When designating a terrorist group, look in the mirror, Uncle Sam

President Biden is again considering designating the Houthis movement controlling much of Yemen a terrorist organization for their recent bombing of the Abu Dhabi Airport, killing 3. As bad as that was, it pales in comparison to America’s 7 year support of Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen that has killed over 300,000 Yemenis while putting millions of Yemenis at risk of starvation and deadly illness from lack of food and medicine.

Biden began his first year taking the Houthis off America’s terrorist list so food and medicine would have an easier time reaching the beleaguered Houthis. He also signaled the U.S. would stop supporting the Saudis catastrophic war against them which turned Yemen into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

A year on Biden is simply following his predecessors Obama and Trump in continuing the Saudis grotesque war. A billion dollars in new war contracts for weapons and helicopter maintenance from the Saudis likely helped change Biden’s mind. The fact that the Saudi war on the Houthis represents a U.S. proxy war on the Houthis ally Iran is another big factor. No good opportunity to weaken Iran will go unused regardless of its carnage of innocents.

When the U.S. supports a senseless, criminal war against one of the poorest nations on earth it’s called protecting America’s national security interests. But when the folks we're destroying offer a pinprick of pushback, they’re called terrorists.

When looking to designate a terrorist group, President Biden should look in the mirror.