War is Peace

by Contributor | March 24, 2025 9:57 am

I honked my car horn. The procession of protesters on the bridge screamed back. Oswegonians embraced the lesson taught by Malcolm X. “If you want something, you had better make some noise.” At home, people are sick of the elite ruling class and their crimes against the country. However, the ruling class commits crimes overseas that receive less attention.
The President announced in his election campaign “I will restore peace in the world.” It only took two months until the President of Peace declared “HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU.” The President told the world the Houthis in Yemen “will be completely annihilated!” The administration told the New York Times airstrikes in Yemen “could last for several weeks.” The US “will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.” This is a repeat of Trump’s first 100 days in office. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported, “In March and April (2016) alone the US carried out 80 air attacks (in Yemen) with jets and drones.”
US airstrikes in Yemen began in 2002. It escalated under President Obama. Time Magazine wrote, “In 2015, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with U.S. assistance, launched an intense air campaign (in Yemen).” US military aid allowed Saudi and UAE pilots to drop US bombs from US fighter jets in Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition needed US taxpayer money to carry out “more than 24,600 air raids (in Yemen) since 2015.” The US is the biggest weapons dealer in the world and Saudi Arabia is one of our biggest customers. The Saudi-led coalition relied on US support to impose a siege on Yemen. The New York Times wrote, “Saudi Arabia’s tight control over all air and sea movements into northern Yemen has effectively made the area a prison for those who live there.”
The Quincy Institute wrote, US-backed air raids occurred “an average of almost 10 each day.” This amounted to “hundreds of individual airstrikes or bombs hitting Yemen daily.” According to the United Nations Development Programme, as of 2021, the US-backed war killed an estimated 377,000 people. Yemen’s “currency, agriculture, infrastructure, health care and even the most basic social cohesion have been destroyed by the war.”
Today, “Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises,” according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. The United Nations reported, “In 2025, an estimated 19.5 million people across Yemen need humanitarian assistance.” Yemen is the fifth-largest internal displacement crisis in the world. 4.8 million people are internally displaced. The UN said, “More than 17 million people will experience acute food insecurity—almost half the country’s population.” In Yemen, 1 in 2 children under five is acutely malnourished. Most Americans are unaware of Washington’s responsibility in the destruction of the poorest country in the region.
Oswegonians on the bridge inspired me to make some noise. As the United Nations Children’s Fund said “The plight of children in Yemen can no longer be overlooked.” Washington must stop dropping bombs on one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

 

Anton Porcari

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/war-is-peace/

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