1.0Just Securityhttps://www.justsecurity.orgSaudi Arabia’s Misleading Email to Congress After Bombing of MSF Cholera Hospital - Just Securityrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="xchd9VGlB8"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/58437/saudis-deceptive-email-congress-bombing-msf-cholera-hospital/">Saudi Arabia’s Misleading Email to Congress After Bombing of MSF Cholera Hospital</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.justsecurity.org/58437/saudis-deceptive-email-congress-bombing-msf-cholera-hospital/embed/#?secret=xchd9VGlB8" width="600" height="338" title="“Saudi Arabia’s Misleading Email to Congress After Bombing of MSF Cholera Hospital” — Just Security" data-secret="xchd9VGlB8" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">
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https://i0.wp.com/www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MSF-combined.png?fit=1775%2C524&ssl=11775524On a recent Wednesday night in June, Saudi Arabia’s embassy emailed members of the U.S. Congress providing them something between a false and misleading account of an air strike that took place in Yemen. Two days earlier, the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and armed by the United States had reportedly blown up a cholera treatment facility belonging to the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). In its email, the Kingdom could not even bring itself to acknowledge that the Coalition carried out the direct attack on the MSF facility. Instead, the Saudis used the passive voice writing that their message concerned a “Cholera Treatment Facility hit in Yemen”—without saying who hit it. The Kingdom’s email highlighted a piece of information meant to let the Coalition off the hook. The email stated, “MSF acknowledged an error they made in not officially informing the Coalition of the new treatment facility’s location,” and the embassy attached a letter that an MSF employee had sent hours after the bombing took place. But by that Wednesday evening, the Saudis knew or should have known that relying on the low-level employee's letter would be misleading.