Washington, Tel Aviv Love to See Arabs Fighting Each Other: US Activist

“The US-Israeli axis of evil encourage and love to see Arabs and other regional players fighting each other to weaken the position of the popular governments in the region to strengthen the position of the paranoid-Zionist state of Israel,” Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan, whose son, US Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed during the Iraq War, attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch—a stand that drew both passionate support and criticism. Sheehan ran for Congress in 2008. Her memoir, Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism, was published in 2006. Sheehan was the 2012 vice-presidential nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party.

The full text of the interview is as follows:

Tasnim: As you may know, recent airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition near the Yemeni capital have killed about 60 people, including dozens of civilians, and injured many others after hitting a hotel in Arhab, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Sana’a. A recent report authored by several international aid agencies said Yemen suffered more airstrikes in the first half of this year than in the whole of 2016, increasing the number of civilian deaths and forcing more people to flee their homes. In your opinion, why has the Saudi regime decided to increase the airstrikes, hitting civilian targets?

Sheehan: It is important to always emphasize (especially to those in the West) that without the encouragement, support, and permission of the US-Israel cabal, Saudi Arabia would not be able to continue its program of terror against Yemen.

There are, of course, many reasons that Saudi Arabia is allowing itself to be used as a willing puppet/proxy of the US and Israel, but increasing attacks on innocent civilians is a time-tested and unfortunately successful strategy that has been employed by the US empire and the Zionist state of Israel for many years.

Targeting civilians helps to spread fear among the population and shows that the dominant force (in this case the corrupt Saudis) will stop at nothing to have its goals accomplished: to not allow the popular revolution of Ansarullah to succeed. The US-Israeli axis of evil encourage and love to see Arabs and other regional players fighting each other to weaken the position of the popular governments in the region to strengthen the position of the paranoid-Zionist state of Israel.

Tasnim: Newly-leaked emails written by two former top US officials have shown that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and defense minister Mohammed bin Salman “wants out” of the war he started in Yemen. The Saudi regime has reached none of its objectives in Yemen. In 2015, the kingdom had a record budget deficit of almost $100 billion, prompting it to rein in public spending in a bid to save money. Why is the regime continuing its attacks on the Arabian Peninsula country despite its failures and cash-strapped economy? What do you think about the future of the war?

Sheehan: Saudi Arabia seems to have a lot invested in oppressing its own citizens and those of its regional neighbors. Yemen is in a strategic place on the Arab Peninsula and how can the repressive Saudis actually have a progressive democracy right next door?

Tasnim: The Saudi blockades on Yemen's ports and airspace has caused a human tragedy. According to the World Health Organization, Yemen is facing the "world's worst cholera outbreak". The WHO recently said the total number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen this year hit the half a million mark, and nearly 2000 people have died since the outbreak began to spread rapidly at the end of April. Why have the international organizations, particularly the UN, remained passive in the face of the ongoing Saudi atrocities?

Sheehan: The cholera outbreak and other humanitarian crises caused by the Axis of Evil’s atrocities in Yemen are indeed very troubling, but not as troubling as the lack of UN/world outrage against them.

Israel has created a very powerful narrative since the occupation of Palestine nearly 70 years ago: The atrocities committed on Jewish people by Nazis in WWII were so great that Israel “deserves” its own homeland carved out of the land and flesh of the Palestinian people. If Israel has to participate in atrocities or condone atrocities by others (the Saudis), then, that is unfortunate, but a small price to pay for Israel’s security in the region.

What does this have to do with the crisis in Yemen? Very few state leaders, and the UN Security Council (with veto power of the US), will criticize Israel, or its policies in any way. Israel wants the Saudis to destroy Yemen, just like Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq have been destroyed (as the Axis of Evil are also working on Syria and Yemen), so there will be no outcry from so-called world leaders or corporate media, consequently, no corresponding mass outcry from the public.