Yemen - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Yemen Index / Locations Transcripts John Brennan ...is the Al-Qaeda group that is based in Yemen . That led to then some subsequen... ...thought about the region, thought about Yemen , thought about terrorist groups for s... ...and several of the leaders of AQAP in Yemen were very closely affiliated with bi... ...bomb makers and terrorists in Yemen , as evidenced by some of the attack... ...that these franchises, whether it be in Yemen or Iraq or Syria or North Africa o... ...the United States. So I traveled to Yemen frequently to meet with the Yemen... ...there were just too many examples of Yemen being the base for these terroris... ...Obama administration I traveled to Yemen about a dozen times, and there was ... ...of Cairo, or Tripoli [Libya] or Sanaa [ Yemen ], or other areas. The progress wa... ...with President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen repeatedly and was again—sometimes ... ...one of the reasons why I traveled to Yemen so often, so that I could talk to firs... ...on things like Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen , terrorism, even dealing with Russia... Show more... Tawakkol Karman ...her activism during the revolution in Yemen in 2011, and the wider Arab Spring. Sh... ...me where you grew up, and about the Yemen that you knew growing up? I am ... ...up? I am a Yemeni women. I born in Yemen , in Taiz. Taiz is a very importan... ...my dad, to Sanaa, to the capital of Yemen . I was born in a very cultural family... ...the minister of law and Parliament in Yemen . He was a very well-known person as ... ...as a Yemeni people, as a great Yemen . And what should I do as Tawakkol... ...criticizing the whole situation in Yemen . And the press freedom in Yemen at th... ...in Yemen. And the press freedom in Yemen at the time was a big lie. So no, th... ...relations between the United States and Yemen , or the United States and the Ara... ...visited the region, and she visited Yemen . And she met the parties. She met th... ...any choice that you will do for making Yemen a democratic country, and support you... ...from the US side, that she stopped in Yemen . Why was her visit important to you... ...he was really afraid of her visit to Yemen . And that was really support fo... ...to feel like something bigger, both in Yemen , starting to feel like a revolution... ...to topple,” “People want to build a new Yemen .” And also, at that time, it wa... ...came to Sana'a, from Ibb [governorate, Yemen ] to Sanaa. And we adopt their issue... ...she knew me before when she came to Yemen . But that was a very importan... ...She will not accept the militia coup in Yemen , or the war against Yemen led by Saud... ...coup in Yemen, or the war against Yemen led by Saudi [Arabia] and [United Arab... ...even with the war, when the war against Yemen announced, it was announced by th... ...Emirates coalition—yaʿnī—for the war in Yemen . So all this—I think that Obama made ... ...terrorism. It takes occupation. Yemen now is occupied by Saudi and Emirates... ...now is occupied by Saudi and Emirates. Yemen now is really, really, you know... ...He is in Riyadh. He couldn't return to Yemen . And they didn't allow him to retur... ...And they didn't allow him to return to Yemen . And they support—we can't explain i... ...they are playing bad rule on dividing Yemen , and also on terrorist acts, e... ...suffering from the counterrevolution in Yemen , in Egypt, in Libya, in Syria, an... ...years and that revolutionary period in Yemen . Thank you very much. Thank you s... Show more... Michael Leiter ...of describing, “Mr. President-Elect, Yemen is a real challenge. We fac... ...priorities that we wanted to highlight. Yemen was one of them. Somalia was another... ...where strikes might occur, Somalia or Yemen . Because of that, we had Mike Mullen... ...Asia is actually pretty good, but Yemen , Somalia, North Africa—rea... ...rising presence of Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen , increased effectiveness of al-Qaed... ...about Somalia. No, we're writing about Yemen .” It was a little bit like ... ...walks into the American embassy in Yemen and says, “My son has bee... Show more... Jake Sullivan ...then in Libya, then in Syria, then in Yemen , then in Bahrain, etc., as thes... Avril Haines ...Russia. Or it was in the context of Yemen or in Libya or in a whole series o... Michael Mullen ...Not just Pakistan—because also Yemen —but particularly Pakistan to send ... Michael Morell ...and capabilities of al-Qaeda in Yemen , or the Iranian nuclear program. Yo... ...the tribal areas of Pakistan; it's in Yemen , in a very dangerous form; it's i... ...that this is a threat. That came out of Yemen . That drove home the metastasizin... ...into violence. That first happens in Yemen , and then in Libya, and then in Syria... William Burns ...its neighbors, a catastrophic war in Yemen , for which Iran shares som... Anne Patterson ...place all over the Middle East—Syria, Yemen , Oman. Some of those places have ha... ...want to support that. Let's look at Yemen , where all of a sudden you get rid o... ...was less of a struggle in places like Yemen or Syria, so less than w... ...got a lot of attention because of Yemen , which got a lot less attention tha... ...debate about Saudi Arabia's role in Yemen , particularly the air strikes, which... ...figure out what he was going to do in Yemen , and whether he was a good guy or ... ...the same time, all this is going on in Yemen , so they don't trust him entirely. Bu... ...just wanted to make sure to ask about Yemen too, given the way things looked at th... ...people had lots of discussions with Yemen . [Mohammad Javad] Zarif was, o... Show more... Samantha Power ...region for a long time. And once the Yemen war –present gets introduced, the... ...but most especially, devastatingly, in Yemen . And so again, every president i... ...embassy in Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, or Yemen , or Tunisia was interacting wit... ...didn't pay dividends in the Yemen context. So you see, again, a flood o... ...a flood of people trying to get out of Yemen —very challenging, actually, to get ou... ...challenging, actually, to get out of Yemen . You see internal displacement, a... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Supreme Court Supreme Court go to the Atlantic Relations Atlantic Relations go to the Women and Girls Women and Girls go to the Veterans Veterans go to the Democrats Democrats