(Ken Silva, Headline USA) President Joe Biden’s new war against the Houthis in Yemen puts him in alliance with al-Qaeda, the terrorist network responsible for killing thousands of Americans.
The U.S. has allied with al-Qaeda in Yemen off and on throughout the country’s decades-long civil war. The U.S. also backed the Houthis at certain points during the Bush and Obama administrations, on the grounds of opposing al-Qaeda.
But now that the U.S. is again bombing the Iran-backed Houthis as part of the wider conflict between Israel and Iran, Biden is again allied with the al-Qaeda. A new investigation from BBC showed that members of the terrorist organization now hold official positions within the U.S.-backed government of Yemen.
“The BBC has found that despite the American mercenaries’ stated aim to eliminate the jihadist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) in southern Yemen, in fact the UAE [United Arab Emirates] has gone on to recruit former al-Qaeda members for this security force,” BBC reported Monday.
“The whistleblower sent a document with 11 names of former al-Qaeda members now working in the STC, some of whose identities we were able to verify ourselves,” BBC said. STC is a U.S.-backed security organization that runs a network of armed groups across southern Yemen.
One of the al-Qaeda members now backed by Biden is reportedly Nasser al-Shiba, a suspect in the attack on the US warship USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors in October 2000. “Multiple sources told us that he is now the commander of one of the STC military units,” BBC said.
The STC’s leader, Aidarus al-Zubaidi, reportedly called for U.S. support for a ground campaign against the Houthis after Biden began his bombing campaign.
“Ground forces must be supported on the ground, and these forces belong to the legitimate government,” he said last week. “These forces are the ones who can achieve a victory on the ground, because strong strikes without ground operations are useless.”
Antiwar.com’s Dave DeCamp said there’s currently no indication yet that the US is looking to back a new ground campaign against the Houthis.
“But the situation continues to escalate,” DeCamp said. “The US has bombed Yemen eight times now since January 12, and US officials say they’re planning for an open-ended war.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
