Scott Horton Show - Just the Interviews - 11/30/21 Hassan El-Tayyab on This Weeks Senate Vote to Block the Saudi Arms Sale

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Hassan El-Tayyab is back with an update on a Senate vote taking place later this week that aims to block the Biden Administrations' $600 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia. The resolution is the result of Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee teaming up with Bernie Sanders. And so, with both parties already being represented, it’s the perfect time to attack the Left from the left and the Right from the right. El-Tayyab has already seen members of Congress react positively to pressure from their constituents on this issue. Follow the links below to reach out to your Senator and tell them to vote yes on S.J.Res.31.  Discussed on the show: Find Your Senator Find Your Representative Hassan El-Tayyab is a musician and peace activist, who works as the lead lobbyist on Middle East policy for the Friends Committee on National Legislation. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State and Why The Vietnam War?, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; EasyShip; Free Range Feeder; Thc Hemp Spot; Green Mill Supercritical; Bug-A-Salt; Lorenzotti Coffee and Listen and Think Audio. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, y'all, welcome to the Scott Horton Show. I'm the director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of antivore.com, author of the book, Pools Aaron, time to end the war in Afghanistan, and the brand new, enough already. Time to end the war on terrorism. And I've recorded more than 5,500 interviews since 2000. almost all on foreign policy and all available for you at scothorton dot four you can sign up for the podcast feed there and the full interview archive is also available at youtube.com slash scot horton's show all right you guys again introducing hassan el tyeb from the friends committee on national legislation f c n l that's the quaker lobby against war for peace in washington dc and they do a lot of great work and especially lately, of course, on Yemen. Welcome back. Thanks so much, Scott.

Hey, man, happy to have here. So, listen, there was a time not long ago where we said, man, where is Rand Paul on this? Because, ah, we know that he knows better. And then, but he's quiet. But then now he's not. And we got Rand Paul and Mike Lee, the two best Republicans in the Senate by far on foreign policy. And teaming over. with Bernie Sanders, the most famous socialist in the U.S. Senate, and who else and what else, and to what end and what are they doing? And tell us everything. Well, thank you so much for having me on to chat about this, you know, today and so many other times in the past. So the Biden administration, they made an announcement on November 4th, and they notified Congress that they had

plans to sell $650 million in air-to-air munitions to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Now, they claim that these were defensive weapons, but, you know, a lot of folks are rightfully concerned that, you know, these proposed arms sales risk fueling continued civilian harm by strengthening Saudi Arabia's capacity to enforce its devastating blockade of Yemen. And we just, We also believe that it sends a message of impunity to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as they continue to wage war and enforce this blockade on the Red Sea ports and Sanae Airport, which is having devastating impacts on the humanitarian crisis. And doing that with no consequences from key allies like the United States. You know, the Biden administration early on, they said that they were going to end support for these offensive operations. but they're kind of, you know, skirting that by calling certain things defensive.

Now, that is critical. So thankfully, we've seen, you know, Senator Rand Paul, Senator Mike Lee, Senator Sanders, introduce a joint resolution of disapproval to block this $650 million weapon sale. And that was introduced, I think, last week. And, you know, they've collected a few co-sponsors. Senator Warren just got on. Senator Leahy and Senator Wyden from Oregon. And I think it's critical that we get as much support as we can to block this sale and then push for, and it's guaranteed because it's a joint resolution and disapproval on this weapon sale in the Senate.

It's actually guaranteed to get a floor consideration. And we're expecting the vote sometime before December 4th. So it could be later this week or, you know, even early next week. There's still a little bit of squishiness on the timing of the vote. But anyway, that's the gist of this. I'll also just say that Congressman Ilhan Omar and Congressman McGovern introduced a House version. That's not going to get a vote because of the privileged status rules in the House of Representatives, but that's also sitting there.

So I think we should build support for both vehicles. Okay. wait um get back to the house version in a second there a couple of questions well first of all the fourth is this saturday right so the vote has to be either you expected to be either tomorrow Thursday or Friday or do you have any idea if it's going to be one or more of those one or the other of those i mean yeah yeah so that's you know i think it's going to be later this week and that's you know what we're pushing for uh there there's been a little bit of confusion and sometimes that happens where like sometimes a clock starts and I've been in touch with the Rand office and they're

kind of you know trying to you know lock in what the date will actually be so there's a little bit of confusion but we're expecting the vote before December 4 okay and they're definitely not working on Saturday right unless they have another reason that they have to be there it could be a thing where the Senate was notified a few days after and the clock started after giving us a little bit more time Those are some of the details that we're still kind of working out. But regardless, you know, we should be pushing. The bill is out there. The number is S.J. Res. 31.

And folks, you know, if you're in the California area, Padilla and Feinstein have not sponsored it yet, they should get on there immediately. Cinema and Kelly, for anybody in the Arizona area, they should also get on. I mean, this is, you know, a no-brainer. It's Saudi Arabia. They've committed massive human rights violations. They've given U.S. made weapons to al-Qaeda in Yemen. I mean, it's just ridiculous that we would be selling the Saudi government weapons at this point.

All right. So now somebody's going to say air-to-air missiles, that must just be to deter Iran or something because the Houthis don't have air power. So what difference does that make? Yeah. And so I think, you know, I think that's really a critical point. And that's where, you know, folks have said, oh, well, this is just a defensive operation. But, you know, as we've seen, you know, a group of 46 organizations just sent a letter to the Senate. And they made the point that because the Sana Airport is closed down and these are, you know, you know, basically the humanitarian aid planes cannot land. and, you know, that these air-to-air munitions could actually be used to enforce, you know, reinforce and increase the threat to any planes, you know, trying to land in Sana Airport

and increase the threat of, you know, you know, the blockade. And that in of itself, enforcing a blockade is an offensive operation. So I don't, I don't buy the line that these are, quote, unquote, defensive and that, you know, that they also could be used to enforce the blockade. And the second point is also really important that I mentioned earlier. It's just a message of impunity. We should be using U.S. leverage to get Saudi to lift the blockade. Because right now we've got 16 million people who are acutely food insecure.

And we've got, you know, hundreds of thousands of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. And they need humanitarian assistance to get into the country. And I understand, you know, the Houthis are doing bad, you know, bad things. They're not Boy Scouts by any sense of the imagination, and they need to be, you know, held to account, but, you know, that's not an excuse for allowing Saudi to continue their abuses. And, you know, any violations by Houthi forces don't serve as a justification for continuing U.S. involvement in these atrocities. All right. Now, and by the way, I mean, this is my opinion, but I wonder if you agree that it seems clear that if America ceased all support for the Saudi war, that they would have to wind down, especially diplomatic support and cover for them in the U.N. and the rest of that, without all of that, they couldn't keep this up. our logistics, our mercenaries and, you know, contractors over there doing all the care

and feeding of their planes and all of the, you know, targeting and the rest of the thing. They really, it's such a great slide of hand, the Saudi-led coalition. But we're the superpower and they're the client state seems meaningful, you know? The U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition war and blockade on Yemen is sometimes how I like to refer it as because they couldn't operate their warplains without the daily flow of spare parts and maintenance. Even just this weapon sale, taking out the fact that this gives them more air power

to enforce the blockade, it just sends this horrible political signal that they can continue to operate the way they've been operating. And just look at early on in the war, they attacked, you know, weddings, funerals, they attacked hospitals, they attacked sewage treatment plants and economic infrastructure. And as recently as March 2000, uh, uh, several months into the Biden administration, uh, you know, their first year in office, they attacked Sanaa Airport. So this isn't, you know,

some made up threat. These are ongoing attacks. Okay, hang on just one second. Hey, y'all, Scott here for easy ship.com. Man, who wants to use stamps.com? They're terrible. Their website is a disaster. I've been sending out tons of signed books to donors and friends lately, and it's clear. The only real alternative to standing in line for the 1990s technology at the post office is easyship.com. Preparing and printing labels with easyship.com is as easy as can be, and they are cheaper and better than stamps.com. You can even send 100 free packages per month. Start out at scothorton.org slash easy ship. Hey, look here, y'all. You know I'm for the non-aggression principle and all. But you know who it's okay to kill? That's right. Flies. They don't have rights.

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They ship fast and it tastes great. Support good anti-government stimulant suppliers. Go to Lorenzotti.comfee today. All right. Now, and I think we don't really need to cover too much about the war. This audience knows about that. So back to the activism here. You know, what have you found are the best ways,

especially for regular people calling in on the phone and talking to some staff? I mean, what's the kind of thing that you say that makes it even worse somebody's time to make the call, to give them at least a reason to think that it mattered at all, that their call piled up with somebody else's and that there's a chance it's going to move some senator to do the right thing on this? You just say, look, this is really politically popular. It's the latest fad, is stopping the war in Yemen. It'll get you votes and money somehow, or what do you tell these people?

I mean, that's a good question. I really, you know, I believe in democracy. I believe in direct advocacy. I believe, you know, that our voices make a difference. And I believe it because I've seen it happen. And know that your call on its own, you know, is important, but that there are lots of people around the country making similar calls. And that's why we just added Warren. It's why we just added Wyden.

That's why we just added Leahy. These are senior members, you know, in the, in Congress. Now, can you be specific about that? Like, you know for a fact that people put pressure on Warren and then she said, okay. Is that right? Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, there was just a big old webinar and a call-in campaign led by Massachusetts peace action. And they drove a bunch of calls and constituents, you know, to say that this was a priority.

Granted, the staff over there, they do care about Yemen. been leading on this in the past. But, you know, it's not a one and done. I believe in sustained advocacy over time. And that's really where you see the results is if you don't pick up the, you know, picking up the phone one time is obviously great. But if you can build a relationship with that office, you know, they want to make sure that their constituents know about it. I've had, I've had offices say, you know, I completely agree with you on this. But, you know, we need constituents to tell us that this is a priority before we actually do something on it. Yeah, and look, for people talking to right-wing staffers, I mean, I try calling my congressman

the last time around who voted badly on it, by the way. But I talked to his staffer, and I just emphasized that Barack Obama started this war, and Joe Biden is continuing it, and it's benefiting Al-Qaeda. And, you know, I didn't say just because they hate Iran more or any of that, because my Republican congressman and his staffers probably hate Iran more, too. I don't know why, because it wasn't Hezbollah knocked them towers down, but anyway Okay, I do know why But anyway, I tried to frame it that way

These damn lousy liberal Democrats Have done this And it's up to the Republicans again To make them stop finally That's what Donald Trump would do Or some line of, you know, try to say something And Donald Trump actually didn't end that war at all But he did say that America

And our presence in the Middle East is the greatest mistake that any president ever made going over there launching the war on terrorism at all, having any of that going on at all, when we're supposed to be taking care of ourselves. And in fact, in his perfectly hyperbolic way, that was, you know, the way you put it, was when George Bush went to the Middle East, it was the worst decision any American president had ever made, which is, yeah, I don't know. There's a few right up there, you know, but yeah, he's sure on to something. there and he brought his constituency with him on that. Thank goodness

to a great degree. And so we got to keep hammering on that. America first. Leave Yemen to the Yemenis. You know, see if I care. Let them work this out, but we should not be involved for or against either side there.

And look at the reality. All we end up doing is hurting civilians and hurting America. Making America the country that did that. When that's not what we're supposed to be doing you know i don't know figure out a way to say it like you're talking to your republican uncle and and what would might be able to convince him and attack the right from the right and the left from the left and and make these people make their staffers believe that yeah this is

what we should be doing huh you know figure it out i don't know but i mean yeah it's been seven years i mean you got i guarantee you when this war when the the violence finally does settle down and the, what should call it, go in there with their clipboards, they're going to find a million excess deaths from this war, Hassan. Yeah. I mean, it's just a tragedy. I think, you know, I would hope people could come to this from the humanitarian perspective as well. It's like it's causing the world's worst humanitarian crisis according to the UN. And U.S. weapons are perpetuating the violence. You know, so that's one angle that works for a lot of folks. Other people really care that this has never been authorized by Congress, and they want to, you know, support Congress reasserting its congressional war powers. And under Article 1, Section 8, that's a huge reason why I think the Rand office and the Mike Lee office,

that they came together on this and said, you know, this is Congress's, you know, role. We have to be the oversight body because, you know, the runaway existence. executive branch that's, you know, it's been going on for decades at this point, has basically, you know, unilaterally been, you know, deciding what our foreign policy is. And, you know, we don't think that's right. We think Congress should be part of this process. And, you know, blocking weapon sales to this, you know, human rights abuser country in Saudi Arabia, you know, the guy that murdered Jamal Khashoggi, we think that's a really important and strategic thing for the United States. I mean, I think that there's so many different angles, and that's why we've been

passing these resolutions. You know, we passed the Yemen war powers with Republican support. It was the only way we got it through in 2019 is that we got seven Republicans, you know, Rand Paul, Murkowski, Collins, Young, Danes, Moran, I think Paul and Lee, all supported. And, you know, you know, we got to build on that and keep it going. yeah absolutely right okay good well i won't keep you too much longer just uh give me a bunch of websites and phone numbers and things that people can do and you know when and by the way when you say i believe in democracy i mean i know you're much more of a liberal type than i am or i don't want to categorize you but you know somewhere on the left whereas i'm a libertarian i don't really

believe in it but it depends on what you mean by that exactly like if you think what a great system of government for everyone forever. That's one thing. But if you just acknowledge the fact, as you said, that if you put in the work, sometimes it works a bit, then that's just the reality. That's not faith. That's just saying that, look, we can move the margin if we work together and work hard and do the right thing here, then, and this is the system that we have, that we have to do what we can with what we've got. And as you said, you've seen it happen yourself really you know and that's the thing with the friends committee you guys are in dc on capital hill dealing with these people face to face on a regular basis year in year out and doing

this work so i'll take your word for it because i'm not just going back there yeah so scott let me just you know clarify what i mean by that um i believe that you know people matter and that our voices should be part of the decision making and that we don't we don't we don't want people deciding things for us. I want, you know, I want to be able to weigh in. And I've just seen that when people, you know, come out of the woodwork and weigh in, it can actually make a difference. We have a lot of, a lot of problems as a democracy that we need to sort out among ourselves. But I do think we, you know, eventually we'll get it right. We just got to keep going. Yeah, man. All right. Listen, thank you so much. And FCNL, of course, phone numbers, other

websites, what people should be looking at, how to contact their senator or their congressman if they never have before? How do they do it? Yeah, I mean, I think they should, you know, we don't have like a call tool set up right the second for this one, but I think they should just go to their, you know, if go to their senator's website and, you know, find the number, you know, call the congressional switchboard. Yeah, if you just type in congressional switchboard in Google, it'll actually, you know, pull up your member's number and you can dial in right there, message, write an email, and then get a bunch of other people to do it too. Yeah. Okay, right on. And remember everybody, they're going to vote on this this week. So you want to phrase it that way

when you talk to them, hey, this is about that big resolution in the Senate about Yemen and the arm sale there. And in fact, like if you know that your senator's a hawk, you can say, look, this is just one arm sale. It's not the whole war, but you'd be sending a signal. You'd be doing a little bit of the right right give them an out make it a little easier form i don't know but anyway uh do what you can and thank you hasan for all that you do i really appreciate a lot yeah you too man thanks all right you guys that is hasan l tyab the scott horton show an anti war radio can be heard on kpfk 90.7 fm in l a psradyo dot com antiwar dot com scott horton dot org and libertarian Institute.org