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SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mike Lee reiterated his call for an end to U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabia's war on Yemen in light of its admitting to killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Killing a United States resident is never acceptable behavior, and the repeated failure to be honest about the incident should call into question the extent of our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Lee, R-Utah, said in a statement Monday.
"But setting aside the extent of our alliance generally, why should we continue to support Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen when the kingdom is killing our residents and lying about it?"
It's far past time the U.S. had a serious debate about its military involvement in Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, he said.
Saudi Arabia has presented changing stories of what happened to Khashoggi. After weeks of denying involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance, Saudi Arabia said he was killed in the Istanbul consulate as the result of a "fistfight."
In February, Lee, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., introduced a resolution to remove U.S. forces from fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi movement in Yemen. The U.S. has supported Saudi Arabia in the war against the Houthis, an Islamic sect that seized the Yemeni the capital of Sanaa and other parts of the country more than three years ago.
Lee said then that Congress' power to declare war has been "woefully eroded" over the past 100 years. He said presidents have claimed that power and Congress has been "all but too happy" to give it away to avoid tough votes.
Read more:
Saudis blame 'fistfight' for Jamal Khashoggi's death
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi died in a "fistfight" in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the kingdom claimed early Saturday, finally admitting that the writer had been slain at its diplomatic post. Authorities said 18 Saudi suspects were in custody and intelligence officials had been fired.The resolution, he said, is a first step toward Congress re-asserting its power over foreign policy decisions.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee tabled the resolution in March. Lee noted that committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said it should go back to the committee with a commitment that it advance legislation to "actually deal appropriately with many of the issues relative to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran and ourselves."
Lee said the committee has had six months to study the resolution.
“It is time for a vote," he said.
