U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at a full committee hearing on U.S. military posture and national security challenges in the Middle East and Africa.
Chairman Rogers' remarks as prepared for delivery:
Today we continue our posture hearings with AFRICOM and CENTCOM. I want to thank our witnesses for being here and for their service to our nation.
I think many Americans assumed that we could move on from two decades of conflict in the Middle East and pivot our attention to the Indo-Pacific.
The events of the last six months have proven that assumption wrong.
The October 7th attack on Israel was barbaric.
It was the most vile attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Israel has a right to defend itself and it has a moral obligation to ensure its people are free from terrorism.
That's why we need to continue to provide Israel with security assistance as they seek to defeat Hamas.
Make no mistake, Hamas would never have attacked if wasn't for years of support from Iran.
We all know Iran has been a patron of terrorist militias and the main source of instability in the region for over 40 years.
But over the last few years, it seems the Ayatollah has become more emboldened.
And this Administration's approach is doing little to deter him.
In just the last six months:
The Ayatollah's terrorist proxies in Yemen have attacked commercial vessels and coalition ships over 50 times, sinking one commercial vessel and killing three crew members aboard another;
His I.R.G.C. hijacked an oil tanker in international waters and is confiscating the 145,000 metric tons of oil on board;
He's okayed the transfer of hundreds of one-way attack drones to fuel Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine;
Now he's entertaining sending Putin ballistic missiles as well;
Last week, he oversaw one of Iran's largest naval exercises, this time with dozens of warships from China and Russia;
He's increased his stockpile of enriched uranium by 20 percent, giving him enough material for three nuclear weapons;
He's been applying enormous political pressure on Iraq to expel U.S. and coalition forces;
And he's financed, trained, and equipped terrorist militias that have carried out over 170 attacks on U.S. troops in the region, including the January attack at Tower 22 that took the lives of three American soldiers.
The President has responded with airstrikes on terrorist proxies, which have done little to stop them from lobbing missiles at ships in the Red Sea.
He's threatened more sanctions on Iran, which have yet to make a dent in the Ayatollah's war machine.
Then in January, as terrorist rockets and drones were raining down on U.S. servicemembers, he sent a delegation to Iraq to begin negotiations on reducing U.S. presence there.
I can't think of a better illustration of appeasing the Ayatollah than that.
This Administration needs to articulate and employ a real strategy to counter Iran and protect U.S. interests in the region.
It appears we may also need a new counter terrorism strategy for Africa.
This weekend, the military junta running Niger announced it was kicking out U.S. forces conducting operations to counter ISIS and Al Qaeda in the region.
This comes on the heels of reports that Niger is negotiating security related deals with Iran and Russia.
It appears Niger will soon join Mali, Libya, Sudan, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso in welcoming Russian troops and mercenaries to their country.
Meanwhile, China is looking to expand their military footprint beyond the PLA naval base in Djibouti.
And they've sets their sites on the west coast to give the PLA strategic access to the Atlantic.
China has already built and is currently operating several large commercial ports along Africa's west coast as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
Unless the Administration steps up, it's only a matter of time before the PLA is operating with impunity off our Atlantic Coast.
At the end of the day, it is critical for the U.S. to have a footprint on the continent – even a little goes a long way.
The same can be said of U.S. business investments.
Africa is of vital strategic importance to the United States.
We can't let China or Russia become the preferred security or business partner.
I look forward to hearing General Langley and Kurilla's best military advice on how we can counter Iran, Russia, and China and better protect U.S. interests in their A.O.R.'s
