. >> aqap, i.s.i.l. could be the next armed group to set up base in the country. >> right now yemen is fractured. the shia houthi rebels run most of the north including the capital sanaa. >> the yemeni army controls a large swath of central yemen including the port city of aden. >> aqap, greatest external terror threat to the u.s. and the west. >> for more now we bring in hamid abdel ja jabbar. professor, thank you for joining us. the person in the piece she doesn't believe it was i.s.i.l she believes it was a politically motivated attack. what is your opinion? >> this has the print of i.s.i.l, trying to inflict as many casualties as possible you can see the trace of i.s.i.l. although we don't know that i.s.i.l. had established a base in yemen although they have been saying that. i mean they have some affiliates maybe in the area. but we don't know that they have established a well documented presence in yemen. however, yemen is a fragmented, yemen is weak, disintegrating, it is easy for fighters from i.

this all comes as a time when the concern about a terrorist threat in yemen is not only limited to aqap. there are now serious worries that isis is also taking advantage of the arrests in that country and trying to gain a foothold in that country. >> a third terrorist took part in wednesday's deadly attack at the country's national museum. >> 23 people, mostly foreign tourists, died when begun men rampaged through the museum. a third attacker is on the run but he insists, quote, he will not get caught. >> new surveillance from inside the museum. look here. you see two gunmen here. one man walking down the stairs almost bumps into them. they let him go. he fended off an elite squad of antiterrorism police for nearly two hours. they were finally killed when one of their grenades failed to explode and police shot them. we have retired lieutenant general mark hertling with us. what's your level of confidence sur vailing these terrorists and suspects that tunisia will be able to capture this third suspect the president has referred to? >> it's a law enforcement issue, victor, and it's a poss

then there's aqap.al terror group that wants to launch attacks against the united states. add to that a growing isis presence that's been detected. this is clearly a mess to put it bluntly. let's bring in congressman mike mccaul. i want to get your reaction to what evan perez our justice reporter reported. the arrests of two more americans including one u.s. army national guard reservist apparently seeking to go off to egypt and head over to syria, hook up with isis. what do you make of this? >> it's very disturbing to see our national guardsmen going to join the enemy in syria and his cousin plotting to attack a military base in the united states. we have that isis kill list that's been out there. and remember, just last week u.s. air force veteran was arrested for trying to go join the enemy and isis in syria as well. this is a strangs development of our u.s. military personnel wanting to join isis. the fbi and homeland security officials have been able to detect and destruct and stop these potential

against quap aqap, a to attack a u.s. bound plane. he had a bomb hidden in his underwear which failed to detonate. weapons training in yemen and during their stay there in july 2011 they met anwar alalaki martin riordan is senior vice president of the soufan group. he joins us here in doha. marty, that the u.s. pulled out special force he from yemen they might nt have not have known the u.s. had special forces in yemen. >> this makes all the sense in the world limited number of troops there specifically to take on the war or the fight against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. they don't want those forces being caught in what may become a full blown civil war. >> because the axes of conflict are multiplying day by day. >> almost by the hour. >> the number of participants was getting too great. >> exactly. and this does not mean that the u.s. will stop conducting attacks or strikes against aqap. in all likelihood, those units will be relocated to another country in the region where they can operate from there if necessary. >> how accou

are able to take the fight to aqap. so we have not suspended our counter terrorism operation just because of the political instability or because we have had to pull people out. obviously our preference is always to have people on the ground but we are still able to conduct counter terrorism operations. >> but you don't have a local government which was friendly to the united states yemeni government which was helping provide information so that you could send in drones with predator hellfire missiles or whatever and kill people. >> there are a variety of ways to get information when you are looking for terrorists certainly. some of them are technical things you can do even if you don't have people on the ground. we are very focused on the threat. obviously it's a huge threat. i would note that the houthis who are the ones that are fighting the government don't really like aqap either. so there are a lot of complicated dynamics on the ground here. >> is iran emerging as the big winner in yemen? they are backing the shii

so is aqap. is the government and the president on the side with aqap? no, because until a few weeks ago, he's supposed to be supporting us as we help him and his forces target aqap. yet al qaeda has reportedly bussed prisoners out of two significant jails. how does that happen, you may ask? well certainly they're going to go out and fight. so the mix of what's happening here is a very, very troubling one. >> yeah, certainly is. nick robinson, thank you both very much. >>> there is word today from tu knee sha that is half dozen police commanders are fired. 19 foreign tour rigss were among 23 people killed when three gunmen burst into a complex. two gunmen were killed as well. a third still on the loose. the president telling cnn that the men wore suicide vests but didn't have the time to set them off. a museum visit returned yesterday to florida and told our affiliate she did here an explosion. >> it was a tragedy. it was something that it marked my life forever. we have to run like crazy. the first thing that we heard, it was a bomb, and then him shooti

or aqap or another group what does the instability in yemen mean for the rest of the world? >> well, if you look at organizations like aqap and i.s.i.s, both of these are al qaeda successor organization he and executing on a play book that basically says you should foment instability or exploit instability wherever you can find it. and because yemen is in a state of chronic instability now and has been for the better part of many years it is the sort of situation that would attract an organization like aqap or i.s.i.s. lay a foundation for its own agenda build up support among the local population and then take their campaign out of area. in this instance the biggest implication is the threat not just to the shipping lanes and the arabian sea but also the neighbor immediately to the north. >> i want to talk about another hot spot. investigators are revealing more about the suspects behind the deadly museum attack in tunisia. people gathered outside the bardo museum to remember those who were killed. 21 people mostly tourists. government officials say the suspects received we

now you have aqap and isis in competition inside yemen. i think there is likely to be oneupmanship between these two groups. that puts even more onus on al qaeda in yemen to carry out a spectacular attack against the united states. they have been trying to do this for the last several years but because they are now feel this pressure from isis i think bomb makers will put this into overdrive in terms of building increasingly sophisticated devices that they are trying to get on western passenger jets. it's a very worrying situation in yemen indeed. al qaeda has more space to operate, has had a recruitment windfall from sunni tribals who were infuriated by this houthi takeover in areas to the south, sunni heartlands. >> what do you do about it? you are now pulling out the u.s. -- whatever personnel it did have on the ground shut down the embassy. what kind of power do you have to assert u.s. interest in that country? let's face it, the u.s. is leaving more countries than it's entering right now. >> we have much less influence in yemen but it

then's al kei ga also known as aqap. they're in eastern yemen. let's talk about all of this with our cnn military analyst retired lieutenant colonel from california. our cnn intelligence and security analyst, former cia operative and our cnn terrorism analyst. colonel, with the u.s. and british special forces now out, are there any eyes and ears on the ground specifically as related to aqap or even isis that could help the u.s. appreciate what's going on? >> this is a major blow. we've lost our ability to find out what's going on on the ground. british have lost theirs. without the embassy, we've basically got nothing there. we can view this from the air using drones. but it just makes it that much harder. this has been a big problem for us. >> last september, bob baer the president touted yemen as a success story. this is the president of the united states on september 10th of last year. >> the strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the front lines is one that we have successfully pursued in yemen and soma

drone strikes targeting aqap or al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. it has targeted successfully in the u.s. view dozens of aqap members so there is question now in washington the future that. the u.s. saying that it will be able to continue to to conduct those operations, and continue to work with president hadi, who is in fact not in the capital sanaa but in aden, therefore is still a key ally that the u.s. will be working with in terms of its security operation. >> kimberly any sort of response to the u.s. to the fact that president hadi has now asked his gulf makes neighbors to interfere in aden? has there been any response of the u.s. to that suggestion? >> there certainly has been a lot of questioning by all righters at both the white house and state department briefings. the u.s. has maintained nothing has changed. pointing out the fact they are actively continuing to monitor threats, doing so and continuing to conduct strikes from djibouti, and agents inside of yemen. there has been no discussion of nothing has changed in terms of the goals of

our capability to conduct strikes against aqap is severely degraded. that in another country, djibouti saudi arabia somewhere like that. but this puts a blow in our efforts against aqap one of the more capable al qaeda elements. >> the bomb-maker is still on the run over there. very sophisticated capabilities and they have a track record of going after u.s. targets here in the united states as well. paul these shiite houthi rebels they're backed by iran now taken control of a major air base in yemen which was recently abandoned by the united states. and there are these reports the u.s. not only left and fled the area but they left about $500 million worth of military equipment there that these shiite rebels have maybe aqap has, maybe some other terrorist groups have right now. your reaction to what's going on? >> well it's all obviously very very concerning. the houthis are on the verge of taking aden the second largest city in yemen, that risks plunging the country into a full-blown civil war. and i think al qaeda in yemen and isis are going to be the

their understanding that we have is they're initially starting to recruit from within aqap ranks. now they're expanding and trying to recruit within the tribal areas. >> reporter: all of this leaving the u.s. at risk. >> we will have no intelligence foot precipior capabilities to monitor what aqap and isis and the shia militants are doing in the region. and without get intelligence stops against plots in the homeland. ripe maeshl officials say there was no direction threat to troops in yemen, but the violence has grown so bad they could not do their work and had to be pulled out. cnn, the pentagon. >> and cnn's nicaragua will join us later -- nic robertson will join us later to talk more about what's happening in yemen. >>> in another story, u.s. law enforcement is notifying about 100 american troops targeted in a hit list. a group claiming affiliation with isis posted the list on line over the weekend threatening u.s. soldiers on american soil. the group also posted the names and addresses of the military members. >> officials say they take seriously the possibility of lone wolf

military band commandos like these who'd been tracking al qaeda known as aqap secretly ordered out of were evacuated by military aircraft and a transported across the gulf of aden to djibouti. >> one of the organizations that has been most interested and capable of conducting strikes in the u.s. homeland, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has increased its control of territory. >> reporter: the remaining u.s. tools, drone strikes and monitoring cell phones and social media. >> it is true that that coordination would be more effective if there were u.s. personnel in the country. >> reporter: the number one u.s. target ibrahim al acere. he was tied to the so-called underwear bomber attack in 2009. the newest threat the isis branch in yemen which claimed responsibility for these mosque attacks, killing and injuring hundreds. isis releasing photos of the attackers, their popularity growing. >> they're promoting themselves as isis. it's the new branding of a new military group. they understand that they're expanding into aqap and expanding into the other areas. >> reporter: all of this usi

so the aqap presence and problem became much more personal. even though the military on the ground was educative and the drones were being used. where we failed is going in afterwards and rebuilding. and so if is one thing to take out some tiny village and scatter the aqap people. but if you don't go back in and rebuild the homes and provide services and provide something else, you have not moved it forward. we used to have what was a clear build and -- we never got around to the build part. aqap has a fairly limited reach in yemen because it is such a sunni organization and a large part of the country is not. and we never capital ieszed on that. we never used that as a way to build works against it spreading in other parts of the country. so what i would say is, and this is from something that a yemeni official said to me. it's not that we need to take our focus off of security, but we need to broaden our focus an aperture. look at the midterm and long term stress, stressors on the society, and be seen as involved in those as we are in what i

presence there aqap can only grow. >> in fact.we had the bombings which were claimed by isis as their bombings against the horrific bombings, 130 or more dead in these mosques. the white house is not saying whether or not it isis. if that's the case then this is the first time we've seen isis there. it's a spreading of isis but also with the special forces withdrawn there's no way we can continue to fight against aqap, the bombings 130 or more dead in these mosques. we can't you know the white house is not saying whether or not it is isis. if that's the case then this is the first time we've seen isis there. it is a spreading of isis. there's no way to continue to fight against aqap al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> very quickly the arab spring. big terrorist attack in tunisia earlier this week. what's going on in yemen only two semi-success stories of the arab spring. arab spring no long ear success. >> no. in fact these forces were trained to beat libya the other failed state. you see the spread of failure and islamic extrem

clearly aqap is dominant in that country, and whether or not isil and aqap can coexist is left to beeen. >> thank you very much. >> thank the witnesses. >> senator mccain? >> senator cotton. >> one point to follow up on something that he just said. there's a breaking news alert from the associated press general austin that egypt and saudi arabia have begun a ground incursion into yemen. that saudi arabia or any other country give you or central command advance notice if this report is accurate? >> no, i did not have notice. >> thank you. >> quite a commentary. this hearing is adjourned. >>> you're watching c-span3. coming up next a look at this year's conservative political action conference held in national harbor, maryland. we'll hear from dr. ben carson, u.s. senator mike lee, a panel on repealing the affordable care act, as well as senator joanie ernst and oliver north. this morning at 11:45 transportation secretary anthony foxx and epa administrator gina mccarthy will sit down with politico's mike allen for discussions on transportation and environmental policy. wrap that live o

. >> we will have no footprint to monitor what aqap or isis is doing in the region. without plots and intelligence we cannot stop it. >> on sunday houthi rebels seized an international airport in the city of taiz. the united nations security council met in an urgent sessions calling on all sides to put down their weapons and negotiate. a u.s. official warning that yemen is in a rapid downward spiral and at the edge of civil war. let's bring in the latest with correspondent nic robertson. >> reporter: christine, this is a dangerous escalation in yemen. yemen is where al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is based where uss cole was attacked. it was where the under pants bomber was located. al qaeda is taking advantage of the unstable situation. the people appear to be the houthi rebels entering by air and land in the city of taiz. this puts them down within 100 miles of where the internationally recognized president of the country is now hiding out, if you will in the town of aden. he was captured by the houthis when they overran the capital last month. that is when the u

al qaeda in the arabian pennsylvania aqap concerns about this group growing stronger there.sis threat also there in yemen. fred? >> all right. gentleman mana karachi, thank you so much. what does this mean for the u.s. and its relations in yemen? i want to bring in david rode in new york a reuters investigative journalist who spent a year as a prisoner of the taliban in afghanistan. good to see you, david. so what role in your view did these special ops troops have in yemen, and how big of a blow is it they would be pulled out now? >> they had a major role and it's a huge propaganda victory for the islamic state. they are claiming responsibility for a lot of the chaos. two suicide bombings killed so two or three people a few days ago. and that chaos has led the last american troops to leave yemen. the u.s. can carry out drone strikes, but the islamic state can say we have successfully driven both all the american diplomats. >> aqap and arabian peninsula had a hold on yemen but if isis is doing the pushing and shoving and bombing there, what does this say about these two terr

while aqap might be consolidate consolidating its presence in the country, there are concerns about a new player emerging there with isis reportedly claiming responsibility for the devastating attacks on the mosques frequented by the houthis on frooit making this the first may john attack in yemen to be carried out or at least in this case claimed by isis. while we cannot verify the authenticity of that claim, the concerns and fears are real about isis expanding into yemen, expanding its presence and attack noose that country and also the possibility of trying to spark a sectarian war in that country, something similar to what we have seen in iraq and in syria, possibly beginning a new dark chapter for that country. jer mauomana karadsheh, cnn, baghdad. >>> the u.n. security council plans to hold an emergency meeting. it is set to begin about ten hours from now. >>> and there is newly uncovered footage of the latest suicide attack in yemen. you're looking at one of the bombing suspects making his way into a mosque on crutches. he apparently hid explosives in his leg cast. in another m

aqap did that only once or twice. not very successful. the key question is here does isis in yemen have a saudi component and like aqap had. if they do have saudis that can help them and integrated into the saudi network and country, we may see them use that as a launching pad. >> so what it sounds like is that isis is gaining ground and sounding pretty strong. how strong are they and how big of a threat are they not just in the region but i think a lot of people at home are wondering how big are they? we see the footage of them. they look pretty massive. are they that massive and are they a threat to the united states? in iraq and syria isis is very very very strong. they can defeat in saudi and iraq. in other countries not that sure. we saw them sponsor attacks in indonesia and tunisia this week. we don't know if it was blow back which meant they sent cadres from iraq and jerry back. yemeni who came to fight in iraq and syria back to yemen to sponsor that. the question is what type of inif a structure they have in these countries all ri

. >> to monitor what aqap and isis and shi'a militants are doing in the region. without good intelligence plots against the homeland without that we cannot effectively stop it. >> on sunday, houthis rebels seized an international airport in the city of taiz. the united nations security council met in an emergency backing yemen's president and all sides to put down weapons and negotiate. yemen is in a quote rapid downward expirespiral and on the edge of civil war. let's bring in nic robertson. a grim assessment nic. >> reporter: it is a grim assessment. no indication that the houthis rebels are about to put down the weapons. the united nations said they support the elected president hadi in the south in the southern city of aden. his presidential compound was bombed by aircraft on thursday. on friday more than 130 worshippers to sunni mosques near the capital for attacked by isis. more than 300 people were wounded along with the dead. you have the u.s. special forces pulling out, but also the houthis rebels extending to the south and taking the city of taiz. that

the united states has for years launched a drone campaign striking targets against aqap as it's called on yemeni territory. the administration said it has had a lot of success and repeatedly said over the last few days that although it's ability to gather inintelligence against aqap against the houthi invasion and since they were forced to leave in the face of that houthi onslaught they believe they have the intelligence to carry out those strikes. >> mike viqueira reporting live for us in washington. thank you. >>> jim walsh, research associate at mit security studies program joining us tonight from massachusetts. thanks for joining us. based on the latest developments, is the stage being set for a ground development? >> i don't think so. i hope not because i i don't think that will help very much. some of the signals that we saw today is this air campaign, which i don't think will accomplish very much. it might wrap up which begs the question why are you doing it. that won't fundamentally change the military equation on the ground. now can the gcc gulf corporation council in saudi ar

and they're going to draw members away from aqap. so this could weaken aqap somewhat. that could be the silver lining because now you've got instead of a two-way fight now you've got a three-way fight and if you add the yemeni army a four-way fight. this is starting to look like syria and libya. >> always good to get your perspectives. thank you, sir. >>> developing now, some high-level u.s. officials say israel spied on the iran nuclear talks and used the information to lobby the american congress to sink that deal. and that's according to the wall street journal. they say the spying was part of a larger campaign by the israeli prime minister to build a case against the deal. the journal says israeli officials deny spying directly on u.s. negotiators, and that they used other ways to get the information, including surveillance of iranian leaders. >>> and a report would have made for an interesting meeting as more democrats metz with the israeli ambassador trying to repair the damaged relationship between the two countries. >> this comes as the white house says it will

air-strikes have been targeting aqap operatives since 2002. last month another top leader was killed in an american drone strike. this reads like a who's who. the muslim brotherhood and other militants teaming up. an envoy to yemen warned on monday that yemen will slide into further conflict. he said any local player who could tip the scales will make it worse than the conflicts in iraq, syria, libya combined. but president obama called it a counter-terrorism success story. >> the strategy of taking out terrorists and supporting those on the front lines is something we have found a success in yemen for many years. >> but president obama reacted differently to savannah guthrie. >> yemen is a tough country. they have always been fragile. the governments haven't been strong. but on the other hand we've been able to maintain pressure on al qaeda in that region. >> are we safer under your watch. >> i believe we are safer, but that doesn't mean we aren't concerned about the break-down in in order in this reege -- region generally. >> and now they do

aqap seems to fight bow boko haram seems to back isis. the elements in yemen greatly disturb me because of their potential to take the united states. >> let's talk about what is going on in iraq. i was in baghdad a couple of weeks ago. people seemed confident that the iraqi security forces would be able to retake tikrit. we're seeing that stalled. >> i think it's -- it's matter of leadership and policy. i think that we're not letting the military do their job here. it's a policy of not a policy to degrade and destroy and defeat. when the president launched the air strikes in syria, he touted yemen as a 340dle for terrorist negotiations. we have no intelligence in syria. that's a major problem. we have to get more aggressive in taking out isis where they exist. and the head of the snake is in iraq and syria. >> you saw the threats against the u.s. military and the hit list with 100 names on it. they probably compiled it from social media. yet, do they have the capability to strike those people and their families? >> well, we have the forei

so people trying to conduct violent attacks whether it's global extremism, al qaeda, aqap. it's a threat. i don't care about labeling. i worry about their intent. >> well i appreciate that, sir, and i agree with you but you can't fix a problem if you refuse or are unwilling to label it. i think it's more than just global extremism. there's a particular global extremism and that's why i characterize it as jihadi. the fact that none of you want to say -- you know characterize it, that concerns me because that's not identifying the problem. but moving on yet again in the interest of time, the uae saudi arabia and egypt considered the muslim brotherhood as a terrorist organization. i'm wandering in the interest of pursuing foreign fighters if that comes into your consideration, radicalization and how it's per traited in this country. do you look at those organizations or that particular organization or another one, for that matter. those folks wandered around this country with impunity and may or may not be involved in radicalization based on the fact that some nations have con

but now with that other ingredient of aqap, isil types mixing it up it pushes in that that direction,t's what they want. they want it to be sunni versus show a they want to show themselves as representing the vanguard of the sewn any that fight. the concern is seeing it from that lens as well. it's against iran, pushing iran back. with its aggressiveness in the last few years. >> robert mcfadden thanks for helping explain this to us, we appreciate. >> pleasure. >>> there are 10 countries either involved or preparing to get involved in this yemen offensive. besides saudi arabia the coalition includes the gulf nations of qatar bahrain kuwait and the united united arab em emirates. is man on the only nation to sustain. jordan, egypt and morocco are part of thest. egypt it says will send ground forces if necessary. sudan and turkey say they are preparing to get involved. many of the nations form the backbone of the arab league. the organization was founded around a common language, but its members often struggle to find common ground. yemen will top the agenda when they meet in egypt this

i know that aqap very much fights isis. on the other hand, boko haram recently pledged to isis. i think you'll see more and more going over to isis because they are the game in town. the elements in yemen greatly disturb me because of their potential to attack the united states. >> let's talk about what is going on in iraq. i was in baghdad a couple of weeks ago. people seemed confident that the iraqi security forces would be able to retake tikrit. which then they could go on and do mosul. we're seeing that stalled. >> i think it's -- it's a matter of leadership and policy. i think that we're not letting the military do their job here. it's a policy of containment, not a policy to degrade and destroy and defeat isis in the region. when the president launched the air strikes in syria, he touted yemen as a model for terrorist -- counterterrorism operations. we can't let the same thing happen. we have no intelligence in syria. that's a major problem. we have to get more aggressive in taking out isis where they exist. and the head of the snake is in iraq and syria. >> and just on th

. >> pelley: briefly what's the danger posed by aqap -- al qaeda in yemen? >> scott of all the groups out there, isis, al qaeda in pakistan, al qaeda in yemen poses the greatest threat to the united states. just as you mentioned, they have the capability to bring down airliners were very sophisticated explosives. >> pelley: michael morell thank you very much. in another major story tonight police say they can find no evidence of a horrific gang rape at the university of virginia. there was a national uproar earlier this year when "rolling stone" magazine published the accuser's story. now julianna goldman reports on what that four-month investigation found. >> we have no basis to conclude that anything happened at that fraternity house. >> reporter: charlottesville police chief timothy longo said investigators spent hundreds of hours and spoke to more than 70 people, but detectives found no evidence of a brutal gang rap at phi kappa psi in 2012 as a woman known only as jackie toll "rolling stone." there was no proof that the fraternity had a party that night

americans the decision to pull out its remaining operations won't effect the ability to fight groups like aqapthe country. >> those efforts continue and capabilities to carry out those actions persist to this day as well. >> reporter: six months ago if a speech to the nation the president barack obama held yemen as an example with the u.s. counter terrorism campaign in the middle east. >> strategy taking out terrorist who threaten us and supporting on the front lines is what we pursued in yemen and somalia for years. >> reporter: but without eyes on the ground critics argue that cooperation is gone. >> intelligence and plots against the home land without that intelligence we cannot effectively stop it. >> reporter: as the u.s. continues to back yemen president hadi called for a no fly zone and military intervention from the gulf countries the u.s. would not comment on that and urged a political solution and said direct intervention is unlikely. >> this is a situation analogous to what we have seen elsewhere in the arab world and parties on the ground who certainly don't see their interests as

in the chaos that is going on right now al qaeda and the peninsula aqap the most lethal franchise of al qaeda has chance to grow. that is a real threat to us. we were talking about aircraft earlier on the program, they have been building these bombs that can get past our metal detectors have made repeated attempts to blow up our aircraft. giving them any opportunity to grow is very important to stop which means we have very acute interest in yemen. also see in places like tikrit they are coming together, we have couple competing objectives in iraq, we want to make sure that we defeat isis because they pose to our homeland. we don't want if see iranian increase by making iraq some kind of a vast state of tehran. those goals are somewhat in conflict. complementary in part because we're trying to defeat isis at the same time, this heavy reliance on these iranian backed shia militia is concern. >> how does this trying to get some kind of deal to curb their nuclear weapons? you heard the reservations that senator burr just expressed. >> i'm for a good deal f. we can get one. think it's st

americans the decision to pull out its remaining operation won't affect the ability to fight groups like aqapcountry. >> those efforts continue and our capabilities to carry out those kind of actions persist to this day as well. >> reporter: just six months ago in a speech to the nation president obama held yemen up as an example of the u.s. counter terrorism campaign in the middle east. >> the strategy of taking out tour or assists who threaten us while supporting partner on his the front lines one we have supported in yemen and so mole i can't for years. >> reporter: without eyes on the ground, many critics argue that cooperation is gone. >> good intelligence plots against the homeland without that intelligence we cannot stop 2678 as the u.n. continues to back yemeni president hadi it calls for a no fly zone and military intervention from gulf countries the u.s. wouldn't comment on that instead urge hing a political is solution to the crisis. direct foreign intervention is unlikely. >> i think this is a situation analogous to what we have seen elsewhere in the arab world where parties on th

talking about the air campaign going on for the len of the owe got a administration against a leagual aqap. that can attack american interests worldwide. this houthi advance now that has swept the american-backed government from power is another thing altogether. it is a dicey situation antonio no question about it. >> mike viqueira in washington, thank you. and for more, we are joined also from washington by ali a saudi scott orscholar and director for gulf affairs. given the chaos and yemen and the promises that saudi arabia made to president hadi. did the saudis and other gulf nation have his to i intervene? >> no, they didn't have to intervene. this is a yemeni conflict. which did not have any direct affect on the saudi arabia or other gulf countries. the problem in yemen has been that yemen has been dominated by its neighbors, especially by the saudis. any development the saudis feel that they must be the one who run the show in yemen and what you saw in the past four, five years, an and increasing independence movement in yep end, the yemenis want to run theirtheir affairs. and to de

to try to go after aqap al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which is based in yemen. what happens now without any u.s. diplomats or military personnel or any americans there right now? >> well what i think our game plan must be is to work with the government and the opposition to try to get a functioning government in yemen. we need the two sides working together both want to make sure their country is not overtaken by these extremists. so we have to work with them to figure out how they can have a functioning government that can protect the rights of all the people of yemen so that groups such as isis don't get broader support. then we need to work and help the security issues there as it relates to al qaeda, as it relates to isis. >> less than a year ago, president obama was citing yemen, yes, yemen as an example of where the u.s. counter terrorism strategy was working, was a success. clearly that has not worked out as a success for all practical purposes. now it's being ruled by a bunch of shiite houthis supported by iran and aqap. what happened? >> well, the gover

>:homeland security chairman:"we'll have no intelligence footprint or capabilities to monitor what aqap and isis and the shia militants with doing there. good intelligence stops plots in the homeland. without that intelligence, we can't effectively stop it." >>reporter:historically, the united states has worked with yemen's government to combat al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >>reporter:the terrorist group is based there. >>reporter:but recent internal strife has rocked that relationship. >>reporter:the u-s closed its embassy in sanaa in february. >>reporter:friday, yemen's state-run news agency reported at least 137 people were killed in two separate explosions at mosques in the capital. >>reporter:hundreds more were injured. isis claimed responsibility, though c-n-n hasn't confirmed that. >>reporter:the incident prompted thisresponse from the white house. >>:: "we're seeing extremists try and capitalize on the chaos and instability inside of yemen to carry out these acts of violence." >>reporter:sunday, the united nations security council met to discuss the situation. >>reporter:th

aqap, al qaeda affiliate designed to conduct out of region operations against the united states and west succeeded in paris. they failed in the united states. this chaos contributes to their growth and development. we're doing nothing to stop them. >> general, a lot to talk about with you this morning. in particular iran as we approach the tuesday deadline for the nuclear talks. stay with us. we want to bring the new details about the arab led effort against the backed iran in yemen. eric shaun has that sangle. good many. >> good morning to you and everyone. iranians boast they have won at the nuclear negotiations. they are besieged. the expanding military operations in the middle east could eventually lead to iranian shiite versus sunni war it dates back centuries. with the groups gaining ground, arab nations are fighting back against a mixture of interests. training camps and fighters in syria and libya, attention turns to backed threats. there's pending ground troop invasion against those trying to take over the country. at this weekend's arab league meeting arab states proposed to go

eight q ap -- aqap is still a serious threat to the homeland. >> we are learning the identity of thean they called jihadi john. how big a threat you see that? >> the threat for us in this country, and europe. where through skillful successful and success to gated -- sophisticated use of social media, isil is very slick about this. a vote in whatever emotions that it takes to infect people who become homegrown violent extremists. this is the issue we were the most about in our homeland. it is difficult to detect using classical intelligence signatures if you will to detect these people. this is the issue in europe. in the case of the charlie hebdo attackers. one of them at least had been to yemen some three years before. that was enough, apparently, to infuse them with jihadi message. >> they came back and laid low for a while. >> they were known characters to french security officials. >> as was the man identified. he was known to security in london. >> i will point out in irony here. i have been on the receiving end of virtually all the critiques and investigations to include 9/11 a

. >> the capability of going after aqap, how bad can this get? the houthis with iranian support, borders on saudi arabia the saudi arabian foreign ministers have accused iran of an act of aggression, if president hadi calls for them to help that they would help. could we see the saudis getting into a proxy war or maybe not even a proxy war a real war with saudi soldiers in yemen? >> yes, i think we could. there are different ways in which this would be a bad thing. first of all it means another country in addition to libya, in addition to syria, in addition to all these countries that now soon would become civil wars and failed states. instability is bad. it's bad for the u.s., it's bad for region. but you put your finger on something that's even broader. does this now become a pawn in a broader rivalry between not only saudi arabia and iran generally who have been fighting proxy wars for dploo for years now after the fall of saddam hussein, pitting sunni against shia in the greater middle east? this could be a bad news of feeding this broader re