Transcripts For CSPAN3 U.S.-Arab Relations 20171018 : vimars

CSPAN3 U.S.-Arab Relations October 18, 2017

Most accomplished Public Servants in their respective nations as well as two of the most astute analytical observers of the middle east and its prospects. I live in abu dhabi right now and ill tell you it has been a challenging year for businesses in the region, for political folks, for government entities, and if you if you look at it in a snapshot, you paint a picture of all sorts of challenges and obstacles, many of which we are discussing at this conference. Parsons has been in this region for 60 years. Theres 4,500 of us over there right now. I think we tend to take perhaps a longer term view or open a little bit about whats going on in the region. If you do that, i think you can find some signs of promise. I think if you actually examine some of the structural developments under way, theres reason for optimism. I see promise in the embrace of Smart Technology throughout that region. And if you doubt me, go visit dubai and see what theyre doing in terms of integrating digital technology, analytics, Artificial Intelligence into actual programs to create the smartest city in the world by 2030. I see promise in Sustainable Growth and diverse fi indication of Economic Growth for the region. If you doubt me, go visit abu dhabi where there are some tremendous activities going on and projects which are pointing the way towards Sustainable Urban Development and the diverse economies who had been so dependent on hydro carbons. I see hope and promise in some of the cultural initiatives. And social initiatives under way in the region. If you doubt me, next time youre in riad, make sure you get a taxi with a driver who is female. Or next time youre an abu dhabi, go to the island where the louvre just opened. Its the first universal museum to be opened and operating in the arab world and its a testament to the open embrace of other cultures. Finally, i see promise in the deepening of the strategic relationship and the military relationship between the gcc countries and the United States. And if you doubt me, next time youre in the region, go to the air bases and you will see soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines working side by side with their allies and counter parts to try to create a more deeper strategic and military relationship amongst ourselves. This, ladies and gentlemen, is in large measure due to the caliber of the individuals represented by our speakers today. The uae has one of its most articulate and energetic proponents of the transformation vision thats going to create a uae that has a sense of self and state hood. Has an Economic Development plan and has a strategic role to play far beyond its population or its gdp in the world. In general, votel, the United States has placed as the commander of perhaps its most critical combat ant command, one of its most accomplished diplomat warriors. I would remind you that while we have thousands of men and women in uniform conducting combat operations throughout his area of operational responsibility today with our allies, the general votel are also key instruments that the United States is utilizing to try to create a new Security Architecture in the region, one in which the pursuit of National Interests and the pursuit of sof ran objectives are in no way in conflict with the development and the nurturing of collective endeavors and of Multi Lateral partnerships. Its migrate pleasure to introduce his excellency. Thank you, bill. I am conscious that i am the second introducer and the final act before the main event, so i promise ill be brief. Let me start with bill. Thank you for that lovely introduction. But i want to go and give a special thank you 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. The leadership that he and the council have displayed have really helped bring together the u. S. And the arab world, particularly the aa rabian gulf. Really helped 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. I genuinely appreciate the councils efforts to highlight the best of the arab world and to encourage and expose the 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. Dr. Anthony i will say 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 thank you goes to general votel. He is very much in the present taking on some of the big challenges in some one of the most active aors. From sigh nied to syria, he certainly has a lot on his plate and as you 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 that carry this 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 and afghanistan. We were there on day one in disguise 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 schwartz cop. It was actually more than a working relationship. They developed a friendship. Here we are decades later where i have the honor of introducing general votel today. Its made the region safe. But the point that gets overlooked far too often is that partnership also made the u. S. Safe. Theres much more to do and we have to make progress despite our best efforts against isis and al qaeda. As we do another has been gaining strength 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 actions. In this late challenge, we can count on the uae along with other responsible countries to meet the growing threat. As we engage in these critical efforts, emirates sleep more comfortably under general votels command in helping to keep the region secure. Americans should also sleep comfortable too knowing they have the full commitment from the allied forces keeping america safe. Please join me in welcoming our keynote speaker and our friend, general joe votel. [ applause ] its great to be here. Your highnesses, exexcellency, 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. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to come here. Your excellency, thank you very much for the kind introduction. More importantly, thank you for your personal and your countrys Great Partnership with me and with the United States Central Command, more importantly with the United States of america. Dr. John duke anthony, sir, thank you very much. Mr. John pratt, others, thank you for the invitation to participate in this important conference. Im accomplished our young people who had a chance to get up and talk and share their experience with us and im encouraged by events like this give us to discuss these issues and learn from each rother. Ive been in command at United States Central Command for about 19 months. As all of you know, this is a 20 country area that spans from egypt to pakistan and from yemen to kaz i cic stan. This has been an important region for us. In the 19 months that ive been tlr there, i would share with you right up front, first and foremost, the middle east, central and south asia that make up the Central Command area remains an area of extraordinary importance to the United States. We have and we have had in the past and 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 past, it remains an important area today in the present and it will remain an important area for us in the future. 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 in 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 Multi Laterally in a number of cases. While we may have differences politically, and we take the ups and downs of that, im very proud to tell you that our military to military 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. This is a very i think a very important thing for meme people 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 happen t ing there and be able to share that with americans and others around the world. I think this is an extraordinarily important aspect. I do feel 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 any other areas that generally we have conflict in, but the fact of the matter is it is extraordinarily important to recognize that all of this are great opportunities to move forward. 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, ive often talked about this with my military leadership. Weve devised a very simple approach that we use in thinking about this region. It can be encapsulated in three simple word. Prepare. Pursue. Prevail. 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 weve developed a level of understanding with granularity about the region, about the culture, about the challenges and about the opportunity that exists for us. First and foremost our principle focus is on preparing. Second of all, we desire to pursuit 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. 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 ive seen is a picture 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. As i looked at that, thats what reveiling looks like. 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 muhammad abdullah, at the time the sultan of morocco in his letter he wrote within our territories there are no mines weather of gold or silver. This young nation just recovering from the waste and dis l dissolution of a long war has not had time to acquire riches by alcultural or commerce, but our soil is bountiful and we shall become useful to our friends. 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 pressure our long held 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. 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 62 Member 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 buy, 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 employed this approach dchtly 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 ive 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 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 and political and military environment in fighting isis. The United States does not have a policy which supports large scale 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 have both have large scale presence in syria and are operating at the assad regimes invitation. Leading to a congested operating environment and inflaming 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 sis 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 d dynamic has led to a

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