All eyes are on Ukraine, as they should be. The Russian invasion threatens not only to destroy this fledgling democracy but to destabilize the rest of the region. At least the U.S. is not complicit in waging this war.
But who is watching Yemen, and the seven-year war there led by Saudi Arabia, in which the U.S. is complicit? Specifically, we continue to provide maintenance and intelligence-sharing for warplanes that conduct airstrikes and enforce the air and sea blockade of Yemen. But there is something you can do.
U.S. involvement there is unconstitutional. Congress has never authorized U.S. military participation in the Saudi-led war and blockade. Bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate passed a Yemen War Powers Resolution in 2019 to end our support of this war, but the resolution was vetoed by then-President Trump.
The war and blockade have led to economic collapse in Yemen and a humanitarian disaster. There is massive internal displacement and famine; 24 million people need emergency assistance immediately; nearly 377,000 deaths occurred in 2021 alone; 2.3 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition and tens of thousands are dying of starvation. Watch The Hunger Ward for more detailed information (https://www.hungerward.org/see-the-film).
Our financial and material support for the Saudi-led war and blockade is your tax dollars at work. A new War Powers Resolution is due to be introduced in the House soon. The last time I looked, there were 28 co-sponsors but none from New Hampshire. Please urge Representatives Kuster and Pappas first to add their names as co-sponsors and second to publicly support it and persuade their colleagues to get behind it as well. The clock for the Yemenis who have survived is ticking.
Lindsay Dearborn
Lebanon
As pointed out in the May 28 opinion piece by James Heffernan, the Second Amendment does not preclude commonsense gun regulation. Two such bills have already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 (H.R. 1446) would close the so-called “Charleston loophole,” which allows a gun sale to proceed without a background check if it is not completed within three days. The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 (H.R. 8) would expand background checks for all gun sales to include unlicensed gun sellers — such as those operating at gun shows or on the internet. Additional bills have been sponsored in the House, including one to require background checks for purchase of ammunition and another to bar people from buying or possessing firearms if a federal judge deems them to be a threat to themselves or others.
A recent Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted after the Uvalde shooting shows strong support for commonsense gun regulation among American voters: 88% for background checks on all gun purchases; 84% for barring sales to people reported as dangerous by a mental health provider; and 67% for banning assault-style weapons.
So what’s stopping us from enacting popular and commonsense gun regulation? Currently, almost all 50 U.S. Senate Republicans are beholden to the radicalized National Rifle Association, and 60 votes are needed to override a filibuster.
However, if Democrats were to hold the House and gain just two seats in the Senate in the upcoming midterm election, they could modify the filibuster to allow passage of gun legislation with just 50 Senate votes (only two Democratic Senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, oppose modification of the filibuster). Such a scenario is possible but would almost certainly require reelection of Democratic U.S. senators and House representatives in New Hampshire and Vermont. It is critical that Upper Valley voters turn out on Nov. 8.
By the way, although voter turnout in the 2018 midterm election was the highest in four decades, it was still only about 50% of the citizen voting-age population nationwide and similarly in New Hampshire and Vermont (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/04/behind-2018-united-states-midterm-election-turnout.html).
William C. Black
Hanover
You may be unfit to responsibly bear arms. You may be fit for self-governance. But, the professed beliefs of a certain political party to the contrary notwithstanding, you may not be both.
Anthony Stimson
Lebanon