Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Houthi Who?

Friday, December 15, 2023

Written by Laurence F Sanford, Senior Analyst ASCF

Categories: ASCF Articles

Comments: 0

December 11, 2023
by ASCF Sr. Analyst Laurence Sanford

Houthi_rebels

image: July 2018 footage of a Houthi protest in Yemen’s capital Sana’a. (Photo: YouTube)

Who are the Houthis? Why did they seize a merchant ship, fire missiles, and launch drones against shipping in the Red Sea, resulting in U.S. Navy intervention?

The short answer is that the Houthis are an Islamic Shiite tribe and political group in Yemen that hates Jews and Western Civilization. The Houthis’ slogan is “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
“God is greatest” in Arabic is “Allahu Akbar.” It means the Muslim god (Allah) is the greatest and superior to all other gods; thus, Islam is supreme over all other religions. Allahu Akbar is a commonly used battle cry by Muslims when confronting infidels. An infidel to a Muslim is any person who is not a believer, even different sects within their religion.

After the October 7 terror attack by Hamas against Israel, the Houthis declared war on Israel. Rockets were fired towards Israel that were intercepted by U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea. The latest missile/drone attacks have been on ships linked to Israel in some form. The Houthis have also fired rockets at Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their support of the Yemen Sunni government.

The Houthis are an Iranian proxy, as are Hezbollah and Hamas. The Houthis control the northern part of Yemen, which borders the Red Sea. Most of the southern portion of Yemen is controlled by Sunni Muslims supported by Saudi Arabia and recognized by
the U.N. and United States as the official government of Yemen. Another southern
portion, which includes the port city of Aden, is controlled by the United Arab Emirates-
supported Southern Transitional Council. Al-Qaeda and Islamic State also control a small area of Yemen. See map for present status.

Yemen has been in civil strife since the 1990s, when the Shia Houthis rebelled against the Sunni central government on charges of corruption and supporting Saudi, Israeli, and American interests against the Yemeni people. In 2015, the Saudis intervened in support of the central government.

Iran, a Shia theocracy, supports the Houthis in their rebellion against Sunni Yemen with military training and equipment, including missiles and drones. “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” are refrains used by Iran and its proxies. They are all jihadists seeking the triumph of Islam over the infidels.

The Houthis were declared a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in the waning days of
the Trump administration. One month after Biden’s inauguration, the designation was removed. The Biden administration is now considering whether to re designate the Houthisre-designateOne concern, however, is the negative implications on Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs) providing humanitarian assistance to Yemen. Furthermore, the FTO designation may be considered a badge of honor by the Houthis and elevate their prestige and recruiting.

If hijacking the Bahamian-flagged “Galaxy Leader” cargo ship, partially owned by an Israeli shipping magnate, and holding 25 crew members hostage is not an act of terror, what is? If shooting missiles and flying drones against numerous countries is not an act of terror, what is?

Summary

The Houthis are just one of the many Islamic terror groups in the world listed in the CIA World Factbook. The Islamic terror groups all claim to be following the words of the Quran and Hadiths (collections of Muhammad's sayings) in spreading Islam through the sword. Many current leaders in Muslim countries want nothing to do with terror groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), or Hamas as they threaten their rule. Gazan refugees embedded with Hamas are not welcome in any fellow Muslim Arab country. In 1971, the PLO was forced to leave Jordan for Lebanon. Islamic terror groups not only hate Jews, they hate infidel Christians and Hindus.

● African terror groups Boko Haram, ISIS, and Al Qaeda are slaughtering
thousands and kidnapping girls and women who are put into slavery in Nigeria,
South Sudan, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Sahel countries.

● In the Philippines, the Islamic State recently bombed a Catholic church, killing
four and injuring over fifty. The group has conducted an insurgency for years,
seeking an independent Muslim state in the southern Philippines.

● India has ongoing terror attacks and forced marriages of Hindu women with
Muslim men. Millions of Hindus were killed throughout history in the many Muslim
invasions of India.

Action

1. Recognize Islamic terror groups as fundamentally anti-American and anti-
Western Civilization.
2. Support governments that are fighting Islamic terror groups.
3. Stop the invasion of millions of illegal immigrants into the U.S.
4. Invest in the U.S. military.

Peace Through Strength!

Please support our education efforts by donating to the American Security Council
Foundation at www.ascf.us/donate/

Thank you.

Laurence F. Sanford
Senior Analyst
American Security Council Foundation
www.ascf.us

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