Ghost Ship Kurdish

[Temika]

"Sea Evil".After discovering a passenger ship missing since 1962 floating adrift on the Bering Sea, salvagers claim the vessel as their own. Once they begin towing the ghost ship towards harbor, a series of bizarre occurrences happen and the group becomes trapped inside the ship, which they soon learn is inhabited by a demonic creature.

WITNESSES:
GENERAL MICHAEL E. KURILLA (USA), COMMANDER, UNITED STATES
CENTRAL COMMAND
GENERAL MICHAEL E. LANGLEY (USMC), COMMANDER, UNITED STATES
AFRICA COMMAND
REED: Good morning. The Committee meets today to receive testimony from General Michael Erik Kurilla, Commander of the United States Central Command, and General Michael Langley, Commander of the United States Africa Command.
Thank you both for your service, and I am grateful to the men and women serving under your commands, and please convey that to them. The CENTCOM area of responsibility has always been fraught with complexity, but I'm concerned that we face a uniquely dangerous moment. With Israel and Hamas engaged in a
violent conflict in Gaza, Iran is seeking to exploit the chaos as an opportunity to force the United States out of the region. Iran appears to have calculated that the best strategy to achieve this is by directing its proxy forces to attack American, Israeli, and allied interests in the Middle East.
To date, the Iranian linked Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched more than 50 drone and missile attacks against U.S. and international vessels in the Red Sea, including a strike yesterday on the Liberian commercial ship that killed three innocent civilians. The Houthis have disrupted nearly 15% of global commercial trade, driving up costs and inflation around the world.
Similarly, Iranian-linked Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan have conducted more than 175 attacks against U.S. and coalition forces, including a drone attack that killed three Americans in Jordan. In response, the American led coalition has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian proxies across the region, significantly degrading their capabilities.
The ISA should continue to take appropriate military actions. But I must underscore there is no ultimate military solution to our conflict with Iran. Direct war with Iran would have devastating second and third order consequences and would likely engulf the entire region in war. President
Biden has balanced these considerations by synchronizing military operations with strong diplomacy, economic sanctions, and tools of statecraft.

I'm encouraged that Iranian linked militia attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan have paused for a significant period of time. We have to remember that Hamas ignited this regional conflict exactly five months ago, on October 7, when it murdered, kidnapped, and committed unspeakable atrocities against thousands of innocent Israelis. Israel launched its own campaign to defend itself and degrade and defeat Hamas. And the United States deployed troops and assets to the region to support our ally and prevent a wider regional war.
Five months into this campaign, Hamas has been degraded, but the Palestinian people in Gaza are suffering extreme costs (ph). Unless there is a pause in the fighting, the humanitarian situation will continue to worsen, Israeli hostages will continue to be held captive, and Israel's long-term security could be weakened. General Kurilla, these challenges are compounded by many others, including Iran's nuclear enrichment activities and Hezbollah's attacks in northern Israel, all of which must be addressed while maintaining the counterterrorism mission in south and Central Asia.
I understand that you just returned from the region, and I would ask for an update on how CENTCOM is postured to meet these challenges and what resources and support you need to be successful. General Langley, AFRICOM remains an important theater in the United States strategic competition with China and Russia. Many African countries have longstanding military ties with Russia and even deeper economic ties with China.
As the United States manages relationships across the continent, we must be mindful of these preexisting ties and avoid taking a with us or against us approach, or we will risk alienating the very nations we seek to engage with. I would welcome your thoughts on how best to calibrate the U.S. approach to the region in light of these factors. Over the past year, the security situation in West Africa has continued to decline.
Violent extremist organizations have expanded across the region and are now threatening to push down into the lateral states IN the Gulf of Guinea. Partner nations are working hard to address these challenges, and AFRICOM is working in collaboration with many security forces in the region to enhance their capabilities to respond effectively. At the same time, military coups in places like Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have required the cessation of U.S. training and advising in those countries.
Given these challenges, I understand that AFRICOM must explore new methods to maintain U.S. security interest in the region. To do so, it is important that your command become more synchronized with the U.S. interagency and that AFRICOM receives the resources it needs to maintain situational awareness. This must include adequate intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support, and the capabilities to continue to work by, with, and through our regional partners and allies.
General Langley, I would appreciate your thoughts on this wide-ranging set of challenges and what plans you have to address them. Again, let me thank our witnesses. We look forward to your testimony. As a reminder for my colleagues, there will be a closed session immediately following this hearing in room SVC 217. Now, let me turn to the Ranking Member, Senator Wicker. Senator Wicker.

WICKER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are banding together. They hope to weaken American resolve and shift the global balance of power away from the United States. The effects of their sinister activities are on full display in both CENTCOM and AFRICOM theaters, which we are discussing today. I begin with a particularly acute example. Hamas's barbaric October 7 massacre was not merely a Palestinian terrorist attack on Israel. It was also an Iranian proxy attack on the United States.
The Palestinians attacked Israel. They were proxies of Iran attacking the United States. 33 of our fellow Americans were killed, and 12 were taken hostage. Iranian proxies then began near daily attacks against U.S. troops in the region. They attacked Israel with missiles, and they tried to close maritime shipping routes in the region. It is indisputable that Tehran controls its proxies, and those proxies have killed Americans. Iran's objective is and has always been to evict the United States from the Middle East so it can achieve regional hegemony.
We will not be evicted from the Middle East. I believe the Biden administration should address Iran's culpability head on. And we can do this without going to war against Iran. The administration spent its first three years offering Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief to restore the Obama era nuclear agreement. President Biden ordered minor counter strikes on Iran's proxies in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, apparently hoping to manage escalation through pinprick responses.
This approach has failed and will fail because it assumes that we can deter terrorist groups without causing pain to their chief sponsor, Iran. General Kurilla, I hope you will share your assessment of what it would take to end Iran's terrorist proxy attacks on our forces. China and Russia view the African continent as a power projection platform. They use the region to flex their muscles, undermine Western influence, and bolster their economic interest.
Beijing and Moscow do all this through exploitive practices that often come at the expense of African communities. China, in particular, approaches Africa as a critical terrain for its global military expansion. Its first overseas military base was established in the strategically located country of Djibouti. According to public reports, this base is now capable of hosting some of China's most advanced naval vessels. Additionally, we know China is actively pursuing a naval base on Africa's Atlantic coast.
General Langley has said this would, quote, change the whole calculus of the geostrategic campaign plans of protecting our homeland. General Langley, I hope you will tell the Committee what is being done to address this disturbing development. Russia's destabilizing activity in Africa is to trade security assistance for access to African natural resources. Putin does this by spreading disinformation and propaganda to sow unrest, prop up sympathetic regimes, and undermine support for Western engagement on the continent.
We cannot lose sight of the continued threat al Qaeda and ISIS pose in Africa. Political instability and weak security institutions have allowed these groups to expand territorial control. We must maintain sufficient force posture and resourcing in Africa to support our national interests there. At the same time, we must develop more effective non-defense tools in Africa.

These would include our ability to use private sector financing in non-development contexts through DOD's office of strategic capital.
The world has changed drastically since the publication of the national defense strategy. This is particularly true in the Middle East But the strategy that drives our investments and force posture in both these command theaters must reflect those changes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
REED: Thank you very much, Senator Wicker. General Kurilla, please.
KURILLA: Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I'm joined today by Command Master Chief Fleet Derek Walters, the command senior enlisted leader of U.S. Central Command. And I am proud to testify next to my good friend, Mike Langley. On behalf of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and guardians who serve this command in our nation, I welcome the opportunity to talk to you today.
I just returned from my 27th trip to the central region. As I sat here just a year ago, the region was on the verge of improbable, unprecedented, and transformative progress. Today, the central region faces its most volatile security situation in the past half century. This is not the same central region as last year. The events of 7 October not only permanently changed Israel and Gaza, it created the conditions for malign actors to sow instability throughout the region and beyond.
Iran exploited what they saw as a once in a generation opportunity to reshape the Middle East to their advantage. Iran has worked for decades to strategically encircle the region with its proxies, and in the past six months, we have seen every proxy in the Iranian threat network operationalized in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and Yemen. Iran's expansive network of proxies is equipped with advanced sophisticated weaponry and threatens some of the most vital terrain in the world, with global and U.S. implications.
Houthi attacks on international shipping and an Iranian aligned militia attacks on our forces in Iraq and Syria are direct result of an Iranian threat that has been incrementally spreading.
However, Iran knows that its decade long vision cannot be realized if countries in the region continue to expand integration with each other and deepen their partnership with the United States. Violent extremist organizations have also seized on this opportunity. ISIS surged their attacks in Iraq and Syria earlier this year, and the risk of attack emanating from Afghanistan is increasing. ISIS Khorasan retains the capability and will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months and with little to no warning. Strategic competition has also continued to evolve across the region. China and Russia are quick to capitalize on destabilizing influences. They have shown meager interest or capability to reduce regional tensions, but rather they have increased their efforts to pressurize regional partners
across all elements of national power.
Collectively, Iran, Russia and China are strengthening their relationships and fostering a chaotic landscape favorable for their exploitation. Iran continues to sell 90% of its oil to China, funding

c80f0f1006