 Biden has started another U.S. war. The Washington Post has an article out titled, as Houthis vow to fight on, U.S. prepares for sustained campaign, with sustained campaign being Empire Speak for a New American War. The Biden administration is crafting plans for a sustained military campaign targeting the Houthis in Yemen after 10 days of strikes failed to halt the group's attacks on maritime commerce, stoking concern among some officials that an open-ended operation could derail the war-ravaged country's fragile peace and pull Washington into another unpredictable Middle Eastern conflict, the Post reports. The Post acknowledges that sustained military campaign means war in the ninth paragraph of the article, saying the anonymous U.S. officials cited in the report, quote, don't expect that the operation will stretch on for years like previous U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria, end quote. Which is about as reassuring as a pyromaniac saying he doesn't expect he'll be burning down any more houses like all those other houses he's burned down. This bizarre refusal to just call a war a war also appeared in a recent press conference with Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh, who acted shocked and aghast that reporters would even ask if immediately bombing a country would qualify as being at war with them. Is it now fair to say that the U.S. is at war with Yemen? Singh was asked by a reporter yesterday and Thursday. No, we don't seek war, Singh replied. We don't think that we are at war. We don't want to see a regional war. The Houthis are the ones that continue to launch cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles at innocent mariners at commercial vessels that are just transiting at areas you know, 10 to 15% of the world's commerce. In a follow-up several questions later, Singh was asked by a reporter from Politico. You said that we are not at war with the Houthis, but if, you know, this tit for tat bombing we've bombed them five times now. So if this isn't a war, can you just explain a little bit more to us? If this isn't a war, what is a war? Sure, Lara, sure, great question. I just wasn't expecting it phrased exactly that way, Singh replied with a laugh and a smirk. Look, we are, we do not seek war. We are not, we do not, we are not at war with the Houthis. In terms of a definition, I think that would be more of a clear declaration from the United States. But again, what we are doing and the actions that we are taking are defensive in nature. It is worth noting that since that Thursday press conference, the number of U.S. strikes on Yemen has increased from 5 to 7, as of this writing. It is also worth noting here that, per Singh's absurd definition, the U.S. has not been at war since the end of World War II, as there has not been a clear declaration of war since June 5, 1942. The only wars the U.S. has officially declared through Congress in accordance with its own Constitution have been the War of 1812, the Mexican American War, the Spanish American War, and the two World Wars. If you go by this definition, the U.S. is among the more peaceful nations in the world, since it hasn't been at war in eight decades. In reality, the U.S. is the single most war-like and murderous nation of modern times, with wars of aggression that have killed millions and displaced tens of millions just in the 21st century alone, and plays some role in most of the world's major international conflicts today. Singh's claim that the U.S. attacks on Yemen are defensive in nature is also self-evidently absurd. Yemeni forces weren't even attacking American commercial vessels until the U.S. began attacking them. Only the U.S. could launch unprovoked attacks on a foreign nation on the other side of the planet and call it self-defense. Anti-war's Dave DeKamp explains, Before the U.S. began bombing the Houthis, Ansarullah officials made clear they would only stop attacking Israeli-linked commercial shipping if the onslaught in Gaza ended. Instead of pressuring Israel to end the slaughter in Gaza, President Biden chose escalation, and now the Houthis are targeting U.S. commercial shipping, and several U.S. merchant vessels have been hit with missiles. Indeed, the only reason Houthi forces began attacking ships in the Red Sea was to pressure Israel and its allies into ceasing the ongoing massacre that has been taking place in Gaza since October 7th. As usual, the world's most murderous and powerful government is framing its horrifying acts of extreme aggression as innocent defensive responsives to unprovoked attacks when in reality the U.S. Empire is bombing Yemen in order to facilitate the genocide of Palestinians. And while we're on the subject of Gaza and Yemen, it's probably worth pointing out that according to U.S. Empire managers, the stated goals of both campaigns have been completely unsuccessful. A new report by the Wall Street Journal says that according to U.S. intelligence, Israel is nowhere remotely close to eliminating Hamas, with only 20-30% of the group having been killed since October. Asked by the press on Thursday if the strikes against Houthis are working, Biden replied, well, when you say working, are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes. So the reigning military explosives on impoverished Middle Easterners to maintain their status quo domination under the pretense of goals which they themselves admit are not being achieved. Just another day in the empire, I guess.