For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian Garvey, brian@masspeaceaction.org
Where: Office of Congressman Stephen Lynch, One Harbor St. Boston (South Entrance on Drydock Ave near the corner of 6th Street), MA 02210
On Thursday, January 27th, 12pm-1pm the Raytheon Antiwar Campaign will hold a rally in Boston outside of the office of Rep. Stephen Lynch. Activists will gather to ask the congressman to explain his vote against an amendment to end US complicity in Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen. Lynch was one of only 11 members of the Democratic Party to vote against the amendment last September.
The amendment, part of a larger military policy bill called the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA would have ended logistical support and the transfer of spare airplane parts to the Saudi government. Those spare parts allow the Saudi Royal Air Force, made up largely of American made fighter-bombers, to stay in the air. The Saudi Air Force has used those planes to drop American made bombs and missiles on the civilian population, creating what the United Nations has called, “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
Activists across the country fighting to end the war in Yemen and end military support for Saudi Arabia have labeled Congressman Stephen Lynch a member of the “Extermination 11,” for his vote to continue supporting Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen.
“When Donald Trump was president Congressman Lynch voted to end our role Saudi Arabia’s war by voting for a War Powers Resolution,” said Paul Shannon, co-founder of the Raytheon Antiwar Campaign and the Chair of Massachusetts Peace Action’s Middle East Working Group.
“What explains this flip-flop on the world’s worst humanitarian crisis? Why is Stephen Lynch taking sides with Saudi Arabia, an authoritarian government that starves children and dismembers journalists?
Why is he siding with a murderer, Saudi Crown Prince MBS, in his war to destroy the people of Yemen?”
“These are the questions we’d like answers to,” “At any time Congressman Lynch can change course and introduce a War Powers Resolution to force this issue and stop the US from taking part in this war. We encourage him to do so.”
“The Raytheon Antiwar Campaign and Massachusetts Peace Action encourage Lynch to introduce a War Powers Resolution,” said Brian Garvey, Assistant Director of Massachusetts Peace Action. “This law is privileged, meaning that any member of Congress can force a vote and put every representative and senator on record. Every Democrat in the House and Senate voted for a War Powers Resolution under President Trump. They’ve been unwilling to even introduce one under President Biden, even though the bombing campaign has continued and even intensified in recent weeks.”
