Transcripts For CSPAN3 U.S.-Arab Relations 20171023

General joseph votel, who is in charge of u. S. Central command. He talks about his role as centcom commander and how partnerships in the middle east are important to u. S. Interests. Hosted by the National Council on u. S. Arab relations. This is 25 minutes. [ applause ] thank you, bill. Thank you. Im conscious that i am the second introducer and the final act before the main event, so i promise, ill be brief. But let me start with bill. And thank you for that lovely introduction, but i want to go and give a special thankyou to dr. John duke anthony. Dr. Anthony has been one of the most active proponents for bringing people who care about this region together, not just through this conference, but all the time. And the leadership that he and the council have displayed have really helped bring together the u. S. And the arab world, particularly the arabian gulf. The great pramst that have been organized by the National Council, such as the Model Arab League and the the study abroad programs, really help build very important bridges between the United States and the arab world. When we talk about the middle east, its too tempting and too easy to focus on the challenges than on the problems. So i genuinely appreciate the councils efforts to highlight the best of the arab world and to encourage and expose americans to the very best of our culture, our people, and our leaders. Its incredibly important to show how we are building a more positive path forward for our future. And dr. Anthony, i want to say this on behalf of everyone here, thank you. We are grateful for everything you and the council does to build these bridges every day. [ applause ] another very big thank you goes to our guest of honor, general joe votel, who i have the pleasure of introducing today. While dr. Anthony focuses on the future and the best of our region, general votel is very much in the present, taking on some of the Biggest Challenges in one of the most active aors. From sinai to syria, iraq to afghanistan, isis and al qaeda, irgc and hezbollah, he certainly has a lot on his plate. And as you can see, there are no shortage of threats across the region. And this brings us to the u. S. uae security partnership, a partnership that is deeply rooted in common interests and shared priorities. It was formed by political leaders, but its centcom and dod who have been the backbone of this relationship for decades. Its our two militaries that carry this relationship forward, working, training, fighting side by side and day by day. Over the past 25 years, the uae has participated in six military coalitions alongside the u. S. Under centcom, the uae fought with the u. S. Against the taliban in afghanistan. We were there on day one in the skies against isis, and we are together now in yemen fighting al qaeda together. This Partnership Goes back a long way, as far back as the late 80s and early 90s, the crown prince of abu dhabi forged a close working relationship with general norren schwarzkopf. Actually, it was more than that, they developed a friendship. And here we are many decades later, where i have the privilege of introducing general votel today. This partnership has made the uae safer. Its made the region safer. But the point that gets overlooked far too often is that that partnership also made the u. S. Safer. Now, of course, theres much more to do, and we still have to make much more progress, even despite our best efforts against al qaeda and isis. And as we do, another extremist threat has been gaining strength the entire time, and that threat is iran. We welcome president trumps new strategy to address the full range of iranian interference and destabilization. This includes its growing Ballistic Missile program, support for terrorist organizations, cyber attacks, interference in each others domestic affairs, and threats to freedom of the navigation. The nuclear deal offered iran an opportunity to engage responsibly with the international community. Instead, it only emboldened iran to intensify its provocative and destabilizing actions. So in this latest challenge, the u. S. And centcom can count on the uae along with other responsible countries to meet the growing threat. And as we engage in these critical efforts, emiraties sleep better knowing they are helping keep the region more secure. And americans should also sleep more securely, too, knowing general votel has the full commitment from the uae and allies forces helping to keep america safe. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming our keynote speaker and our friend, general joe votel. [ applause ] its great to be here. Your highnesses, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to come and speak with you this afternoon. You know youve really made it as a keynote speaker when you get selected to come and speak after a very heavy lunch that included a large salad, bread with butter, warm baked chicken on a bed covered in mushroom sauce on a bed of warm mashed potatoes and then a chocolate cake that had no less than six layers to it. So, i know my work is cut out for me or that you have great confidence in my ability to keep you going here this afternoon. But in any case, im very, very glad to be here, and i sincerely appreciate the opportunity to come here. Your excellency, thank you very much for the very, very kind introducti introduction. And more importantly, thank you for your personal and your countrys Great Partnership with me and with the United States Central Command, but more importantly, with the United States of america. Dr. John duke anthony, sir, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Mr. John pratt, others here, thank you for the invitation to participate in this important conference with you today. Im impressed by the accomplishments of all who are here today, and especially our young people that had a chance to get up and talk, share their experiences with us, and im encouraged at the opportunity that events like this give us to discuss these issues and learn from each other. Ive been in command at United States Central Command for about 19 months now. And as all of you know, this is a 20country area that spans from egypt to pakistan and from yemen to kazakhstan, and it has a lot of challenges in this area. And as you know, this has been an extraordinarily important, important region for us. And in the 19 months that ive been there, i would share with you right up front here three key things that ive learned in my experience here. First and foremost, the middle east, the levante, central and south asia that make up the Central Command area, remains an area of extraordinary importance to the United States. We have, we have had in the past, and we continue to have Vital National interests that intersect in this particular area. So, just as this has been an important area for us in the past, it remains an important area for us today, in the present, and it will remain an important area for us in the future. And i want to assure you that as the Central Command commander here that this is a point that i emphasize to everybody that i speak with. The second thing i would just share with you that ive learned 19 months in this particular position is that partners across the region want strong and progressive relationships with the United States. Without fail, every country that ive had the opportunity to visit and ive been to virtually everywhere, multiple times there are extraordinarily strong relationships and a strong desire to work closely between, bilaterally between our countries, and multilaterally in a number of cases. And while we may have differences politically and we take the ups and downs of that, im very proud to tell you that our militarytomilitary relationships across the region have remained extraordinarily strong even through all of those ups and downs, and im very, very proud of the role that our military plays in sustaining these relationships. My third key point to you here about what ive learned in this position is that there are more opportunities in this region than there are obstacles, and this is i think a very important thing for people to recognize, and i think it highlights the value of the council and the work that you do that is so important to us of exposing people to this region and allowing them to come and experience arab culture, experience the countries, learn the language, get an appreciation for what is happening there, and then be able to share that with other americans and others around the world, and i think this is an extraordinarily important aspect. And i do feel as military commander here that as i look around, its very easy. Theres no shortage of things to talk about in the Central Command region. You can pick iraq or afghanistan or syria or yemen or the sinai or any other areas that generally we have conflict in, but the fact of the matter is, it is extraordinarily important to recognize that in all of this are great opportunities to move forward, and thats the key thing that ive learned about this. I really like the theme that has been introduced today how best to navigate an uncertain present and future. And i think this is a very pertinent question here as we look at this particular region. As the United States Central Command commander, i often talk about this with my military leadership, and weve devised a very simple approach that we use in thinking about this region, and it can be encapsulated in three simple words prepare, pursue, and prevail. And ill talk a little bit about each of these. In preparing, we not only ensure our access and basing and appropriate arrangements with different partners in the area, but we also ensure that we have developed strong partnerships across the region and that we have developed a level of understanding with granularity about the region, about the culture, about the challenges, and about the opportunities that exist for us. So first and foremost, our principal focus is on preparing. Second of all, we desire to pursue opportunities. We look for places where there are opportunities to move forward in supporting our National Interests and the interests of our valued partners in the region. And so, we look actively for opportunities to pursue, to move forward and move forward in areas where we have common objectives. And then finally, we look for ways to prevail. We recognize that conflicts today dont normally end the way they ended in world war ii, with a parade down the middle of new york city. One of the most poignant pictures that ive seen lately has been a picture that was taken from mosul, here, several months ago, and it showed Prime Minister abadi surrounded by all of his security leadership in downtown mosul, surrounded by the people. And as i looked at that, thats what prevailing looks like in centcom. Thats what winning looks like today. Its about our partners achieving their objectives and us being value to them. In 1789, George Washington wrote a letter to mohammed bin abdullah, at the time the sultan of morocco. Morocco, as many of you know, was the first country to recognize the United States as a sovereign nation. In his letter, he wrote, within our territories, there are no mines, whether of gold or silver, and this young nation just recovering from the waste and disillusion of a long war has not as yet had time to acquire riches by agriculture or commerce, but our soil is bountiful and our people industrious, and we have reason to flatter ourselves that we shall gradually become useful to our friends. The United States has come a long way over the last 230 years, but the desire of the United States to be of importance and value to our allies and partners in the arab world has not changed. This instance clearly shows that we treasure our longheld relationships, not only in north africa, but specifically for me and the members of the United States Central Command, in the middle east. It also underscores that now, more than ever, we will need each other to face the many challenges and opportunities in front of all of us. What id like to talk with you about today is the perspective of a military leader on how he is approaching and how we are approaching the concept of partnership in Central Command area of responsibility, and more broadly, across the globe with many of our partners. It is an approach born of failure, lessons learned, and expenditure of national treasure, both by us, the United States, and by our partners. As many of you know, Central Command is leading a 62member International Coalition and conducting a campaign to defeat the socalled Islamic State of iraq and syria, or isis. In both iraq and syria, we have largely used an approach that we call by, with and through, to achieve our military, humanitarian, and political objectives within the confines of our Respective National policies. This means conducting military campaigns by employing and using and enabling partner maneuver forces with the support of u. S. Enabling capabilities through a coordinated legal and diplomatic framework. And we employ this approach differently in both iraq and syria. In iraq, we are conducting the campaign by supporting the Iraqi Security forces with coalition intelligence, logistics and lethal fire support through legal and diplomatic agreements with the government of iraq and with all of our Coalition Partners. The number of Coalition Forces in the theater is relatively low and tailored to support the Iraqi Security forces. The Iraqi Security forces themselves have improved through this approach since the dark days of 2014. Operations in mosul, as i talked about just a moment ago, have freed millions of people from the chains of isis, and life has begun to return to the city. Recently, the Iraqi Security forces for the first time in their history conducted simultaneous operations in more than one location. Recent operations in tal afar and hawija all projected to take weeks and months were concluded in less than two weeks. Coalition resources did support them, but make no mistake that the Security Forces of iraq were the lead the entire time. In syria, we face a more complicated political and military environment in fighting isis. The United States does not have a policy which supports largescale involvement in the syrian civil war. Therefore, as the regime campaigns against the opposition to regain control of its territory, it must deal with isis along the way. Russia and iran both have largescale presence in syria and are operating at the assad regimes invitation, leading to a congested operating environment and enflaming an already complex political situation. The defeat isis campaign in this environment has a much different character. Although russia, iran, and to an extent, the syrian regime, all want to remove isis and its influence from syria, each actor has varying degrees to which they are willing to tolerate isis presence, and they all have different interests and objectives in the long term. The coalition, on the other hand, has the sole objective of military defeat of isis. In some parts of the country, the dynamic has led to a case of converging forces as the battle space condenses, but diverging interests among those fighting in this congested area. Since we could not partner with the syrian regimes armed forces, we chose to support an Organization Called the Syrian Democratic forces, again, in a by, with, and through construct. In this case, it means employing Syrian Democratic fighting forces with Coalition Assistance through a coordinated framework. Theyre an indigenous syrian organization, equally represented by syrian kurds and syrian arabs who have created a framework of operating cooperatively with the coalition. The establishment of Civil Councils as a result of this arrangement made up of syrian Civic Leaders from the local area once that an area has been cleared of isis, has aided in alleviating governance concerns from the local population. By and large, this approach is working well and has facilitated the reintroduction of local control and the return of displaced persons to their homes. Another partner with whom we are conducting a by, with, and through approach, as you heard mentioned, is United Arab Emirates as we operate together in yemen. The u. S. And the uae share the common National Interests of eradicating terrorism, and in this case, terrorism at the hands of al qaeda and isis. And we have adapted our approach here so the u. S. Advisers, and in some cases, our enabling capabilities, work with emirati forces as they employ a very successful by, with, and through strategy with yemeni counterparts. This hybrid approach works well, supporting our counterterrorism objectives but reinforcing a local approach, and more importantly, local ownership over the solution. And that is the goal, local solutions to local problems and u. S. Assistance where and when our National Security interests are affected. As i briefly touched upon while discussing syria, countering the influence of outside state actors as we work by, with, and through our local partners remains a complex dynamic in this region. Specifically, iran has exerted its influence in a few different ways, which require u. S. And Coalition Forces to adjust our methods. Irans expressed desire to build larger influence both literally in developing the tehran beirut access, and figuratively by increasing military and political influence in places like syria, yemen, iraq, and other places around the region, causes concern among our numerous arab partners in the region. In this light, we are keen to use a by, with, and through approach to address irans manifestmaligned behavior with partners both in and outside of the region. So, why does this approach work . Why does by, with, and through work . As i mentioned, it allows the u. S. To assist allies and partners in the region without requiring a National Policy that allows that requires a largescale deployment of forces. This approach also enables local actors to address local issues, encouraging local ownership of the solutions and capitalizing on the much deeper understanding of regional dynamics that only our local partners can have. There are, however, numerous challenges associated with this approach. Its not free. On occasion, a partner might not conduct their operations in the same manner that the u. S. Or a Coalition Partner might. In such cases, we have to do our best to either understand the reasons why or let our partners know our thoughts on other ways to accomplish the same objectives. But in the final analysis, those doing the fighting, the local forces, are calling the shots. There is also the dynamic of pace of operations. We are Getting Better at realizing that the operations will go at the pace of our partners, sometimes fast and sometimes slower. Whether it is slower or quicker than anticipated, our partners always have the lead. For example, just over the last weekend in the city of raqqah, the Syrian Democratic forces on their own halted operations to include the coalitions support to them, to allow more of the civilian population and a number of local isis fighters to surrender and evacuate the city. They, because of their cultural understanding, their deep tribal relationships, realize the importance of protecting the local population with whom they wanted to work once isis is defeated. And as i previously mentioned, there have been operations where the Iraqi Security forces that the Iraqi Security forces have conducted that were completed much faster than the Coalition Forces would have anticipated. As these two examples highlight, and many, many other cases that i could cite to you, those of us who look to work closely with our regional partners must be prepared, agile, and flexible for this eventuality. Why am i sharing all this with you . Because for the foreseeable future, coalition campaigns and the approach of working by, with, and through our regional partners, is absolutely key to how many of our common objectives will be accomplished. In fact, we internally to the u. S. Department of defense are working to see what aspects of this approach should be included into our doctrinal, training and force management systems. And many of our services, my service, the United States army in particular, are taking measures now to develop forces that are specifically designed for this type of warfare. One of the tasks at hand is to define the Overall Concept of by, with, and through. In more refined language that lends itself to further development and discussion. And its not just a military problem. By, with, and through applies to our diplomatic, our economic, our Law Enforcement partners as well. And so, it is a comprehensive approach. Key to any definition of by, with, and through, is the understanding that any support we give to Partner Forces must be through a coordinated legal and diplomatic framework. It is this framework that will form the legal basis for any action and provide guidelines for the employment of not only the partnered forces, but of course, our capabilities. Decisionally, we have to refine the term partner carefully and continuously. The relationship between the partner and the Legal Framework can spell the difference between success and failure at the strategic level, thereby directly supporting or potentially undermining any diplomatic efforts. There are also other numerous, unsettled definitions that we will be working to define and several changes of policy that well need to explore in order to facilitate more effective execution of this approach of by, with, and through. And while much of the analysis is going on, we have had discussions about this approach at the highest levels within the department of defense, and certainly, with all of our partners. To me, the philosophy has always made sense, but now it is time to codify this approach. We owe it to our regional partners to be as clear as possible in what we mean when we say by, with, and through. Id like to leave you with one final thought. At the time of George Washingtons letter to the sultan of morocco, neither could have possibly foreseen our current strategic environment. The letter was a statement of commitment to become useful to our friends. The United States is now more powerful than it was back then and able to make good on some of its promises. And to the extent that i and United States Central Command are able to help, we will. And as we look forward to the development of u. S. arab relationships in the future, we would be well to remember that a simple commitment between friends can be more powerful than violence, extremism, and oppression. Thank you once again for the invitation to speak with you this afternoon and sharing my thoughts with you. I trust that our partnership and friendship will continue to strengthen over time with all of our partners in this very important region as we Work Together on these and other important issues. Thank you very much. [ applause ] this afternoon, the Hudson Institute takes a look at countering violent extremism with lawmakers and former intelligence officials. Throughout the day, well hear from people like former cia directors leon panetta and david petraeus, as well as former white house chief strategist steve bannon. That gets under way at 12 15 p. M. Eastern, live here on cspan3. And later today, we head to George Washington university where White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders is discussing the Trump Administration and its relationship with the media. Shell be joined by white house correspondents from fox news, cnn, and the new york times. Thats also live here on cspan3 starting at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight on the communicators, russias involvement in the 2016 election with propublica Senior Reporter julia angwin. Facebook has said that they learned that a bunch of ads placed during the election were placed by russian outfits under anonymous accounts and they were politically divisive ads, not