Indiana’s Senator Todd Young, a Republican, has been campaigning for a rapid reversal of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s designation of the Houthis in Yemen as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, announcing his willingness to work with the incoming Biden administration on doing so. “Make no mistake, history will judge us harshly if we allow these innocent children to die on our watch,” he wrote three days ago, when retweeting a World Food Program warning that the “designation will ratchet up the humanitarian crisis in Yemen to a terrifying level. It will mean: No food. No medicines. No fuel. No end in sight.”
Last Saturday, Biden National Security Advisor-designate Jake Sullivan re-tweeted the strong statement of opposition which Young had issued when Pompeo announced this genocidal designation on Jan. 11. Sullivan added his own comment: “Agree with @SenToddYoung on last-minute terrorist designation of Houthi Movement. Houthi commanders need to be held accountable, but designating the whole organization will only inflict more suffering on Yemeni people and impede diplomacy critical to end the war.”
The statement by Young, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asserted:
“Our foreign policy approach in Yemen should be governed by two overarching questions: First, are we living up to our principles by helping to ease the suffering of the innocent in Yemen? Second, are we helping to advance our national security by taking steps to end, rather than exacerbate, the conflict? [Pompeo’s decision] … accomplishes neither.
