through, in the city of los angeles, i felt if they can do it, why can't i? i love my community. i want to help my community. and i have a lot to offer. and i won. by 75 votes. broke my ankle. five weeks before the election. and rented a wheelchair and kept on ongoing. i defeated an indumb bent who had been in office for 11 years. he switched parties because the area that we represented was very conservative, republican, and i defeated him with his own constituency constituency. >> how did you break your ankle? >> walking on a broke p sidewalk, and i continued to walk four blocks. i had no idea it was broken. when i got home, luckily my sister was there, and she's a nurse.

as soon as i took off my tennis shoe, my foot blew up. she said we're going to the hospital. that foot is broken. she was right. captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008 captioning performed by vitac

screeria -- nigeria. -

>> next, a house foreign affairs subcommittee hears from former u.s. ambassador to yemen gerald fire firestein. he discusses the administration's partnerships and plans for counter-terrorism in the region. from capitol hill, this is about

90 minutes. >> after recognizing myself and ranking member deutsche for five minutes, as soon as he shows up each for opening statements, i will then recognize other members seeking recognition for one minute. we will then hear from our witness and without objection, mr. ambassador, members may have five days in which to insert

statements for the record subject to the length limitation and rules. the subcommittee invited the department of defense to send an official to testify before us this afternoon built dod stated that they were unable to participate at this hearing. and declined to come. but we got the better of the deal because we have you, mr. ambassador. the chair now recognizes herself for five minutes. on september 10th of last year, president obama announced to the american public his plan to degrade and destroy the terrorist group isil. while making his case for america's role in the fight against isil, he highlig held it up as a model for success to be emulated in the fight against isil. yet, a week later, the iran backed militia seize the the government. they continued to hail our counter terror operations in

yemen as a model for success even though we effectively had no partner on the ground since president hadi was forced to flee. but more astonishingly and what can described as larmingly tone deaf and shortsighted when press secretary earnest was asked at a press briefing if this model was still successful after the yemeni central government collapsed and the u.s. withdrew all of our personnel including our special forces, he said yes, despite all indications pointing to the contrary. so where do we stand now? that's the important question. president obama hadi was forced to flee. saudi arabia led a coalition of over ten arab operations and operation decisive storm which consisted of air strikes only but very well could include ground forces in the near future. iran feels embolden in yemen because of the leverage they

gained over the administration through the nuclear negotiations. but i commend the gulf countries, the gcc countries for taking a strong stance against iran and stepping up to the plate in yemen. despite their action they actually control more territory now than they did before the saudi response. our embassy is closed. our personnel are evacuated and there's no hadi government to speak of. and al qaeda and arabian peninsula has taken advantage of the fighting and has capitalized on the deteriorating situation in yemen and we have very little visibility into the movements or their actions. i'm concerned that the aqap has gained ground in eastern yemen and has been left virtually unchecked to recruit and train. let's not forget that it was

aqap that was responsible for the pair ace tacks earlier this year. or that it was al qaeda and the arabian peninsula that was responsible for overtaking a prison last month and releasing several hundreds of prisoners including a senior operative of al qaeda. aqap's leader is a follower of bin laden and like bin laden, also seeks to strike western targets including right here in our homeland in the united states. iran has reportedly dispatched a naval destroyer near yemen in a game of chicken over one of the most important shipping routes in the gulf of aiden. this area is a gateway between europe and the middle east and iran yaz not be allowed to escalate any tensions nor attempt to disrupt the shipping lanes. yet, we continue to see the administration make the same mistakes it made in syria. and just like in syria today

yemen is an utter chaos in large part due to iran's antagonism and meddling. but we must learn our lesson from syria and engage in the yemeni crisis head on with a comprehensive strategy before it spirals further out of control. there will be no political solution in yemen based on the gcc initiative or restarting the national dialogue conference that collapsed in early 2014 without addressing the underlying issues. they were reluctant participants in the national dialogue in yemen but it was clear that they had no interest in seeding power over to a centralized government. as a result, they withdrew from the national dialogue. it collapsed and they took control over sana and now other areas. so why would the administration think that the circumstances have changed that would allow for reconciliation to occur? it is naive and dangerous to believe that a political

solution is achievable as long as the hoojys are unwilling to see their power and as long as iran continues its support for the fighters just like it is naive and dangerous to believe that a political solution in syria is achievable as long as assad remains in power. even more absurd is the fact that iran, just this morning, has allegedly proposed a peace plan for yemen. this is the same iran that continues to use its terrorism tentacles throughout the region to undermine u.s. interests and by supplying arms and fighters aimed to further destabilize its neighboring countries. so today we hope to hear from the administration that we have a comprehensive plan on how to get to a political solution rather than just supporting a reconciliation process while also addressing the current gap in our intelligence and counter terror capabilities in yemen as well as the deteriorating

humanitarian situation. because if we act in yemen in the same way we have acted in syria, then we are likely going to see the same crisis follow in yemen. a war with no end in sight the rise of dangerous terror groups, a dire humanitarian crisis and iran's increased power grab in the region. and with that i will go to mr. connolly for perhaps one minute because when mr. deutsche comes he'll give his five minutes. mr. connolly is recognized. >> thank you madam chairman, thank you for having the hearing. in listening to the resuscitation just now of what happened in yemen and what happened in syria one would, i guess, iner if or one is meant to iner if that it's all the problem and result of policies pursued or not pursued by president obama and his administration. nothing could be further from the truth. the inherent instability in yemen is not new.

and it certainly is not unique to the administration currently in power. yemen is inherently unstable. it has multiple militia forces and jihadist forces at work. towns have been taken and retain and transferred. terrorism and brutality have occurred. and we may very well, there are our movements to bifurcate the country as it once was. the instability in the region is not the fault or responsibility of any administration. our question really has to be how do we respond when there are no good options? how do we do the least harm? how do we try however indirectly to effect outcomes positively?