud to have joined over 100 organizations in endorsing the War Powers Resolution.

Since the incident at the US Capitol last week, Joe Biden, his fellow Democrats, and many Republicans have made it clear that they view those who stormed the building as “domestic terrorists.”

The label raises fears of new legislation that targets domestic terror or even a Patriot Act 2.0. And it seems that US intelligence agencies, along with their stenographers in the media, are priming us for just that.

A story published by NBC News on Tuesday cites anonymous FBI officials who say they were unable to share intelligence that violence was expected at the Capitol on January 6th due to one factor — that it would violate free speech.

The report reads: “FBI intelligence analysts gathered information about possible violence involving the US Capitol on Jan. 6., but the FBI never distributed a formal intelligence bulletin, in part because of concerns that doing so might have run afoul of free speech protections.”

The authors go on to explain: “Because Al Qaeda and ISIS are designated terrorist organizations under the law, the FBI feels more free to disseminate intelligence about Americans linked to them in any way. There are no designations for domestic terrorist groups.”

One nameless FBI official “confirmed” with NBC that they had indications violence would happen but “felt constrained from sharing some of the information because of First Amendment concerns.”

So the FBI wants us to believe that if it wasn’t for that pesky First Amendment, everything could have been avoided. Nothing a little legislation can’t fix.

The fearless adversarial journalists at NBC go on to say: “Some experts say the lack of a domestic terrorism statute constrains the FBI from treating far-right and far-left groups the same as Americans who are radicalized to violence by Al Qaeda or ISIS ideology.”

Notably, but not surprisingly, one of the co-authors of the NBC piece, Ken Dilanian, is a known CIA asset. FOIA documents published by The Intercept in 2014 show Dilanian communicating with one of his CIA handlers, making sure the agency is pleased with how he reports CIA drone strikes.

Domestic terrorism legislation has been introduced in Congress before. In 2019 and 2020 bills were introduced that would enable the creation of domestic terror offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the FBI. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) sponsored and introduced one of the bills and says he’s ready to do it again in the wake of the Capitol incident.

Joe Biden’s team is reportedly working on domestic terror laws. A bill from Biden, the author of the infamous 1994 Crime Bill who has taken credit for drafting the Patriot Act, would likely go much further than creating new offices in a few government agencies.

Now, the intelligence agencies are warning of impending political violence on January 20th. Any Trump supporters considering political violence that day will only be playing into the hands of the deep state they have learned to despise over these past four years. And the left-wingers calling for the “insurrectionists” to be locked up should be cautious. Any new Patriot Act will be turned right around on them.

On Saturday, January 16th, at 2pm ET there will be a free virtual screening of “Hunger Ward,” a film that documents the man-made famine in Yemen that is a direct result of the US-Saudi siege on the country. The screening will be followed by a Zoom panel featuring US Rep. Ro Khanna and UK MP Andrew Mitchell. Register here.

About the Film

August 9th, 2018 was the day I had to do something. On that day, the US-Saudi coalition dropped a bomb on a school bus in North Yemen, killing 40 children.

And nobody cared.

This horrific war crime received more media coverage than most atrocities in Yemen do, and plenty of Yemenis and antiwar activists certainly cared. What I mean is – nobody in my life cared. None of my friends, family, or coworkers even knew about the war in Yemen. And who could blame them?

The lack of mainstream media coverage is staggering. A study from the media watchdog group FAIR showed that between July 2017 and July 2018 MSNBC did not devote a single segment to the war in Yemen.

For that reason, I decided to get involved with independent media, since that’s how I learned about the war in Yemen and other atrocities. But where to start? No experience, no journalism school, just a lot of passion and anger towards the war machine. Around the same time, I met my wife. On our first date, we bonded over our shared opposition to US wars and imperialism – not something you would expect on a first date in New York (so naturally, I had to marry her).

I used to fancy myself a leftist because of my anti-imperialist views, but my wife introduced me to the antiwar libertarians, and perhaps the most important antiwar voice of our time, Scott Horton. Listening to Scott’s show brought me back to Antiwar.com, a website I read in my high school days.

Reading Antiwar.com and combing through Justin Raimondo’s endless masterpieces inspired me to submit a story of my own to the site. I sent a short piece about a brutal execution of Shia protesters inside Saudi Arabia, and Antiwar.com published it.

Getting that first article published was the motivation I needed. Soon, I was sending in a piece or two every week. One day, Eric Garris called and asked if I would like to be more involved and contribute to the news sections that Jason Ditz has been tirelessly working in since 2003. I was thrilled to get the offer, and I dove in headfirst.

It is an absolute honor to be a part of Antiwar.com’s staff as the assistant news editor. I’ve never felt so passionate about something in my life, and it still feels surreal that I found such a great website to work for. I certainly owe a lot to Eric for taking a chance on me and to Scott Horton, who took the time to help me edit my first articles, with all of their grammatical errors.

That’s what you get with Antiwar.com. A small group of people who care so much about one thing – ending war. We might not all be perfectly polished journalists, but we are dedicated, and we will work tirelessly to expose the War Party and provide our readers with the truth.

But no matter how much dedication and passion we have, we need our readers for support. Some major donors pledged up to $34,000 for our current fundraiser, but in order to secure these funds, we need our smaller donors to match that amount.

Please help me continue my journey with Antiwar.com!

Please make your tax-deductible contribution today.

The National Guard and Louisville PD broke up a gathering for violating curfew around 12:15 AM on June 1st. They opened fire on the crowd and killed local business owner David McAtee.

McAtee was loved by his community, ran a BBQ restaurant, and even fed local police for free. His sister told reporters the gathering was not related to the protests that caused the city to enact a curfew.

The heroic Chelsea Manning was released from jail yesterday after spending almost a year behind bars for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks in front of a grand jury. For every day she refused to testify, the judge ordered Manning to pay $1,000 in fines, which added up to $256,000.

Help ease Manning’s suffering and contribute to this Go Fund Me to help pay her fines. As of the writing of this post, the page has already raised over $75,000!