Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On U.S.-Qatar Relations 20170727

Softer real net recognizing myself for our Opening Statements i will recognize other members and for those witnesses those prepared statements are made as part of our records with those statements and questions for a the record we have many members of the subcommittee on the Judiciary Committee ancestral important track up happening as we speak and we appreciate the time they can scare to culvert for lahood. Last month that subcommittee convened on those opportunities of the United States and saudi arabia but today we focus on the relationship and their relationship with the neighbors. It is important to note this rift is not new. Former senior level official of the Treasury Department stated earlier this month saudi arabia have fought for years with those actions against the of financiers and they will continue to operate. Then of course there is khalifa mohamad who is a u. S. Come in you designated International Terrorist for his role in financing al qaeda and the 9 11 mastermind. In 2008 he was tried and convicted in absentia by bahrain for his terrorist activity and arrested later that year by qatar only to be released by the qataris six months later and openly financed by doha. Can anyone guess what khalifa mohamad has been up to these days . He was implicated in terror finance activities in 2012 but more recently he has been alleged to be financing and supporting terror in both iraq and syria with no response from the qatari government. Hamas leader Ahmed Michelle also made doha his headquarters for years while the qatari Government Supports, with a qatari Government Support in the Muslim Brotherhood has received significant support from qatar. Of course not all this is supported by the government doha. Many individuals get charity and have been known to raise large sums of money for a qaeda, the al nusra fund hamas and even isis. In qatar errors Terror Financing by the government, Terror Financing done in qatar through their own businesses that the government may not know about and Terror Financing in qatar that the government knows about but theres nothing to stop it. According to the 2015 report on terrorism this state department quoted quote indices and individuals within qatar continued to serve as a source of Financial Support for terrorist and violent extremist groups particularly regional alqaeda affiliates such the nusra friend end quote. There is no excuse for openly harboring terrorists and supporting groups that seek to harm our allies and excuse by qatar that is harboring these nefarious actors because the u. S. Asked them to no longer stands up. Qatar should not be continuing this wreck was policy due to past mistakes from previous republican and democratic administrations. We must not allow for our airbase airbase to be used as a means to justify this sort of behavior and our lack of a more appropriate response. Dohas paper mites and must change the status quo and if it is not a risk losing our cooperation on the airbase. The truth of the matter is none of the gulf countries, none of the gulf countries are without their issues. All of the nations have been involved in funding different groups at some point that we would not approve of but it seems like saudi arabia and they uae are making progress at a faster rate while qatar is making some progress but still lagging slowly behind. According to the Congressional Research service quote in october of 2016 Daniel Glaser then assistant secretary for terrorist financing and the office for terrorism and Financial Intelligence told a washington d. C. Research institute that over the past decade qatar has made less progress in countering Terrorism Financing then had saudi arabia and quote. We must analyze the totality of our relationship with these gulf countries. While qatar only helps to facilitate our operations that are airbase, the uae for example has spent 12 years with this fighting alongside in afghanistan has been in all think Counterterrorism Operations with the u. S. In libya. Moving forward one outcome that i hope comes out of this is for the gulf countries to work closely with our Treasury Department Financial Action task force to root out and disrupt Terror Financing. This uneasy time may just be an opportunity for us to take a long hard look at how and for some if we can effectively address and stop Terror Financing in the region and ultimately defeat the extremism that threatens the security of us all. But that i turned to my friend the Ranking Member mr. Deutsch for his statement. Think you madam chairman. Thanks to the witnesses for being back before a committee. I think the chair for convening this timely hearing to explore a relationship with qatar in a moment of her instability in the region. The ongoing diplomatic rift between qatar and gulf neighbors is not good for the region and its not good for american interests. It is a distraction from todays more pressing challenges i ran, the conflict in syria and the spread of terrorism. For most americans who expect complex in the middle east to wallow along sectarian lines or between competing regional hegemons it is confusing to see sunniarab neighbors and complex this is a dispute over longstanding agreements over qatars support financially and through a stateowned aljazeera news that act as qatars neighbors and in many cases the United States is deeply problematic. This is a nuanced and deeply complex matter as our relationship with qatar is no less complex. The tiny but immensely wealthy nation has close relations with all actors in the region could unfortunately it includes terror groups like hamas and the afghan taliban. Qatar is served as a financial political lifeline for hamas dedicated rowing and gaza for over a decade now. Qatar has spent hundreds of millions of dollars of the gaza strip including haven for hamas leader Khaled Bashar and helped legitimize the rule when he became the First National leader to visit to moscow territory. Qatar has supported other in the region including sending advanced weaponry and financing to ask dream as in syria and libya and aljazeera has given a clarion call to americans and israelis. These realities are troubling. Qatar is a close partner in the fight against terrorism in the region. Doha hosts and helps fund the largest u. S. Military facility in the middle east essentially our Forward Operating base. It is from this space that we supported the wars in iraq and afghanistan and airstrikes against isis. Qatar has served as mediator oftentimes to the benefit of United States per qatar has helped broker a ceasefire between hamas and israel during periods of intense fighting but qatar is helped secure an american hostage held for two years by the icao the link nusra after the tragic beheading of a u. S. Journalist. It has begin taking steps to hold qatar accountable for terror finance that they have got more to do. While they began prosecuting terror groups they have done so in secret hardly an effective deterrent and its unclear whether the outcomes of these prosecutions have led to any significant jail time or penalties but i was pleased to see the signing of a new memorandum of understanding with secretary tillerson this month but we dont yet know the details of how this will be implemented and we will wait to see the results. Madam chairman it is important to know also that saudi arabia egypt and other nations now in qatar face challenges as well. Two weeks ago our subcommittee held a similar hearing on saudi arabia in which we explored our Strategic Partnership as well as our new concern over saudi arabias slow progress and in continued exporting of fundamentalist ideology but todays hearing should not the about determining who is right. Todays hearing should rather make clear fighting among partners does not advance americas interests. We should be pushing for unity among our allies to fight common threats. They should be pushing all of our partners in the region to cut off funding to terror groups and we should be urging every leader to curtail hate speech and improve the records of human rights including treating women as equal members of society. Madam chairman i hope they can assess our relationship with qatar thoughtfully and i hope her witnesses can help us inform our path forward and i hope we can review the major demands made on qatar to reduce relations with i ran shut down the chechen military base and shut down aljazeera who understands the motivations behind these demands in an effort to see how a resolution might actually help you to trust that our Witnesses Today will lead us in an interesting and worthwhile conversation and i appreciate being here and i yield back. Thank you very much mr. Mr. Deutsch and now we will turn turn to our members for any opening remarks they might have starting with mr. Cook of california. Think you madam chairman it is going to be very interesting hearing. Similar to the one we had with turkey. Friend or foe and obviously as has already been discussed some of the issues are going to come up, the relationship with hamas, taliban financing and Everything Else but now theres a new wrinkle and that is the world cup and the north korean workers that are going to be paid for by that government bear with the money going back to north korea that is probably going to be used to finance more Missile Research and i dont think i have to tell the panel or anybody here that this is an even more troubling scenario. We are talking about a large number of north floridians including the north korea military that are going to be working on that. I hope that our panel will also discuss that as well as the other issues that were just raised. Think you madam chairman. Thank you sir. Mr. Suozzi of new york. Think you madam chairman. I want to thank you for holding this hearing. Very timely. Its very difficult for many of us to untangle the complicated relationships that exist in this region. Isnt it on at the background for the witnesses do and thats why we are so appreciative of their being here to testify today. Between the religious disputes in the tribal and family relationships to the historic disputes in peoples economic interests is sometimes difficult to untangle who the different parties arpad no one in the region really has clean hands and we need to figure out how to promote our agenda in america and throughout the west which is that we have to stand strong and hard against people who use propaganda and hate speech and Economic Warfare to promote extremism and violence. Im excited to be here today and to hear what the witnesses have to say. Thank you. The chair now recognizes mr. Delfin for one minute. Mr. Delfin you are recognized. Think you madam chairwoman and very much looking forward to todays hearing listening to her witnesses and hearing questions and giving feedback. A lot of great thoughts were already shared. I especially like the Ranking Members opening testimony. You touched on so much of what i do care deeply about. Recently i was in qatar and i found them to be very welcoming. They were going as far out of their way as possible to make progress in our relationship with a military base that was there in our servicemembers were well taken care of and a good strategic location and at the same exact time im greatly concerned by the welcoming atmosphere that exists for hamas and i just want to better understand the future of his relationship and the reasons why the reality is six exists as a dozen 2017 i look forward to hearing the testimony. Sidibe thank you mr. Giovan. Thank you madam chairman making member for holding this hearing. Thereve been a series of allegations between qatar and the countries and its hard for me to figure out what is true and what is false. Let me tell you what you see. I do see a blockade that is resulted in cruel consequences. You have families now being separated based on National Origin and that is highly troubling. I also see a Trump Administration that is sending mixed signals at the same time the secretary of state is saying the escalated do not blockade. We have the person doing the opposite claiming credit for this blockade and then you have 12 billion worth of fighting just sent to qatar but i would love to see the panel clarify that towards qatar but it should be but what it actually is right now. I yield back. The gentleman yields back in the chair recognizes the time im from california mr. Issa for one minute. Enqueue madam chairman. Seems like only yesterday the president said youre either with us or against us and the world said its too simple but i think as we evaluate qatar and the other gulf states we have to ask a basic question, is qatar with us, are they moving toward a more with us . Are that cooperating, are they more cooperative . Are they moving toward iran, are they them moving away from the u. S. . Hes are questions i believe we are going to be asking today and im hoping to hear throughout the day because i believe that although you are either with us or against us there are shades of gray in all of our allies in the region. Its clear that turkey has been moving away from us since 2003. It is clear that qatar has not been the best of actors when it comes to taking away funding from those who support terrorism and its clear that if they are moving with us we need to have that demonstrated just as we asked saudi arabia the United Arab Emirates and others to demonstrate on a regular basis so think you madam chairman. They yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from new york for one minute. I want to join with the statement. What we have to talk about heres the issue of fairness in me to make sure when we talk about qatar and the other countries in the region we as the United States dont think should be picking and choosing. We should keep talking because we need the mall and we need to figure out how we will work collectively together. Qatar has done some things that have been very good for United States and our military base trying to make sure to work with us with regards to the war on terror and i think what needs to happen especially when he to bring as the committee individuals on the Bush Administration the Obama Administration because there is dialogue and conversation begin have with them to talk about the people that have asked to do on behalf of United States. If that is the case in those individuals should not be held responsible if they are working corporately with us. Look for forward to hearing the customer the witnesses and make sure we have a level Playing Field here. Thank you mr. Meeks for your pink statement. We will now turn to her witnesses. I would first like to welcome back doctored Jonathan Schanzer who is the Senior Vice President of research for the foundation for defense of democracy. Doctors schanzer has served as a counterterrorism analyst at the department of the treasury and prior to that worked as a Research Fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy. Welcome back dr. Schanzer and id like like to welcome back dr. Matthew leavitts who directs the program and counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute for near east policy. Previously he served as the Deputy Assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the u. S. Department of the treasury. Before that as a fbi counterterrorism analyst. We are glad to have you back with us today dr. Leavitt. Finally i would like to welcome elon goldenberg is a senior fellow and her of the middle east Security Program at the center for a new american security. Prior to cnas mr. Goldberg served as the chief of the staff to the special envoy for israelipalestinian negotiations at the u. S. Department of state from 2012 to 2013 mr. Goldenberg served as a senior professional staff member on the senate or in Relations Committee covering middle east issues. In that capacity he acted as one of the elite directors of the serious transition support act which provide additional authorities to arm the serious opposition. The bill passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in may of 2013 and i thank him for being here with us today. Doctors schanzer we will begin with you for your opening statement. Madam chairman Ranking Member deutsche members of the subcommittee on behalf the foundation for democracy thank you for the opportunity to testify. As many of you know we have been producing research and analysis on the arab spring. Their critique has been consistent 30. 2 qatari support for hamas the taliban jihadists and syria libya and the Muslim Brotherhood that we have been aljazeera and track them in a report suggesting qatar has noted through the work of my colleague David Weinberg at qatar is failed to take action against u. N. And u. S. Funded for a moment i would like to address how qatar has responded to the allegations against the grid after ignoring criticism from think tanks like the better part of the decade qatar claims is being unfairly singled out. To be sure the other gulf countries have their problems. A recent state Department Report noted terrorist financiers continue to operate in kuwait saudi arabia continues to finance the spread of wahhabism and the entire gulf suffers or mitt democracy deficit but to understand my qatar is identified first among states for Terrorism Financing imagine for a moment you are a policeman he just watched five cars speed going 85 mustin arent five miles and are consuming pastime is a red ferrari going 90 miles an hour. Which car would you pull over . That ferrari is qatar. Cutters support is overt egregious and its brazen. As the gulf crisis has dragged on qatar has been defiant insisting its definition of terrorism differs for this is a particularly poor defense from a country claiming to be an american ally in the war on terrorism. As for the curt crisis between qatar and its neighbors saudis and they emirates have been engaged in a fierce competition with qatar for years. They attempt to undermine each other through media trysts lopping western capital and other soft power. Since arab spring however that rivalry has boiled over. Both sides boiled over. Both sides of my support behind various processes represent a lease. The copies that the Muslim Brotherhood and emirates are working to were served airball voter pushing for stability at the expense of the possibility for reform. These two in the middle east are fundamentally at odds with one another. Why is u. S. Policy not to back one gulf states over another insuring terrorism finance in the gulf comes to an end could i offer you the following suggestions. First congress should access whether qatar should continue to host her most significant airbase in the middle east. Fighting our war on terrorism from qatars and the convoluted message to our allies in the region. Congress should work with the Justice Department to ensure that qatar narrowly at jobs lost to combat Terrorism Financing but fully implements them. We should consider passing the bipartisan stop terrorist resources and money for storm act up 2017. The bill was introduced in the senate and not yet in the house and could label qatar and other countries as jurisdictions for Terrorism Financing concerns. Congress should press the state Department Pursuant to state department authorizations act to issue its report or which states paid grants to terrorists over the last year per congress to press for full implementation of the administration ask suggesting countries like qatar to post operative certain licensing requirements for dualuse goods. Congress must continue to monitor qatars neighbors and if qatars palms will result tomorrow there had be a significant concern for concern for terrorism finance. Those who feed from the trough are often unable to engage on the policies and behaviors even when they fly in the face of u. S. Interest that it would be curious to hear how many of you have been approached by lobbyists since the gulf crisis began little on the leadup to this hearing. There are issues that i did not address in this testimony. If theres anything you wish to discuss him happy to answer questions on behalf of the. Thank you doctors schanzer. Doc or three are recognized. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you and assess their relationship. Qatars been a longtime ally of the estates and host of largest u. S. Military base in the least. The u. S. Has long criticized the qatari government for its lack of counterterrorism policies in particular shortcomings regarding terror finance. Moving forward is critical to bring this gulf crisis to a close and the best way to the findface evening but substandard than verifiable ways for qatar to address the most serious shortcomings in its counterterrorism and counter extremism posture but some of the recent accusations made against qatar exaggerated but the claims against qatar are focused on issues that go should have addressed a long time ago. Recent years qatar is maintained an open door policy for wide range of islamic extremist groups from hamas to the taliban and others. The most disturbing however is support for al qaedas while qatar has made efforts to hault Terror Financing the efficacy of these efforts is questionable. For example in 2014 the state department credited qatar as shutting down a fundraising platform for syria. The following year the u. S. Treasury designated qatari was operating as a syrian affiliate. They it came up again in the 2017 designation of kuwaitbased terror finance or mohammad al uneasy. He continued to provide funding for nusra even after qatar shut down the fundraising platform in 2143 years earlier leaving a big question mark over the integrity of the measures to stop Terror Financing. According to the state departments 2015 report doha had made no effort to prosecute terrorist financiers. Qatar had persecuted five, it is now clear one was big did that in absentia. None of them are in jail when the spat broke out. The one still resident in qatar are reportedly under surveillance but according to recent reports some new arrests may have been made since the Current Crisis began likely involving some of those previously tried in qatari courts. Qatars lack of transparency led to much speculation about the countrys commitment and its worth noting just recently the director of the Qatari Government Communications office said in that quote both individuals with links to terrorism have been prosecuted which would mean the total number of suspects is five. Let me give you a couple of examples. This would have been the second time that he was convicted following the 2000 arrests in which he was subsequently released from prison after you promised not to do terrorist activity in qatar or consider khalifa also pay who was arrested in january 2008 in bahrain for financing terrorism undergoing terrorist training to receive terrorist training and more. He was arrested again in march of 2008 at qatar and served a sixmonth term in prison. He was supposedly under surveillance after he was released but in 2015 the u. N. Committee on al qaeda sanctions updated new information which is no small matter because it requires a new vote of the full u. N. Security council and reported he had resumed her sick cavity. Its important to know what terror finance prosecution are difficult cases and part of a normally functioning court system and these are not the only tools effectively serving as bumblers of donors that the region to al qaeda interior particular. The first will be to populate the designation was just created by qatars amir and to put people on that list. The u. S. Just signed an mou on counterTerrorism Financing with qatar. Creating a whole bunch of new authorities previous authorities and to be implemented in full. Qatar has a history of past counterterrorism related laws in 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014. They were either not implemented or not implemented in full so we have to make sure these are done effectively. Moving forward the most important thing is qatar populates the destination list in a transparent manner start with individuals designated United Nations to fund and provide support to al qaeda and other terrorist groups. There are several other recommendations i make in my written statement may thank you for the opportunity justified and look forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you. Or levitt read me now turn to mr. Goldenberg for your opening statement. Madam chairman Ranking Member deutsche members of 70 thank you for the opportunity to testify on the u. S. Qatar relationship in the applications within the Corporation Counsel to might shut if was not to recount the moves in tournaments each site is made since the crisis erupted. Instead i will provide context as to what created the situation the implication of u. S. Interest in the possible way ahead. Qatar is a complex part is the least in one hand they pursued a policy that included building relations at factors United States finds problematic including groups in syria taliban hamas and the local weather. This approach is independent and sometimes provocative foreignpolicy that is chafed some of its gulf measures neighbors. It has them. That meant dinner major reason for the recent action. From an American Perspective the slow response to Terror Financing is the most problematic. Since war erupted qatar was on the forefront of supporting Syrian Opposition groups. A number of other gulf state actors also pursued an anybody but a soft policy without setting some of these anybodys. Certainly the United States made its own share of mistakes during this time. Turkey was the most including alnusra and we are still living with mistakes in syria and will be for years to come. On some issues could tars been a useful partner. Qatar has a critical u. S. Airbase. The airbase is a central node for which the United States conducts operations in iraq. In afghanistan as well as other operations across the middle east. The race has hosted u. S. Military aircraft are worth 15 years and during that time has been a reliable partner allowing access for broad array of military operations from over the flexible approach of problematic actors has at times made it a useful connector and diplomacy requiring engagement with unsavory characters. Take for example could tars relationship with hamas. On the one hand both the United States and israel doesnt need hamas as a terrorist organization could on the other whether one chooses to view qatar positive or negative was clear is the split does emerge in recent weeks has not been good for u. S. Interest. Two weeks after President Trump visited three odd behind it, check death of countering extremism and pushing back on iran americas gulf allies have launched into an internal feud that has distracted them and us. Meanwhile the split is created opportunities for russia and iran to increase influence the region. Going forward the Trump Administration to take a number of steps. First settle on one consistent message and approach instead of patry the present secretary of state which only cause confusion undermine ability to mediate. Second move away from viewing the middle east through pure blackandwhite prism. How demonstration focuses heavily on unifying and backing sunniarab states that filter recognized the internal among them. This gave the green light to some Gulf Partners to move ahead with these actions. There had settle in for the longhaul as this crisis is not going to be stopped soon. She clearly signaled her partners were still look as solid challenges posed by isis and aranibar expect them to do the same instead of focusing all the diplomatic energy and trying to get washington to take their side. Fourth encourage the escalation on all sides by lease getting them to tone down their public rhetoric when emphasizing the u. S. Is willing to play a mediating role however its ultimately an interarab disagreement that they will need to be out front to solve it finally we should use this crisis as an opportunity and engage with all the countries of the gcc to shine the light on the problem of Terror Financing and set us on the members of said qatar certainly is a major problem neck after an far from the only one of this could be an opportunity in terms of this crisis to push all of them to be better so thank you very much and i look forward to hearing and answering her questions. Thank you mr. Goldenberg and i i think there were those further up in a statement spread like to open up my line of questioning by rep and icing the fact that i think is hearing is very timely on both qatar and the gulf countries have been important partners and we would like to see a construct with on this resolution to the crisis. Qatar is a military ally in the United States but has simultaneously supported hamas and al qaeda. We have a role in easing tensions in the region but not at the expense of our National Security interests and our values. Qatar must cut ties with terrorists. Our allies cannot provide support to our enemies. Dr. Schanzer i have no sympathy for supporters of hamas, nor do you. You have called the u. S. Base in qatar and insane arrangement i think is that quote. Do you believe that this location is dangerous and how would you move the base in such a way that doesnt compromise operations in the region . Congresswoman wagner thank you for the question. I would probably put it this way. First of all it is an insane arrangement the identity of a forward airbase that is conducting the most crucial operations in the war on terror and it is mere miles away from the taliban presence, hamas presence where there are designated terror financiers from a number friends running around in doha just sends the wrong message. Since the wrong message to the United States and to our allies in the coalition to fight isis and al qaeda. Since a wrong message to our middle east allies as well. In other words when we tell them we are going to hold them to account for their Terror Financing issues and they look at whats going on in qatar the optics i think our rather terrible. As for the safety of our troops so far i would say so good. We have not had incidents where it appears that our troops are being threatened. I would actually say and airbase in turkey which is another country that supports terror groups. But at the end of the day our recommendation has been that we begin to assess what it would take to move the base. Maybe not all of it, maybe not all that it wants but we need to take a look regionally as the other areas where we may be able to access and signaled to the qataris that we are willing to move. We dont need to do it. We may decide at the end of the day the pentagon can cant do it. Its too difficult in the meantime its important to message to the appropriate people in qatar that we are willing to look at this problem and to reallocate assets if necessary. Thank you. Doc or levitt can you discuss with the saudis and other gulf states have taken that the qataris have not . Thanks for the question. Terror financing is a problem throughout the gulf and it took the saudis some time to get on top of this problem. For a long time u. S. Treasury points to saudi arabia system to this problem but the saudis turned a corner. There is more that they can do but the saudis now run intelligence operations. They prosecute people. They work with us in designating people. Thereve even been joined u. S. Saudi designations including charities and individuals in saudi arabia. That is domestically difficult politically politically for them but they do produce more that they can do but now we point to others with the gcc toward saudi arabia and we are trying to show them, the types of things would like them to do more. Its an irony that kuwait is a country that is playing the middleman on this in kuwait is often described as being just as bad as qatar on Terror Financing and something went to recognize as well but the fact is there are things that qatar should have done a long time ago that they have not done that that we have frankly tolerated them not doing and the overt financing of the most important al qaeda entity in the world al qaeda in saudi arabia is completely beyond the pale. And mr. Goldberg one of the demands from the gulf states was that qatar must close down the Turkish Military base. I am guess that they are concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood influenced but how important do you think this demand is in terms of regional stability and purity and is this one that should be dropped . Thank you congressman for the question. I think on the list of demands that the turkish airbase is probably lower on the list of demands that they emirates are leveling in the most conversations when you hear them more has to do with the press and personal attacks that the different sites are launching at each other. Thats more the source of the issue than the Terror Financing issue within talking about and much more central to the debate. Frankly as there has been a move for the turks to point forces years ago and that when the crisis erupted they moved everything out and moved it to a symbolic is a Good Opportunity where the crisis and the moves back fired on some of our partners if what they are trying to do is isolate qatar and what they manage to do is strengthen the turkic qatar relationship instead. I would put this one probably not as central as some of the other questions out there but something we will see as time goes on. Thank you for that insight. My time has elapsed. I now recognize the Ranking Member mr. Deutsch for five minutes. Thank you madam chairman and mr. Goldenberg you referred to the flexible approach to problematic actors, so the question i have for you and the panelists, what is that . Here is how its characterized. Yes we know hamas is a terrorist organization but if our ally has a relationship than perhaps that can help us somehow end up her schanzer would argue this that hamas is hamas and we should have nothing to do with them and her ally shouldnt be there. The question is what is a flexible approach and dr. Schanzer is qatar acted to move all of these terrorist groups out of qatar in doha altogether where do they go and to mr. Goldenbergs point is there some benefit to having them there instead of in the arms of isis pics. Thank you Ranking Member deutsch and exactly. And this is precisely the point. Its complicated but what i would say, maybe i will start with the example of hamas and i will quote ahead of research for israels military intelligence who has been up here a lot ive believed in the past talking about it publicly. No one else is willing to help of the country when it comes to gaza and heres a perfect example of the situation we are dealing with. We have had three wars between israel and hamas over the last few years in gaza with large casualties for palestinians and large casualties for the idf and the israelis have started to realize well maybe we should not , we are just trying to squeeze hamas and it doesnt seem to be worked into maybe you need to think about different approach and alleviate the humanitarian situation find ways to establish channels and keep the situation calm and not have a conflict. Who is the only real channel they have to do that . The country. We have been using that channel theyve been helping them facilitate that channel. If hamas was in tehran which is the light the outcome of what would happen if they were kicked out doha then i think what you would see is no ability to communicate that way and probably hamas taking more aggressive actions. This isnt to justify the qatari relationship with hamas but i dont agree that necessarily predicting that the problem. Its not something that the u. S. Has a direct relationship with found this approach that the qataris have some benefit and we should recognize that as opposed to just vilifying them. We would like them to behave differently but at the same time we asked them to do some things that are in our interest. Her schanzer. Thank you congressman deutsch. Im not even sure where to begin. In terms of the potential benefits from qatar working with hamas or allowing hamas to operate their we have yet to actually see what the benefits are other than the fact that the israelis have allergic qataris have allowed them gaza, not to hamas but the people of gaza for reconstruction. On that the israelis would agree its positive and we would all agree it has helped perhaps forestall a major humanitarian disaster and i think for that we should be thanked over from there you asked the question. Its not like hamas doesnt have other places where can operate. Has a base in turkey for example that has a home base in the gaza strip. It operates out of west bank and out of sudan and lebanon. Has a major presence across the middle east. Why does it have to operate inside of doha where they get a certain amount of legitimacy for this and perhaps one of the thing to note is people talk about health qatar may have helped perhaps bring the conflict to an end in 2014. If you speak to the other actors in the region they will tell you whether its the egyptians or the israelis are even others and they will tell you is the qataris and the turks that forestalled an end to the conflict. We continue to negotiate on behalf of hamas and i think in doing so it probably led to the loss of many more lives. Unfortunately im out of town. The gentleman from has expired. The chair recognizes shoeman from california mr. Cook for five minutes. Thank you madam chairman. In my opening remarks i talked about the story of the north koreans working on the world cup and the figures that i read were about 3000. In the article that talked about whether they could be militarized and this is a scenario that is kind of scary. We talked about the fact that we have our Largest Military base right there where its users to set is insane or comment on a possibility. Another dimension and another threat to this because every week it seems we have to reevaluate which is the number one enemy. I havent seen this report so i dont want to comment on a report i havent seen other than to say the north korea issue is a pressing issue and in some ways its much more important than this one to be sure. In general i think we need to learn ways to leverage conversation and if necessary pressure qatar on a wide array of issues that we have with them and this would be one more thing to have to do that in a way that is flexible because we have many very positive relationships with qatar but i would argue the way to be flexible is not to say its okay to have x number in the country or host anybody want from hamas. The difference between hosting certain leaders of hamas sitting in a hotel room as opposed to people who are now believed to be in lebanon to sitting comfortably in qatar for quite some time where he was literally plotting attacks against civilians. That should be completely beyond the pale. How do we have multiple conversations with the country at the same time. On some issues have agreement on some issues to. Agreement. We have done it very poorly across administrations. Does anybody else want to comment on this . Is important when you talk about Foreign Workers and qatar. The 3000 au mentioned are a small number in relation to the 800,000 plus Foreign Workers that are active right now in qatar. Ive seen the reports of north korean workers. The concern is not that they would be operational but rather they were effectively slave labor given to the qataris and whatever they were being paid was being remanded back to north korea and this was an inverted way or a backdoor way of financing north korea. These are the concerns we have. They believe the qataris have addressed this problem, the last i heard but i have not seen updates on this. The reason i asked that question having that debate and Everything Else about the sanctions against north korea and this might be another variable that would be included in this. Any comments on what happened last year over that area and the state department was quite frankly at that time, this was a year ago maybe a year and a half, they were arguing on behalf of of qatar on the upgrade of the f15s. They thought it would be in their best interest. I was kind of shocked at that in terms of Foreign Military sales. Do you have any comment on that . I viewed it as almost middle east stockholm syndrome because they were very supportive of qatar with all its problems and it shocked me from a military standpoint. Doctor, either one. I served in the pentagon for a few years on the middle east issues i can talk a bit about this. My perspective this is a problem we have with the gulf states. On one hand or arm sales are useful to our industry. I understand that but im talking about an upgrade. I understand your expertise and i spent a few years in the military myself. With regard to that project or Weapon System which is more sophisticated than some of the others. I was just going to say my issue is i cant tell you about the specific weapons system and that specific upgrade i can tell you generally have an issue where we saw too much weaponry because they have the money and what they need is lower and technology to deal with counterterrorism which is much more important for their interests. That thank you very much and i yield back. The gentlemans time has expired. The chair rep an isis the gentleman from california mr. Lou for five minutes. Thank you madam chairman in june either secretary of state Rex Tillerson stated we call on saudi arabia and the american emirates to ease the blockade on qatar. Later that same exact day donald trump referred to the initiative as necessary and as you know a few days later the United States sold them 12 main dollars of fighter jets to qatar. My question to the panel what is your understanding of the current position on the sub called blockade . Do we supported or two we oppose it for what is your answer to that . I will start and the others can comment. From my perspective for the most part i do think what it does do is causes confusion because secretary tillerson is trying to act as mediator and hes going out there and trying to do that. Meanwhile you have some of these other comments coming from elsewhere so it will go to secretary of state and secretary of defense. Emirates and the saudis will go to the white house and thats really not an effective way to conduct and mediate conflicts. I think it causes problems so i would say its the u. S. With the policy. Let me ask you another question. Thereve been various reports that the Trump Organization has has businesses in saudi arabia but not in qatar. As ive play any role . Honestly congressmen i dont know their motivation was behind it. There have been various reports that Jared Kushner basically got stiffed by folks in qatar. Certainly its not something that i would have any knowledge of. Lets move on to a question i mentioned in my opening statement. Are their families being separated because of the socalled blockade based on their National Origin . Or any panel member . My understanding is yes there are issues where the qataris of a lot of people moving between countries in the emirates and the various gcc states and you end up in a situation where all Country Nationals had two weeks to get out. So you would separating husbands and wives if they happen to be different National Origin . I have concerns about that but i cant speak for their policies. Okay. I met with various representatives throughout the gulf state countries including saudi arabia and qatar. With respect to taliban they said its true there is a Taliban Office in qatar that the u. S. Asked them to open it. Is that true . Anyone on the panel . I will maybe take a first stab at that one. As i understand it there was a taliban presence that was already there in doha. There were representatives of the calm before the opening of this office and then came the initiative by the Obama Administration to negotiate with the taliban with pragmatic members of the group. They essentially authorized, will it became the taliban embassy. As i mentioned in my testimony this was something that was very frustrating to those within the afghani government who were struggling for there are recognition of legitimacy who felt it would undermine them and ive heard this from a number of u. S. Officials on both sides of the aisle. What happened after that would be the trade for Bowe Bergdahl the american servicemen who went to sing in a tennis fan and this was facilitated by the qataris and the taliban to high ranking taliban officials and operatives ultimately came to qatar as well so they augmented the presence of very thin there. Since that time the concern has not been just that there is an official presence of taliban inside doha but rather taliban officials, taliban militants have come in and reconnected with a taliban and some of the others. There is concern that its not just that presence that was blessed by the Obama Administration but things of operational concern as well. Think and i yield back. Hepatoma notes that. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york mr. Zeldin for five minutes. Thank you madam chairwoman. This question is for anyone whos able to answer. This qatar view hamas as a terrorist organization . Or maybe multiple choice. Or does qatar view hamas as a legitimate resistance or would you give us some other characterization . How does the government of qatar view hamas . Maybe i will start. The government of qatar does not see hamas as a terrorist organization. The violence hamas carries out is legitimate and continues to insist as this crisis has unfolded they do not agree with the definition of terrorism that their critics are using. Again i see it as a poor defense. They know exactly how we view the problem and they are allies of the United States. They are hosting our airbase. They know the difference between right and wrong in the way that the left view and they refuse to recognize it and thats one of the problems that we have. I think as a postscript to this is the case with hamas to wealth might view it differently . How do they view the taliban . Do they see them as terrorist . Probably not. What we see as a growing list of factors where we would disagree on whether they are legitimate or illegitimate terrorists. Does anyone disagree with that . What options do we have if at all to get qatar to change their view of hamas as a legitimate resistance . In the first instance there are reports that qatar has asked at least six hamas to leave the country. Thats good. So long as there is no consequences this is a nobrainer for qatar. It can either spend money or do other things that make it more of a player. It has been able to make itself for a player in part reaching out to Islamist Groups that are beyond the pale for most and therefore being a key intermediary. We collectively especially coming right after the European Court of justices ruling just now opposing the eus designation of all of hamas, we in the west collectively need to make it clear to qatar by posting in providing services to a group that is committed to the destruction of the u. N. Member state to civilians is unacceptable. I put that in different basket from qatars support to citizens in gaza which the israelis fully support. In fact israel is a different issue. If qatar wants to be a responsible player in that regard fine but providing a safe haven to the leaders of the u. S. And eu designated terrorist group is a problem. Has qatar weighed in to the best of your knowledge with regards to the u. S. Moving its embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem quest are you aware of the nature of qatar helping in the mission to defeat isis . I think yes qatar hosts our forests forces that there pays where we have a central coordinating function that allows basically coordinating all of our operations in iraq afghanistan and syria and especially iraq and syria. Its a central element of our strategy and. You really should have clarified. Do we have a base there but the nature of these relationships with other terrorist organizations and they are very well coming to just about everyone it seems in the region. So outside of the obvious, but can we add, looking at as far as qatars other efforts not supporting, not allowing us to operate their vote would also be doing . I want to make sure that may be just a couple of . Thoughts you mentioned turkey sold probably a whole other hearing should be done in turkey but that same source of behavior exhibited before we saw with the turks in similar ways and in fact, just yesterday the president of turkey was indo hot and they are Strategic Partners and we need to address this. We have very similar issues. They are freer images of one another they have been known to open the borders to allow fighters to go back and forth there is a lot of problems with the turks that deserve attention and i think the problem with kuwait that it is a mediator is somewhat ridiculous that they have been identified time and again by the treasury that to wait it is a huge problem probably you rivaling of cover pattern. It is not out of the woods but it has gotten a lot better for go that distinction goes to the emirates but they still have their problems. When i began to say at the beginning the entire gulf of his day problematic region the saudis were c number 1a radical ideology had read now will looks as if they are Getting Better with this but as day improved that they have double down the budget qatar is the most popular. We have heard yes theyre making progress but switching to do this for very specific to benchmark changes to having got specifics in writing or in person. So the question how long this has been going on to say we think they are improving. I will add that qatar in the here and now, right now has to do things that will stopper perot question of the result whole lot of things and not only cause problems because problems now. I am not making excuses i can explain why there would not provided but as several members have said they have been approached of those in the think tanks and beware of pushing too hard on General Authority is of extremism. Because for a period of time the taliban the suitcases full of cash were invested in the realestate nobody cared. Despite what they have done they have turned quarters we should expect qatar to do thus save they are not perfect but with that egregious behavior even some of those charges are not true with some of them are. Your time is expired now the gentleman from florida. 84 taking that time. Very quickly we have been discussing the support of terror with Different Actors terrorism is not an enemy is a tactic used by enemy. date to hear from each of you what is it you think is trying to be achieved by the tactic by supporting that tactic . Answering to another question i think it tries to make it a bigger player than it would be by being almost an island with that small population but it has to be the wealthiest and also another way to punch beyond its way to have those relationships of other Islamist Groups and that has proved to be very dangerous so to have that relationship at the same time they have very Close Relationships with the of worst of the worst. I agree. That it is extremely vulnerable and it shares natural gas and the have to figure out how to get along so to have this available to them is useful so is having an american air base. But at the end of the day with they are trying to do is they become very wealthy and tried to use whatever means they have for purchase power buying large chunks of london and washington even across the middle east with those positions of power this is what drives them right now. Than just to add to that all sufferer traditionally it is perceived as the Foreign Policy in the gulf many choose to align themselves with saddam arabia but it qatar with that turnover shows a different approach not just going along with the saudis so if you go with that policy to find every division the u. K. And in every opportunity to build relationships with other actors this is the approach to iran and has a lot to do about increasing influence to be independent. See you each mentioned what you thought the end was with the support of terror not something cyberhorror economic but that kinetic action in so being thats qatar purchases for military at 10 billion what is the jump that you make connecting the dots . Do you for your moving from the tactic to a conventional attack dick a tactic . No. We dont want to get into a fight with anybody. They are supporting groups and they make a distinction in their own mind. They are supporting the Political Office of hamas or the islamist who are fighting assad. At all this is not a threat. If you looked at qatar we have had this conversation over the last hour it is important to note possibly 300,000 people it is tiny it has more Foreign Workers in actual nationals they are incredibly vulnerable theyre not picking a fight directly with anyone. They bring the conflict away from them and causes problems only for other people. Guide has granted me another opportunity to pronounced his name. I will pick up on something that you said of 300,000 people so i will change my line of questioning 1. 5 million muslims in the world than the challenge that we face that most muslims dont participate in this horrific activity to promote violence and the challenges who is winning in this battle to promote extremism and violence . There are 750,000 indonesia pakistan and bangladesh. 750 million. So the question is with a dynamic of the saudi arabia activities things are dynamic and changing to our way of thinking. Is sound that continue to promote violence and extremism where would you put them right now . 1 foot in one camp had 1 foot in the other. This is what is maddening on one hand they are hosting and are a vital partner and investing through their sovereign wealth and in legitimate investments providing hard capital especially when things got tough but the problem is they have used that as leverage so when we come to them of the jihadist and of taliban they just dont listen. So they clearly demonstrate they are moving away from extremism in moving to our way of thinking. We should be providing a list of those that excel. The level put it this way. But it would be very unpopular. 300,000 the live in the absolute monarchy. They will be gone. Were not talking about 300,000 people but a much smaller number. Probably to read dozen people max. People in government who need to act. This is the absolute monarchy. No tolerance for this type of activity so as long as that activity is with others that is as leverage. And that there are consequences in terms of the relationship if they dont. This crisis gives us an opportunity to build leverage and say do you really want our support so there is a real opportunity that Silver Lining is set of focusing on what we want them focused on and not spending time in washington to get us on their side but all of you here is the standard so go by this standard this is what we expect. There is a mechanism to do that we have the terror finance tracking center nobody knows. But that is a potential structure to put meat on the bones and we should be acting and demanding because these are happening even if they are the biggest problems right now with kuwait and qatar. Is a real battle not ideology but those criminals and kidnapping and drug dealing. It isnt a group but individuals. Now be turned to the gentleman from california. And with 2014 . Until very recently. All of you have been in a position this committee oversees the dont oversee kuwait or qatar so i will tell you a story from bush 16 years ago there is a hearing in this room we were evaluating that unreasonable activities because they had the audacity to want to sell their weapons but they came to the government to say were trying to become rich country we have loyal we want to tour these weapons to sell them off were not replacing them we want to raise cash. Who could resell them to . They said we cannot give you a list clearly lockheed was not interested unless there were a trade in and the there was going. So my question to each of you is because i have been through these hearings country after country and we will see fit is the Palestinian Authority including a loss or kuwait or saudi arabia or hamas release find one thing the money goes to bad people from within these countries or a nexus to is a the government in some way. Our each of you prepared to do and what you alluded to to make a list of who you want out and how do we get the administration to set those standards so we know it is not a mixed standard . But you need to take action that is a very straightforward approach and the other thing that i mentioned. If you provide that list i would commit to for that to the administration if they would make that request we will take you up on that but all those a dolan the individuals themselves that this would potentially available qatar day jurisdiction of concern which would then have a Chilling Effect better interested in doing commerce but my question was more narrow. What about the specifics to be administration . We have the various acts with all kinds of debate but what i have heard is there are specific acts we should be asking countries to do there are things that they can do just like visiting hamas so what of my questions to each of you is can you tell us additional acts the believe we should work with the administration to get done . I hope it doesnt tie this but what should be done that we need to ask them why arent they doing it . To lou be perfectly blunt they know because we have told them. Were happy to provide you information that we have a treasury attache who works hard all the time. This will send the department of justice officials to help the prosecutions no question about the names we have had day competition with have many times. We need the fbi to tell us for cry said no sir. I know that our people are working on a regular basis you know, exactly who we are talking about. When the official says just yesterday all those letters subject to prosecution is not true so i argued the problem here is not the list but they refuse to do that and we do not have that as a consequence that we have to be able to balance the budget. That is why our list for did will have more of why not but my question was broader not just qatar that we have similar request from other allies throughout the gulf. One thing the committee could do for example, is ask for a report what that would mean to really diversify away from qatar. I do think that would be very expensive if the push to keep that as day assets but that is not leverage that we blindly say but will keep doing this because were doing it right now with a gun to our head. But until we think of that alternative to have zero leverage which isnt the case. Now we go to the gentleman from rhode island. Use served as the Deputy Assistant secretary of the treasury to understand that a Critical Role and as they hear your testimony that just three lines v how disturbing and complicated it is calling for 30 percent cut with funding but has left positions vacant without nominees as we try to manage the crisis we still await on the assistant secretary at the time that terror groups continue to talk about our efforts under mass destruction is baffling to me with that condition interNational Security senate that would be much better if we had these positions filled. One of the demands qatar with that Turkish Military base in turkey has responded as a strong show of support but is this a real demand . Border the implications of this base was closed . You have to understand talkedabout the politics of the region and over all these countries are upset with qatar for the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood groups across the arab world that is a challenge to their view of the region there would like to maintain the status quo for the Strategic Partners no question so they see this as a double down as a threat that i dont think they want to open up another front the when you speak to these representatives you will see the turks for the second in line with the challenge of that regional order. And also pushing qatar closer to turkey . They did it need to be there were already Strategic Partners. But qatar has very few friends and they have reached out to the turks and have gotten closer with the turks also the iranians which is one of the things that qatar adversaries were warning about. With 1. On turkey with those demands better implement the blockade and being narrowed down to six with the turkish base is no longer on the list of demands. So i think the church the issue is an issue for the reasons they have talked about but is that a lesser priority . And if they are battling in their own internal affairs so they care more than the tricky issue. I do think it is true there is day mixed that we have learned it gcc the saudis take a the hardest line much less so in terms of trade and to play a very different role with that mediator. Obviously they have been trying to counter at the same time while continuing to maintain a dialogue. What is the rationale for that decision and longterm complications . Talking about the maturity of the world coming from what they share with the iranians. They have half so this is the reality of geopolitics and youll never get them to complete the totally, you dont hear the al love for the iranians but you do hear some banks to but they will not take a hardline approach with the position they are in. I would agree and a lot of this is driven by the need for survival. But i heard from some friends in the region so the Muslim Brotherhood and iran iran, there is a preconceived so were fundamentally at odds with iran and so you have a confluence of support so maybe there is more than meets the eye then perhaps additional research. I appreciate your insights and soy have been here 30 years working with the white house before i got here. So i cannot help but lament that seem that things are going in the opposite direction than positive potential of 20 or 30 years ago really did look like qatar and others. In a more positive direction but in reality we cease schizophrenia or these people think that they can juggle or the worlds greatest jugglers can handle both groups of enemies. So let me ask this, when you talk to the people of qatar qatar, and i have they will tell you that they were asked to bring in the taliban and al qaeda and hezbollah by the United States government. Even during the last administration did we ask them to bring in the taliban to have a greater opportunity for them to use that area as a base to deal with the world . I did not work on issues. Can anyone answer that question . They are telling us we asked them to do that. From my understanding educe think we ask them that that part of the reason was the taliban was already operating there. So there is some verification that perhaps the United States government did ask them to get involved we consider to be terrorist elements in that they deal with the taliban leaders and they were treated through our government which i think was the worst deal we ever could have gotten that was something the administration did. So let me ask this and i will be very pointed. The Clinton Foundation has received millions of dollars of contributions that we know from the russian oligarchs how much as the Clinton Foundation received from qatar . Do we know of any . Maybe it hasnt. None of us have those figures there is some debate with the United States asked qatar day ask them to be open since they were already there. I have one minute left so madam chairman i do think it would be fitting that we make a request to find out if qatar has been the source of major donations to the Clinton Foundation and if indeed our government during that time when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state did indeed ask qatar to permit some of these terrorist organizations this needs to be looked at very closely because we know the Clinton Foundation and russia was receiving tens of millions from the russian oligarchs. So whether al qaeda or hezbollah but 1. Made earlier do not consider the rebuilding of guys the to be a positive act. If indeed the palestinians are shooting rockets into israel and israel retaliates for qatar just to step forward and rebuild everything that is destroyed by the israeli retaliation rearing purging the people in the gaza to permit the shooting of rockets into their territory. But the fact is that if israel is retaliating against a retract an attack we should not clean up the mess but for those who actually permitted the attacks in the first place should pay the price. We want there to be peace with the twostate solution but instead those palestinians services create terrorist attacks and that destroys that by not rebuilding if they have been destroyed as a retaliation. So let me say again that this is not a hearing of the rest of the states. Frankly at all find qatar any worse than the saudi friends there is schizophrenia going on there with the Muslim Brotherhood with the impact have a name happening throughout the region that they embraced that Muslim Brotherhood philosophy so whatever you call them headed is a time of choosing right now. And i would hope because they have the choice if they continue down this path and decide to instead of the Muslim Brotherhood so i hope it sends that message. Mr. Schneider is recognize. I apologize in advance i have a marked up in judiciary so i have to go vote. Thank you for your time their perspective is there is so much to understand and counter intuitive aspects. And then dividing those parameters. And then not raising those finances . Yes it would and also not have a presence that is legitimate. The reason you can make lemonade out of lemons. But then in the neck of financing of terror in the country is that a fair summary . It is just as important suss to have this coalition and to have a pretty hard line and to make bad verifiable change to have those with other allies in the region to incest that it doha can do this. So as long as those changes are substantive and verifiable. So that longitudinal it is installed overnight. So you reference others to that issue . With those options to look at other places. So what are the benefits to us to have that diversify platform . There is always of benefit having a base in the uae e or bahrain so then the less leverage the at the same time we have to do a reevaluation. They invested 1 billion into that base they do have technology of runways but on top of that if you have a situation you dont have as many operations to bring in the carrier. With the asiapacific europe that is better than making it the sacred cow. Then if it is invaluable with a lot less leverage. I really think we need to focus with our friends to do escalate the crisis and the whole conference was about extremism so now what did the secretary to . With the fight amongst each other. What i spend 90 of a time on this issue. And this is an important piece tuesday escalate and find a solution. As we balance these issues the consistency of message with transparency what is the impact and with what theyre doing in this region . I think if it is clear on the one hand the crisis isnt urgent that the same time with some of the actors in the region to have parts of that Administration Speak and then to demand change the first thing that it says a with that crisis as we take over. That is away to get to a soft landing with the space saving mechanisms. Is it fair to say to have expectations of all allies in the region . So it is very clear those conflicting messages so each clearly feel they can lessen to the part that they want to hear her car was en europe recently. What does washington think . There are other ways of space saving gestures of replace more of a role the likelihood things will move forward. There isnt a lot of meat on the bones for that but without mechanism for the guarantees to us that qatar will make the following changes to do that in verifiable way is and then say this is how it will be done but qatar has to be willing to make those changes to be verifiable. Do appreciate that extended time to be clear in that expectation. I yield back. , could you describe qatar relationship with iran . A bit more ambiguous than what was previously described. They are a small country in the persian gulf on the press office said day Nuclear Weapon especially where they share the natural gas field. The we have been hearing there could be more cooperation than previously seen essentially this is what has been diligent with the iranians. I have heard allegations not just hamas but cooperation on all fronts but also potentially hezbollah or yemen. There is not a lot of evidence yet to prove these things. I think that qatar monday and ends up with those militia groups. What about a the Muslim Brotherhood that qatar has . I read your testimony that qatar was supportive of the egypt government after mubarak was pushed out the ben qatar was the haven but some of these radical clerics is that true those that were involved . 100 percent. With a previous gulf crisis one of the demands is day exile. But looking at what is invested in egypt reported the 18 billion a was a significant investment. For various sectors in serious definitely throwing their weight behind the brotherhood. And the Muslim Brotherhood in india it is undeniable and this is the cornerstone of debate that the neighbors are serious because that they continue to finance in support of brotherhood. What is the reason for doing that . With huge wealth. I agree it has caused them problems it looks like a gamble so looks like a lot of money. Is day counter leverage. Ensouled as they continue to pursue this. So do you have any insights into you cover everything . I am zero are skeptical about how much it is geopolitical with the country overall. If it was deeply ideological one with a bill that strong relationship . So this will pursue that opendoor policy. And with that motivation that doesnt have that behavior sometimes it can be useful we need to press them harder to stop. Those that our wrong the subcommittee theyre interested in the issue were very pleased to yield starting with of the gentlelady from texas. In that testimony given by the witnesses ashley same predicament i am in the markup so i notice the title is affecting bad relationship. If you might bear with me would you indicate or confirm so good you venture to said to engaged positively with the United States . Yes. George w. Bush . Yes. Obama . If you want day blanket assessment on those issues they were addressing . Yes. We have a Good Relationship with them but when we ask them to do things with the call to a vote during the Bush Administration that then secretary of state ask them to engage with have mons what negative hamas . So you mentioned that the region is important. From the lawyers perspective say that none of them in the court of equity have totally clean hands. Fire with said that stability and that is important but to engage so to encourage that stability so in essence to be pared down so how does this effectuate that engagement with all of the parties that should be eliminated . So to set one bar for everyone there is a long history there so to hold them off to one standard that is the beneficiary to us and helps to alleviate the. So that hammers home the point that day have the monks themselves those that threaten their stability whether that is isis zero or extremism that is rather like to see the relationship so any interjection would you view that as a positive fact . I would have the standard that congress applies to everyone. It might have the fastest or the 90mile an hour ferrari. So to emboldened one over the other to be in the region with the administration to be with the president of egypt i have a very strong commitment to the region for the relationship to use real. Israel so to focus our attention of the larger picture by way to said a certain standard to be sure it remains stable for others i fake it would also then issue to embolden that virginia made a mistake with a green light and the blank check the there was nothing they to do wrong but not walking away from that nuclear deal. And to have those expectations. With the agreement with that relationship. Forgive me for my focused questioning but 84 her kindness with that analysis that they should not give. Please hold your fire for a few minutes so we will yield time to mr. Connolly. You made the reference to paid lobbyist that has descended on the offices . There are lots of lobbyists are countries in we dont necessarily import to anything negative. There is nothing illegal or unseemly but the point i am trying to make there is of a lot of it there is a lot of new ways. About what . About this qatar conflict. Risers. We are sorry that cheryl couldnt be with us this morning that we have senator and