Thread by @K_Beckerle

1. #Saudi has a bad track record of announcing formal mechanisms to look into deaths of civilians at the hands of its own officers which have then utterly failed to credibly investigate those deaths. See #Yemen. See #Khashoggi.

justsecurity.org/61178/saudi-pl…

2. Each victim of an unlawful Saudi coalition strike in #Yemen is as worthy of concern as a Washington Post columnist. A groom and his wedding party. A child locked in jail. Villagers digging a well. Crowds shopping at a market. All killed or wounded in coalition bombings.

3. For years, the #Saudi coalition—armed and assisted by the #US—has killed and wounded thousands of civilians in Yemen, leaving behind a trail of death, destruction, and broken lives.

4. #US officials questioned about coalition abuses tend to follow a similar script: Express concern. Call on coalition to investigate. Laud it when it does, however weak . Note any promises to investigate further or pay redress. Let those promises disappear as the pressure does.

5. In face of mounting global pressure on #Saudi re: #Yemen, coalition established investigative body-JIAT.

#US and #UK have repeatedly pointed to existence of JIAT as evidence coalition serious about minimizing civilian harm (while coalition continued to bomb weddings, homes..)

6. @hrw analyzed JIAT's work: Vast majority of public reports absolved coalition of legal fault, obfuscated which forces might be responsible, refused to provide even rough estimates of civilian harm, failed to offer thorough IHL analysis, leading to highly dubious conclusions...

7. JIAT recommended coalition pay some form of assistance to victims of more than a dozen attacks, some carried out years ago. But promises still unfulfilled.

Victim of one of attack: “The coalition said ‘Oh, we are going to pay,’ but who got paid? I don’t know who got paid”

8. When coalition bombed Sanaa funeral, killing and wounding hundreds, global pressure pushed coalition to admit responsibility, apologize, and promise to take further action....

9. Two years on, there is no evidence any member of the coalition, including #Saudi has taken on investigating the role of their forces in potential war crimes, let alone begun prosecutions of those responsible as the laws of war require.

10. Congress should push Riyadh to take concrete steps: Such as cooperating with a UN investigation into Khashoggi’s death; releasing women’s rights defenders; setting up an effective redress system for Yemeni civilians; and beginning to prosecute those implicated in war crimes.