>> executive director of paralyzed veterans of america and sherman dellums junior -- sherman talks about his work to help paralyzed vets. >> this is the problem, this is what i see from a patient perspective, policy perspective, advocate perspective, you have to empathize. that is what will make the a the ideal provider -- v.a. the ideal provider. >> sunday night at 8:00 on q&a. in washington today, the head of u.s. central command general joseph hotel talked about the military campaign against isis and cooperation with allied forces in the region. he is introduced by the ambassador of the united arab emirates. this is half-an-hour.

>> i want to give a special thank you to dr. john duke anthony. of thehony has been one most active proponents for bringing people who care about this region together. not just through this conference but all the time. and theership that he council have displayed has really helped bring together the u.s. and arab world, particularly the gulf area programs organized by the national council, such as the study abroad program really helped build very important bridges between the united states and the arab world. when we talk about the middle

east it is too tempting and too easy to focus on the challenges and the problems you i genuinely -- to encourage and expose americans to the very best of our culture. clearly important to show that we are building for our future. dr. anthony, on behalf of everyone there, thank you. we are grateful for everything you and the count of those to build these bridges every day you -- every day. another thank you goes to the guest of honor, general joe hadl -- general joe who i the pleasure of introducing today. he is very much in the presence, taking on some of the biggest challenges is one of them -- active.

from iraq to afghanistan, isis, hezbollah, he has certainly had a lot on his plate. there are no shortage of threats across the region. this brings us to the security partnership. that is deeply rooted in common interest and shared priority. it is formed by political leaders, the owner of this relationship and its militaries that carry the relationship for you looking, training, fighting, by -- side-by-side and divided. over the past 25 years the uae has submitted military coalitions alongside u.s.. the uae. the u.s. against the television and afghanistan. we were there on day one in the skies against isis area that isis. we are yemen fighting together.

as far back as the late 80's and early 90's, forged a close working relationship with the general. more than a working relationship. they developed a friendship. rehab -- i have the purpose -- the partnership has made the uae. it is meet the region saver. the partnership made the u.s. say. still has to make much more progress even beside the best efforts. another extremist threat has been gaining the entire time. that is iran. we welcome president strategy to address the full range of i ran interference in the use.

this includes growing ballistic missile programs, support for terrorist organizations, never attacked her parents in each other's affairs, and threats to freedom of navigation the nuclear deal offered iran an opportunity to engage responsibly. instead it emboldened iran to intensify the stabilizing action. the u.s. can count on the uae along with others threat and as we engage in these critical efforts, sleep more comfortably knowing that u.s. horses under general commands are helping to keep the region morsi. -- more secure. knowing john has the full commitment from the uae like helping to keep america safe.

leighton doman, please join me in welcoming our keynote speaker and friend general joe hotel -- joe. [applause] great to be here. your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity, and speak with you this afternoon. when you get selected to come and speak after a very heavy lunch. that included a large seller, bread with her, warm big chicken on a bed covered in mushroom sauce, warm mashed potatoes, chocolate cake with no less and six layers for i know my work is cut out for me and you have great confidence in my ability to keep you going here this afternoon. in any case i'm glad to be here.

i appreciate the opportunity to come here. your personal and your country's great partnership with me and your united's dates, the united states of america. dr. don judy anthony thank you very much -- dong the anthony. -- don duke anthony. i am impressed by the accomplishments of all who are here today, especially the young people who had a chance to get up and share their experiences discussing these issues and learn from each other. i have been in central command for 19 months. this is a 20 country area that spans from egypt to pakistan and from yelling to calix to --

yemen to kazakhstan. this has been an extraordinarily important region for us. three key things i've learned in my area, first and foremost, the makeup the central command area. it remains an area of an extraordinary performance in the united states. we continue to have a vital national interest that intersection is your area. best in this particular area. it remains important for us importantwill remain in the future. that thisassure you is a point i emphasized to everybody that i eat with.

the second thing i would share with you that i've learned in 19 months in this particular position is is across the region want strong progressive relationships with the unites dates. unity,ountry of have you or julie everywhere multiple times, they are extraordinarily strong relationship. work mostly between our countries and multilaterally in a number of cases. we take the ups and downs of that. i'm proud to tell you that our military relationship have remained extraordinarily strong even through all of the ups and downs. i'm very proud of the role military plays in safe -- sustaining these relationships. my key point about what i've is thatin this position there are more opportunities in this region they are obstacles.

this is a very important thing for people to recognize. it highlights the value of the council and the work you do that is something to us of exposing people to this region and allowing them to experience arab culture, and learn the language. other americans and others around the world, this is an extraordinarily them portland aspects. there is no shortage of things to talk about in the central command region. syria, yemen, sinai, we have conflict. the fact of the matter is it is extraordinarily important to recognize that in all of this are great opportunities to move forward. that are that the -- that is the

key thing i've learned. andbest to navigate uncertain present and future. this is a pertinent question as we look at this particular region. i have often talked about this with my military leadership. we revised the approach we use. three simple words. prepare, pursue, and avail. i will talk about each of these. ensure appropriate arrangements with his owners, we also ensure that we have developed strong leadership across the region. we developed a level of understanding granularity about the region, culture, challenges the lines of descent is for us we desire to pursue

opportunity. we look for places where there are opportunities to move over in the interests of value is. we look after glee -- actively for opportunities to move forward in areas where we have common objectives. we look for ways to prevail. parade down new york city. one of the most poignant pictures i've seen lately is at your taken from muscle several months ago. surrounded by all of his security leadership. that, that is what is prevailing. that is what winning site today. as being valued to them. wrote a letteron

to mohammed abdullah. morocco is the first country to the nice united states as a sovereign nation. in his letter he wrote within our territories there are no minds, gold or silver. this young nation just recovering the weight the solution of a long war has not, inquirehad time to riches by agricultural commerce. our soil is bountiful and our people industrious. we have reason to flatter ourselves and we shall gradually become useful to our friends. the united states has come a long way over the last 30 years. the desire of the united to be of important in value to allies and partners in the arab world has not changed. we treasure our long-held relationship. but for merth africa

and members of the united states central command in the. it underscores that now more than ever we will need each other to face the opportunities in front of all of us. i want to talk to you about the perspective of military leader approaching the concept of partnership. it is an approach or not failure, lessened learned, expenditure of national treasure by us and our partners. a dq membereading international coalition and conducting a campaign to defeat the so-called onyx of iraq and syria for isis. in both iraq and syria we have hardly use that approach that we and through to

achieve military, military and client multiple objectives within the confines of our lives active national aussies. by employing and using an enabling her maneuver forces with the support of u.s. enabling capabilities through framework. we employ this approach differently in iraq and syria. in iraq we are conducting the campaign by supporting the security forces with coalition intelligence, logistics, and i are support. all of our coalition partners. the number of coalition is in thetheater israel below you iraqi security forces have improved since the dark days of 2014. operations in mosul as i talked

about have freed millions of people from the chains of isis. recently, the iraqi security forces for the first time in history conducted simultaneous operations in more than one location. all projectedons to take weeks or months concluded in less than two weeks. the security forces of iraq the entire time. more complicated environment. the united states does not have supports which involvement in the syrian civil war. the regime's campaign against opposition to remain control of the territory, it must deal with isis along the way. presence large-scale

syria and operating at the invitation, leading to a congested operating environment and inflaming an already complex political situation. a much different here, russia, iran, and the syrian regime all wants to remove isis in influence from syria. they all have different interests and objectives in the long term. the sole objective of military defeat of isis. the dynamic has led to a case of conversion versus as the battle space condenses. since we could not harder with the syrian regime armed forces we chose to support an organization called the syrian democratic forces.

in this case, it means employing syrian democratic forces with aalition assistance to coordinated framework. equally represented by syrian kurds and syrian arabs who have created a remarkable operating operative with the coalition. civil councils as a result of this arrangement made up of syrian civic leaders from the inal area, it has aided alleviating governance concerns for the local corporations. this approach is working well and has facilitated the reintroduction of local control and the return of displaced persons to their homes. another partner another partner -- is united arab emirate as we operate gather in yemen.

uae share the common national interest of eradicating terrorism. we have adapted our approach so that u.s. advisors work with moroccan forces as they employ a six full strategy. the hybrid approach works well. andforcing a local approach local ownership over the solution. that is the goal. local solutions to local problems in u.s. assistance where and when our national security interest are affected. as i briefly touched upon while discussing syria, outside state in this region.

iran has exerted its influence in your ways which has required sources to change methods. iran has expressed desire to tamron --e tamron -- tehran access. concern in the region. in this light, we are keen to use the approach address iran's manifest. of the region. why does this approach worked you -- what? -- work? without a policy that requires a large-scale diplomate of nurses.

addressing a local issues emerging local ownership of the onutions and capitalizing the understanding of regional dynamics that only our local the same in ofu the u.s. and coalition partner letting our partners know our thoughts on other ways to the same objectives. those doing the fighting, local is our calling the shots. there is a thing i make of pace of operations. the operations will go at the pace of our partners. sometimes fast, sometimes slow. whether it is slower or quicker our partners always have believed. weekend thee last

syrian democratic is on their own allowed the civilian population and a number of isis fighters to surrender. because of the cultural understanding realized the importance of protecting local population with whom they wanted to work with isis is defeated. the iraqi security forces have that we did much faster than the coalition forces would having. highlight inmples us whoher that those of look to work closely with regional partners, agile and flexible for this eventuality. why am i sharing this you --

this? the approach of working by with it is key to how our objectives will be we are looking -- looking to see what has training and management systems. they are taking measures to develop horses that are designed for this kind of warfare. one of the tasks at hand is to find the concept of by, with, and through. just a military problem. diplomatic, law enforcement partners as well.

any support you give to partner forces must be through a coordinated legal framework. providing guidelines for the of not only partner forces but our capabilities. the relationship between the partner and legal framework can spell the difference between success and failure. thereby directly supporting or undermining diplomatic effort. there are also other numerous unsettled definitions that we will be working to define and several changes of all see we moreve more facilitate effective execution of this approach. while analysis is going on we have had discussions about this is the highest levels within the department of defense.

the philosophy has always made sense but now it is time to codify this approach. possible when we say by, with, and through. i want to leave you with one final thought. neither could have possibly foreseen our current strategic environment. the letter was a statement of commitment to become useful to our friends the united states is more powerful than it was back then and able to make good on all of its promises area to the extent that central command is able to help we will. as we look forward to the greater development of relationships, we would do well to remember that a simple commitment between friends can be more powerful than violence,

extremism, and russian. thank you once again for the invitation to review this afternoon and sharing my thoughts. i trust our friendship will continue to strengthen overtime in this very important region as we work together on these and other working tissues you thank you very much. -- important issues. thank you very much. [applause] >> washington journal, live policyay with news and that affects you. theles and robert of bipartisan policy center discussed their new report in the physical condition of the medicare trust fund. be sure to watch washington

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