Above Photo: From news2share.com
It’s the holiday season in Washington, and Christmas carolers with bells and funny red hats are everywhere. But CODEPINK’s carolers weren’t interested in decking the halls with boughs of holly on Monday. Instead: “now’s the time to stop the killing.”
CODEPINK visited Senate offices against a record-breaking arms deal with Saudi Arabia amid the ongoing Yemeni civil war and deepening proxy conflicts with Iran.
Washington and Riyadh concluded the largest arms deal in American history in May, immediately providing the Saudis with billions in combat-ready equipment. Thousands protested the deal in the Yemeni capital, and a Saudi blockade imposed following an attempted missile attack by Houthi rebels stocked fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
In an unusual move, Senator Rand Paul joined his Democratic colleagues in forcing a vote that would have blocked the new arms deal, citing Saudi Arabia’s lackluster human rights record. That effort ultimately failed after a 53-47 vote. Five Democrats defected from their party, siding with a majority of Republicans to ensure the deal’s survival.
“We’re going to visit those five Democrats to say that if they’d voted the right way, it would have been a historic cut-off for weapons to Saudi Arabia,” said CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin, who would later refer to those Senators as the “naughty five.”
Among them were Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Bill Nelson of Florida, who have received campaign contributions from interests in the defense industry like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Benjamin and her fellow activists pressured those five Democrats to change their position, anticipating more votes over Saudi Arabia and Yemen down the road.
Inside McCaskill’s office, CODEPINK’s small group of Santa hat-clad anti-war carolers asked to meet with McCaskill’s chief of staff. They were ultimately welcomed into a conference room by foreign policy adviser Nick Rawls, who agreed to meet with them on the condition cameras not be rolling because “we can’t control how that video is edited.”
Benjamin said they discussed their opposition to McCaskill’s vote and touched upon her connections with Boeing, asking that the Senator release a statement condemning the Yemeni blockade and recognizing the “devastating humanitarian situation.” Three other offices also agreed to impromptu meetings, all on the condition that they be off-camera.
