Obama
Hands Egypt
Jets, Tanks
& Rockets
Amid Blockade
of Yemen
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
31, with video
-- On the
very day the
UN belatedly
criticized
airstrikes in
an IDP camp in
Yemen, and
Doctors
without
Borders and
the Red Cross
complained of
the blockades
that prevent
medical
supplies from
getting in, US
President
Barack Obama
is releasing
tanks, jets
and rockets to
Egypt, which
is part of the
military
offensive and
blockade.
The White
House read-out
began,
"President
Obama spoke
with Egyptian
President
Abdelfattah
al-Sisi today
regarding the
U.S.-Egyptian
military
assistance
relationship
and regional
developments,
including in
Libya and
Yemen.
President
Obama informed
President
al-Sisi that
he will lift
executive
holds that
have been in
place since
October 2013
on the
delivery of
F-16 aircraft,
Harpoon
missiles, and
M1A1 tank
kits."
The
NSC specified
that
"President
Obama has
directed the
release of 12
F-16 aircraft,
20 Harpoon
missiles, and
up to 125 M1A1
Abrams tank
kits that have
been held from
delivery."
The timing is
strange. Or
perhaps not.
Amid
continued
airstrikes in
Yemen, on
March 30 came
reports of an
airstrike on
an internally
displaced
persons camp
in Haradh.
Inner City
Press
immediately
sought
confirmation
(and comment)
from the UN.
On
March 31, UN
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Zeid
issued a
statement on
Yemen
including
this:
'I
am shocked by
Monday’s
airstrike
against the
Al-Mazraq camp
for internally
displaced
people in
Harad, in the
north of
Yemen,' Zeid
said. There
are different
accounts as to
how many
people were
killed in the
airstrike, but
UN human
rights staff
in Yemen have
verified at
least 19
fatalities,
with at least
35 others
injured
including 11
children. This
camp, home to
some 4,000
people, was
established by
the UN in 2009
and recently
received at
least 300 new
families
displaced from
Sa'da."
Meanwhile UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was in
Kuwait,
talking about
"a deeply
moving video
entitled
'Clouds over
Sidra.'
It is an
amazing
virtual
reality
production of
the starkness
of life in the
Za’atari
Refugee Camp
through the
eyes of a
beautiful
young girl by
the name of
Sidra."
Ban speaks on
this virtual
reality - but
remains silent
on the
inconvenient
reality of the
airstrike on
the real IDP
camp in Haradh
in Yemen.
, 
