PBS NewsHour has aired the first of three reports on the dire conditions in Yemen and the U.S. role in enabling the Saudi coalition war and blockade that have created them:

Our Story from last night’s show on @NewsHour. The images you weren’t meant to see and the real cost of the war in #Yemen. https://t.co/9CYiK0K7VG

— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) July 3, 2018

Jane Ferguson’s first report from last night was very well done, and I expect that the next two reports will be as well. Media coverage of the war on Yemen and the U.S. role in it is rare and often leaves out important details, but I am pleased to say that Ferguson’s reporting does an excellent job of explaining the origins of the conflict and highlighting the destructive effects of the Saudi coalition bombing campaign and blockade on the civilian population. It is to the NewsHour’s great credit that they are airing these reports, and other news programs need to follow their example. It is very important that Americans are able to see the effects of U.S. support for the war on Yemen and to understand the staggering human cost of the conflict that our government has enabled for more than three years. Perhaps if more Americans learned of the severity and scale of the disaster engulfing Yemen and understood our government’s role in creating that disaster there would be enough pressure to force a change in policy.

There is growing resistance to this indefensible policy in Congress, but even after three years there is not nearly enough attention being paid to the war or our government’s role in it. The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is already the world’s worst, and the reports reminds us that if things do not improve there will be another ten million people on the brink of famine by the end of the year in addition to the more than eight million people in that condition. The international response to Yemen’s catastrophe to date has been too slow, too small, and lacking in the urgency that the crisis demands.