Designating the Houthis Would Be a Death Sentence for Countless Innocent Yemenis

It is deeply troubling that a proposal this awful is even being entertained.

The Intercept reports that the Biden administration is seriously considering the request from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to re-designate Houthis as terrorists:

The White House appears to be seriously considering the change. In late January, Biden’s National Security Council circulated a memo exploring the possibility, according to a U.S. intelligence official and a think tank official familiar with the matter. The memo, a policy options paper produced by the NSC, considers labeling the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, Specially Designated Global Terrorists, or a combination of both, the two sources told The Intercept on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

High-level administration officials discussed the paper during a Friday, February 4 meeting of the National Security Council Deputies Committee, a senior interagency forum for the consideration of national security policy matters, the sources said. The officials who discussed the paper were split, with representatives from the State Department expressing strong opposition to the designations.

As I said a few weeks ago, a decision to re-designate the group would be an appalling error. The Biden administration reversed the designation put in place by Mike Pompeo in the final days of the Trump presidency because they understood the devastating effects that it was already having on the civilian population in Yemen. It was outrageous to apply the designation last year, and it would be doubly so to reapply it when it is clear what the consequences would be for millions of innocent people. Oxfam’s Scott Paul recently had this to say about a possible designation:

Unfortunately, we’ve seen how this plays out – and it’s deadly for Yemenis. When these designations went into effect last year, we saw exporters of vital commodities like food, medicine, and fuel all rush for the exits. It was clear to all that Yemen was heading toward economic freefall. The most important difference between then and now is that today, the Biden administration knows in graphic detail what this will mean for Yemenis who are already facing violence, hunger, and preventable disease. They would knowingly be condemning Yemenis to even more desperate suffering and death.

No one believes that this designation will serve any real purpose except to inflict more starvation on a country already wracked by acute malnutrition and famine. Its effects on the Houthis would be negligible, but it would be a death sentence for millions of innocent people. It is deeply troubling that a proposal this awful is even being entertained.

Unfortunately, it is not all that surprising given the trajectory of Biden administration policy in the region. The U.S. now seems to be bending over backwards to cater to the UAE’s wishes, and it is going out of its way to provide the UAE with additional military support. Not only has the U.S. sent more planes and ships to assist in protecting the UAE from attacks that their intervention in Yemen provoked, but Gen. McKenzie, the head of Central Command, has made a point of “reassuring” Abu Dhabi of U.S. backing: “So, we think this is just one friend helping another in a time of crisis.” In this case, the “friend” is responsible for numerous war crimes, the torture of detainees, and the delivery of U.S.-made weapons to their militia proxies. It is bad enough that the U.S. continues to sell weapons to this government in the name of “self-defense,” but it is truly indefensible that U.S. military personnel are being sent to shield them from the consequences of an aggressive intervention that they launched against their neighbor. McKenzie is even talking about helping to disrupt Houthi attacks before they take place, which suggests that the U.S. would be taking an even more active and direct role in aiding the Saudi coalition’s war effort.

Meanwhile, Gen. McKenzie has also been spinning bizarre theories to explain why the Houthis have been targeting the UAE:

McKenzie, who moved up his trip to Abu Dhabi in light of the attacks, surmised that a “confluence” of factors had precipitated this turn of events — but that the key development was Iran’s loss of influence in Iraq and a need for new fronts in its bid for regional dominance.

McKenzie has had an exaggerated view of Iranian power for a long time, so it fits that he would cook up a story to blame Iran for the actions of Yemeni actors that obviously have their own reasons to attack the UAE. It is extremely convenient to assume that attacks on the UAE are all being driven by some elaborate Iranian plan rather than being the result of continued UAE involvement in the war on Yemen. Anything to excuse and shield our “friends” in Abu Dhabi seems to be in the cards these days. The war powers challenge to the Biden administration from progressive Democrats cannot come soon enough. Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Peter DeFazio wrote earlier this week:

While the US may not be able to unilaterally end all fighting, we can stop supporting Saudi Arabia’s brutal campaign in Yemen, and exert leverage to compel them to lift their blockade. This will save countless civilian lives and give Washington the diplomatic credibility needed to make progress with stalled peace talks.