Slogans are headlines crowded with meaning. The more correctly the slogan expresses the dissatisfaction and suffering of the people, the more effective it may be in mobilizing latent emotions. Observers of the Houthi rebellion have been puzzled by the centrality of the anti-US slogan in the hearts and minds of the rebels. Some reports describe how Houthi prisoners refuse to pledge to the authorities to stop chanting the slogan in return for their release. The history of this stubborn insistence dates back to 17 January 2002, when the later-slain Hussein al-Houthi began chanting it in a sermon in al-Imam al-Hadi school in Ma’ran, Sa’dah province. He appealed to the people to respond to what he called “the massive American arrogance.”