of there. what is going on? this looks like a total, total disaster. everything we had there is gone. it s a total collapse of any kind of control in the country. it s devolving into a civil war. it s going to get worse. but for the united states interest we no longer have a capability to interface what was left of the yemeni army or the intelligent services. our capability to conduct strikes against aqap is severely degraded. hopefully we can replicate that in another country, djibouti saudi arabia somewhere like that. but this puts a blow in our efforts against aqap one of the more capable al qaeda elements. the bomb-maker is still on the run over there. very sophisticated capabilities and they have a track record of going after u.s. targets here in the united states as well. paul these shiite houthi rebels they re backed by iran now taken control of a major air base in yemen which was recently abandoned by the united states.
and there are these reports the u.s. not only left and fled the area but they left about $500 million worth of military equipment there that these shiite rebels have maybe aqap has, maybe some other terrorist groups have right now. your reaction to what s going on? well it s all obviously very very concerning. the houthis are on the verge of taking aden the second largest city in yemen, that risks plunging the country into a full-blown civil war. and i think al qaeda in yemen and isis are going to be the big winners here. they ll be able to exploit this civil war to their own advantage. they re going to be able to exploit anger amongst sunni tribals who are infuriated by this houthi takeover of sanaa and parts of south of the country to get a recruitment windfall. this will all help al qaeda build up its position further