Thread by @K_Beckerle

I always knew that "relevant" in the @POTUS announcement on arms sales and #Yemen was going to end up doing a lot of work I did not like, but this is pretty ridiculous.

#UAE has been + remains one of the major players in #Yemen, + again (+ again ) implicated in gross abuse.

UAE role in abuse ranges from egregious detention-related abuse, some of which #US implicated in, to backing abusive forces on ground, who continue to torture + disappear people, to intimidating local activists, to role in #US raids like Al Bayda 2017.
hrw.org/news/2017/06/2…

This sale, which includes fighter jets, gets me back to this thing where people seem to think we should only be talking about the Saudis when talking about Yemen air campaign, but it was + remains a *coalition* of states, incl the UAE. See:
hrw.org/report/2018/08…

States like the UAE hide behind the Coalition. In many cases, we don't actually know which state carried out an airstrike, b/c they don't tell us.

We do know the UAE has carried out airstrikes in Yemen. Because of lacking transparency, we rarely know which strikes those are.

Often times, UAE-friendly folks will come back and say, "But the UAE is better than the Saudis, less likely to hit civilians, little Sparta, blah." But, no. If thats coming from the UAE, or the US who gets it from the UAE, then, not nearly enough to indicate fact.

Saudis are biggest player in air campaign, yes, but, until there's enough transparency to allow external observers to actually look at what's happened in the air campaign, to understand the role of various states, including the UAE, in particular strikes...

...and get clear info on what has been done to mitigate civilian harm, as well as ensure accountability + reparations, by those states, then no world in which we should take on faith those states not implicated in some of egregious civilian harm + scores of abuses over last 6 yrs

For a look into various units in Coalition, including UAE air force, see @SecForceMonitor data:

whowasincommand.com/en/organizatio…

And, again, that's just on the air campaign, which has been a major focus of the arms sales movement.

For other types of abuse and attack, #UAE has been directly and repeatedly implicated in international law violations in #Yemen, including torture and disappearances.

#UAE "stepping back" narrative doesn't change this. UAE's behavior in and towards Yemen still matters immensely, for peace, justice, reparations + beyond. Arms sales key tool of leverage, US should be getting concrete assurances *and measurable change* before moving forward.

More on the #US decision-making/thinking on arms to Saudi and UAE here:

nytimes.com/2021/04/14/us/…