mr. deutch comes he will give his five minutes. mr. connolly is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman. thank you for having the hearing. in listening to the recitation just now of what happened in yemen and what happened in syria, one would i guess infer or one is meant to infer 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 retaken and transferred. terrorism and brutality have occurred. and we may very well -- there are 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 reduce harm? how do we limit our exposure in how d

deutch for five minutes 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 your prepared statements will be made a part of the record. members may have five days in which to insert statements and questions for the record subject to the length limitation and the rules. i'd like to note for the record that the subcommittee invited the department of defense to send an official to testify before us this afternoon but d.o.d. stated that they were unable to participate at this hearing and declined to come. but we got 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 the president highlighted our strategy in yemen and held it up as a model of success to be emulated in the fight against isil. yet about a week later the iran-backed houthis seized control of the capital and the government. despite t