To the editor:

As we approach the one-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s promise to end the war in Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition is conducting air raids there each day. According to Aisha Jumaan, of the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation: The airport in Sana has been closed by the Saudis for five years, as well as the ports of Hodeida and Adan; these blockades are causing shortages of food and fuel to 45% of the population; 79% of Yemeni children have post-traumatic stress disorder while three out of four are malnourished, and last year 377,000 Yemenis died from airstrikes, disease and hunger.

Bruce Reidel of the Brookings Institute states that the U.S., while not involved in direct bombing raids, recently completed a $500 million sale of attack helicopters to the Saudis while also providing radar systems, training and equipment maintenance.

Although our Constitution states that only Congress has the authority to declare war, since 9/11, four presidents have used this authority, and Congress has allowed it. Some members of Congress are challenging U.S. involvement in this war. In both the House and the Senate, amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act prohibit support of the Saudi-led war and blockade in Yemen. The War Powers Resolution enables Congress to reassert its authority in deciding whether the U.S. goes to war.

Rather than taking sides militarily in this civil war, let us fight fiercely for a diplomatic solution.

Congress must reassert its authority and demand an end to our complicity in this humanitarian crisis.

Muriel Cohan,

Lawrence