Biden Reversed Trump’s Terrorist Designation Of Houthi Rebels
As U.S. forces conduct direct military strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Middle East, yet another glaring blunder by the Biden administration is clear.
One day after taking office in 2021, the Democrat reversed former President Donald Trump’s wise decision to declare the Houthi a “terror group.” It was part of his mad rush to dismantle everything the Republican accomplished, no matter the cost to national security.
Biden rationalized the move as a way to ensure humanitarian aid reached the Yemeni people. But now the Houthis are engaged in regular strikes on regional shipping, spreading alarm throughout the world of yet another Middle East conflict.
Trump, one day before the transfer of power, made the terror designation to “deter further malign activity by the Iranian regime.” Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that if the group “did not behave like a terrorist organization, we would not designate it as one.”
But Democrats howled that it would have little effect on the Houthi rebels and would instead disrupt aid flowing into the war torn country.
A group of Republican lawmakers led by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) sent a strongly worded letter in November to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. They urged the State Department to return to Trump’s designation of the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
The senators wrote, “Re-designating the Houthis as an FTO would send a powerful message that the United States views this group as a clear threat to our Allies and to regional stability in the Middle East.”
Of course, the White House did not comply.
Classifying the Houthis as a terrorist organization would prevent members from entering the U.S. It would also make it illegal for American citizens to provide “material support or resources” with the Yemeni rebels.
The United Nations, of course, objected to Trump’s designation. The body claimed the action would put the impoverished nation “in imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen in decades.”
Biden’s reversal of his predecessor’s action looks worse by the day as U.S. forces actively engage with the Houthis. The globe was much more peaceful under the 45th president, and the current White House occupant would do well to continue his sound foreign policy.
